We arrived at the state park just before 11 a.m. Twice daily, a park volunteer gives a brief presentation on the park, its history, and the manatees that visit or reside at the park. There are currently four manatees who are under the care of the state park team. One of the manatees is 51 years old. Another is 34. After the presentation, the park volunteer invited visitors to observe the manatee feeding. The manatee eat romaine lettuce. They do eat other things such as grass that grows in the springs. But mostly these gals eat lettuce.
The state park had quite a bit of damage from the hurricanes in 2024 so most of the buildings were closed, but the animal habitats were available for viewing.
The most famous resident of the state park is Lou. Lou is a 65 year old hippo. They held a birthday party last month for Lou's birthday.
We saw a variety of birds. The white and brown pelicans were nesting, so that was interesting to see them sitting on their big nests. There were flamingos. And there were bald eagles. And other birds that I do not remember the names of.
The most exciting thing we saw was Max, a 9 year old black bear up close. His fur was so shiny! The park volunteer had just tossed Max's food over the fence, so we got to watch Max eat some of it. I did not have "watch a bear peel and eat a grapefruit" on my bingo card today. But I have to say, it was such a treat to see it happen. I have never been that close to a bear before.
The park entry fee is $13/person. If you have a family annual state park pass, 2 people can enter for no charge. So if we start tallying up whether we get our money's worth from our state park pass, we are up to $32 value.
Oh, the weather was absolutely beautiful, too. Not so keen on the 90-degree mark we hit on the way to our destination for the night, but there was a nice breeze. And beautiful blue skies.
~ Cindy D.
No comments:
Post a Comment