Final Day at the Gulf

Well, it's time to say fond farewell to a fabulous week here at Naturewalk in Santa Rosa Beach, but not before we had one last day of fun!

Marty and Howard caught lots of fish, and even shared some with their Heron friend, whom someone affectionately named Ichabod, which would make sense if he was a crane, but whatever.

When they returned, we enjoyed a lovely breakfast at the house, then headed out for our last beach walk.  As you can see, it was a picture perfect day.

We headed up to Seaside from the beach, where a statue of a pelican holding a fish in it's mouth stands atop the entranceway. 

Isn't that entertaining?

We took a different way back to the house, which was quite scenic. 

We passed a church with a bell tower,

several Beauty Bushes bursting with purple blooms that resembled berries

A park with a couple of squirrels romping around, one of which actually decided to munch on an acorn at the perfect moment.

How's that for lucky?

Water Lilies

where I spied a heron tiptoeing through the reeds.

Marty and I found the road sign with this particular speed limit to be unusual

Does anyone really go 17 miles per hour?  

And, finally, the road back to the entrance

with the wooden bridge entranceway 

welcoming us home.

It's been a fabulous week here, that has rushed by way too fast.  But we are so blessed to have been able to enjoy the company of these special friends, and, hopefully, it won't be too long before we'll be able to meet up again!

Thanks, Jennifer and Howard,  for being the perfect host and hostess and making our stay so welcoming!  

The Cheeky Heron

We've had some discussion about the descriptive term "Cheeky" this week,  and I'd say that from what I've heard about that beautiful grey heron featured in an earlier blog,  that he fits the bill fairly well.

The men returned home yesterday, once again claiming to have caught a multitude of fish, (let me just mention here that there was no evidence to support their claims), but part of Howard's story sounded quite comical.

It appears that the Heron, who appeared to be so enchanting on Monday, has turned into a pest.  After reeling in a catch, Howard tells me that he must work with rapid speed to unhook the fish and throw it back into the water, because if the fish should land on the sand,  the giant bird wastes no time swooping down and grabbing the fish for a relatively easy breakfast.

I'd say that behavior is deserving of the term "Cheeky Devil!", don't you?

If I were Howard, I'd be a bit worried about my toes!

After the morning fishing adventure, we headed out to Florida State Caverns

 to experience a bit of "spelunking" as the tour guide called it.

No worries.....we kept our shirts on.

As we began our decent into the cave, our guide directed us to a very narrow and short passage, which he referred to as Squat and Tuck, as both were required in order to squeeze our way into the next room.  He assured us that if we could fit through that channel, we'd have no issues with the remainder of the tour.  And, as luck would have it, we all fit!

As you can well imagine the inside of the caves looked like......the inside of a cave. But the guide had some amusing terminology in reference to some of the internal structures.  These hanging "sheets" were referred to as cave bacon.

Here you see "soda straws"  

There were drops of water hanging on the bottom of each, but that is difficult to capture in a photo.

Here you see wedding room.  The large white formation is a wedding cake with a pipe organ, on the left, in the background.  Interesting wedding venue if one so desires. 

There were several descriptions for the white blob on the left, the most amusing being Jabba the Hutt.  

And this is just one of the many passages that we made our way through on the 50 minute tour.

The history of the caves was interesting.  In 1937,  the original entrance to the cave was discovered by accident when a tree was toppled over during a storm, bringing up the roots and leaving a hole open in the ground.  A government surveyor spotted the hole, and after crawling down into the ground, realized the treasure that lay beneath.  At this point, the CCC hired men to excavate the mine until 1942 when their work was put to a halt. The cave was then open to the public for tours and has continued since.

After our spelunking adventure was complete, we hopped into the car and headed to the home of our hosts for a quick visit, which one just might entitle the Garden of Eden!  Let me share a few photos:

Meyer Lemons nearly ready to pick

Satsuma tree

Persimmons

and figs

There were also grape vines, but the harvest was already picked, and a small vegetable garden as well.

In the distance were beehives, loaded with activity

And here they are getting a drink of water.  

Apparently bees get very thirsty!  Something I never knew!

There were dozens of these guys scurrying around.

And apparently a resident armadillo has been busy in the back.  

Certainly makes some mole holes look dwarfed in comparison!

But walking into the hot house offered the biggest surprise to me.

Orchids!  Several varieties, each of them blooming beautifully.  What a delight!

By now, it was time to start the drive back to Naturewalk.  When we returned, Marty showed Howard a few tips on setting up his rod for the next morning's fishing.

Then we headed to Seaside for a lovely dinner, outside on the deck.

Yet another fabulous ending to a fabulous day!

The Call of the Fish

Didn't I tell you that I thought there would be exciting adventures to share?

Here you see Howard with his first catch of the day.

According to Marty, he and Howard set up the rod, put on the two hooks and casted.  Before Marty could even get a chance to set up his own rod, Howard was claiming to have a hit, and, sure enough, he pulled in those fish in record time.  He must really be the Fish Whisperer!

Marty finally did manage to reel in a few of his own

And he claims that between the two of them, they brought in over 50 fish.  I suppose that he was so busy catching that he didn't have time to actually record the evidence, so we'll have to take their word for it.

This morning, Howard is eager to try 3 hooks on the line to see what happens.  Guess you'll just have to wait until tomorrow's update to see how that works out.

After the elated fishermen returned and cleaned up, we headed out to Grayton Beach State Park to check out the Dune Lake that is located there.  It's only a short distance down the road, and out travels took us over a couple of the dune lakes, by bridge,  on the way, all quite beautiful.

Once arrived, we headed out on the marked trail.  Here you see a photo of our hostess, Jennifer, with the Gulf Side dune in the background. 

And here is the lakeside view from the opposite direction.  

So we are actually walking along the strip of dune that separates the Gulf of Mexico from the lakes that are inland and are fresh water. 

On the sides of the dunes, one can spot thees holes, surrounded by dozens of tiny foot prints.

That is the home of the Choctawhatchee Beach Mouse.  The DVD that we had watched the night previously had shown video of this creature hopping about the dunes.  The closest we got to one was this photo on a display board.  

Too bad, because they looked quite entertaining on film. 

But we certainly weren't lacking in visual entertainment.  We learned that there are slash trees in the forest that were once used for making turpentine.  The trees are slashed and the resin removed and distilled to make the product.  These are no longer used for the industry as this is a protected area now. 

Along the way, we passed through Sand Live Oaks that form a canopy over a path.  Marty and I are standing just at the entrance.

Just inside stands this Prayer of the Woods

The path was fairly easy to follow

And marked arrows are always convenient

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Here you see Marty posing Gulf Side

And Howard on the lake side

Entertaining fellow, for sure.

Along our travels we spied a Dahoon Holly

A marshmallow flower standing among the grasses

And loads of butterflies having a field day.

We finally made it down to the beach.  What a spectacular sight!

I managed to snap this photo on the walk to the car park where you can see the Gulf in the background. 

Just gorgeous!

On the way back to the house, we just had to stop for some refreshment.

We took a quick stroll through Rosemary Beach, which is an upscale community with a European theme. 

Picture perfect!

As was agreed, the men made dinner.

A great ending to yet another fabulous day at Naturewalk!