Wakulla Springs and St Marks

Nancy and Al came early to pick us up today and drive us two hours north to the REAL Florida - the land of cypress knees, swamps, alligators and good-ole-boys in pickups. We had sausage and biscuit (scones) in Perry for morning tea and coffee then pushed on to St Marks, formerly San Marco when the Spanish had it. It was a fort strategically placed where Wakulla and St Marks rivers meet and flow to the sea and like so many historic sites changed hands from Indian to Spanish to British then American. Now it's a peaceful spot with only the fort foundations left and a good place to launch your boat for a day fishing.

Then when you don't catch anything you can have lunch at the Riverside Cafe which is practically IN the river it's so close. We had steamed oysters to start - rather odd - then
I had breaded shrimp and the others had blackened grouper.

Next stop was Wakulla Springs State Park (nearly to Tallahassee) which has a most surprising hotel, a 1930s grand mansion which has been turned into a hotel - Nancy and Al have stayed there many times and often bring visitors. They have a particular fondness for old hotels. We've known Nancy and Al since we lived in the same apartment complex and our children became friends. Al was on sabbatical at the time but returned to Gainesville to become a professor at the vet school.

We took the boat ride on the Wakulla River, through the swamp and over the springs and it was gorgeous! Just one other couple and us (how unlike most places in America) and so much wildlife - 12 manatees, alligators, big and little fish and any amount of birds. Spanish moss hangs from the trees and when the boat engine was turned off all you could hear was the croaking of frogs. The spring emits 250
million gallons per day of fresh clean water - amazing to us! There were a few kids jumping off the diving board but otherwise no-one. I could have gone around again it was so good.

We stopped at a good-ole-boy selling honey and jelly by the side of the road and I bought a jar of wild mayhaw jelly. My picture is of Nancy deciding to buy some of the Tupelo honey.

St Marks also has a National Bird Reserve so we drove out there to a land of sea and sky and a dyke between the sea and swamp where you can walk looking at seabirds one side and swamp birds the other as it is a staging post for birds flying south for the winter. It's also a breeding place for monarch butterflies which were so busy that I could photograph them close up. Al had a lovely time with his binoculars looking at birds until the no-see-ums forced him back to the car.

We drove past the honey man for the third time in search of the perfect place for a picnic which turned out to be Wakulla Beach, deserted except for a dog and a woman netting for bait fish. Here we had smoked mullet from Riverside, crackers, olives, nuts and the wild mayhaw jelly which is a lovely pale pink and tastes of quince crossed with pomegranate. A winner!

The two hour trip back on route 19 passed quickly. Many thanks to Al for his excellent driving and to Nancy for her inspired choice of outing!