We loaded the kayaks up on the car yesterday, and took a drive north about 40 minutes to a place north of Palmetto, FL called Terra Ceia Aquatic Preserve. We found a place to launch the kayaks, at Bishop Harbor Boat & Kayak Launch. The launch is very sandy, so the only boats launching were very small ones with little motors. The area is filled with mangroves and channels that wind through them, but then opens out into Bishop Harbor, open water that flows out to Tampa Bay. At first we kayaked out into the Harbor, but it was quite windy and so we spent more time wandering through the mangroves than out in the harbor. While kayaking, we saw lots of water birds, but no manatees or dolphins. The water was mostly too shallow for dolphins, but manatees have been known to be hanging out in the Harbor and surrounding mangroves. No luck for us this day. The daytime temperatures this past week have been in the mid to upper 80s, so being out on the water was refreshing with the breezes and the coolness of the water.
Today we will do some grocery shopping, clean up/organize things, and beginning packing up. Tomorrow we move again to a campground near South Bay, on the south end of Lake Okeechobee. It is called South Bay RV Campground, has full hook-ups for $25 a night, and access to the lake, but no major grocery stores, good restaurants, etc. We will be there a week, so we will see how it goes. If nothing else we can explore the Lake Okeechobee area.
