Dave's Yak Tales

Cedar Key Sunset

Sunday, July 8, 2012

Haulover Canal

I worked to noon on Saturday, July 7, 2012.  To make up for the half day on the 3r for my mini July 4th Holiday.
Into the Indian River at 1:30, Mullet Head Island a mile away.
Manatees at 1 o'clock.








I paddled to another, unnamed, island.





A lone osprey on the island.
Back to Mullet Head



To my surprise, no roseate spoonbills.
I returned to the Canal area, and visited the smaller, dead end canals to the south



Looking through a gap in the bank dividing the natural canal from Haulover Canal, to a chair on the opposite bank. The natural canal empties into what I call "Dolphin Cove" as I often see them here.



Perhaps the manatees crowded the dolphins out.



Have the manatees wised up?  Hanging out in Dolphin Cove instead of Bairs Cove, in the shadow of a boat ramp?
A lone manatee in Bairs Cove.

East in Haulover Canal, towards Mosquito Lagoon
This is what I call the "protected area" through a gap in the north east end of the Canal.
The unprotected Lagoon had whitecaps, so I turned back.


The Manatee Overlook is closed for road construction.  Unless you are in a kayak. I did not see any manatees.  What I would like to see is the Department of the Interior take some of the asphalt they are using to improve the road to the Overlook and fill in some of the giant pot holes on the dirt road to the kayak launch.  There are now signs directing people down the road to Bairs Cove to see manatees.
Dolphin
Back to Dolphin/Manatee Cove










Another dolphin before landing at 5:45.
Visited the Scrub Jay Trail


Last time I was here, the landscape was charred from a prescribed burn.  You wouldn't know it.  Unless you are a Yak Tales fan.
Deer tracks.
The only flying things I saw were mosquitoes.  Until I got back to the parking area.



Next stop, Black Point Wildlife Drive











Leaving Merritt Island via the Max Brewer Bridge


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