Fort De Soto

With the Googes and Honz.  That would be Mike and Phyllis Gaggioli, his parents, his uncle, 2 of their children, sister, Mary, brother in law John, 3 of their children, and John Honzik.  If  I assigned anyone to the wrong family, forgive me.  I have known Honz since 1st grade, Goog since 3rd.  Both have been in these Tales before, as have Mr. and Mrs. Gaggioli, Mary, Tina, and Danny.

I was scheduled to work a half day today, until 1:00. I figured I would arrive at Fort De Soto around 3:30.  But, I ran over a curb going into a gas station.  Punctured the right front tire.  Which actually was a good thing, as with 78 K on all 4 tires, I was due to replace them.  Better a low speed puncture than a freeway blow out.  So, I called the job from the tire store and said I will be taking some personal time.  On the road a little after 11, thought I would arrive sometime after 1.  It is still Spring, now Easter, break.  Heavy traffic at Disney.  But that was nothing compared to the bottleneck at I-4 and I-275 in Tampa.  I think it took 30 mintues to go 3 miles. At 12 bleeping 30 on a Tuesday.   Finally at Fort De Soto, it took a while to find the group  I even drove past them twice.  It was almost 2:30 when I walked around a bend in the Arrowhead Picnic area and there they were.

Phyllis coming back.  She raved about how beautiful it was.

Danny comes back to the family

Goog, in Honz' kayak.  The gang also rented three.  I brought two. After lunch, cheeseburger, pasta salad, cantaloupe, and a beer (which is illegal in the Park, so be discrete and dispose of properly) I got in the water.

With Mary and Tina, I will need editing help on which daughter this is, Goog, Mary, sister, not daughter, Danny, and John, brother-in-law, not Honz.

 Brown pelican

Osprey

We paddled north, into the cove at North Beach.  Her is a Fort De Soto brochure.  A map is on the second page

Great egret

Ibis

 Sunshine Skyway

Mike, Tina or Mary

 Ben, Honz, Phyllis, and John.  John joined the fleet, replacing one of his nieces.  Mary or Tina.  I get the two lovely young women mixed up.  We paddled towards the rental concession at Soldiers Hole.  The Googes wanted to see manatees, I told them Soldiers Hole would be the best chance.  And, the rentals had to be back by 6.

Loon

 Cormorant

Snowy egret

Bald eagle

Merganser.

Two manatees. I told the group they owed me 10 dollar each.   I would have had better photos, but I let those seeing manatees in the wild for the first time get a better view.

 That's my story and I'm sticking to it

Yellow crowned night heron

We arrived at the rental concession just before 6.  The launch area was covered with kayaks waiting to be put away, so it was not like the worker was waiting for us so he could go home.  I said I was paddling back to Arrowhead.  I told Goog he could leave the kayak, I could pick it up, later.  No, he'd paddle back too.  As would Honz, after a little peer pressure.  He said he had not had his kayak in the water until today. And had been in the area for a couple months. Which gives rise to the old saying, "Not all of us are on vacation"

We did not see the manatees. We did see a jumping sting ray and more rays breaking the surface with their wing tips.

 John and Mike saw a dolphin.  I did not, yet.

 I saw a dolphin somewhere in the above photo.

Landed at  5 after 7.  Flying jellyfish. Or, water on the lens.  There are cinder blocks at one point of the wall, making it a little easier to get in and out.  They are loose, so, be careful.

Cousins pose. We loaded the cars and headed to North Beach for the sunset

Tres Hombres  Cheers