By Peter Clayton

We were blessed by warm weather with a light breeze and the “Ock” rewarded us with a fabulous outing. There was no one else on the water and the combination of quiet once away from the launch at Rodman Dam and the amazing cypress trees along the route made for a very special atmosphere. 

Theo set a new gator sighting record with 53 – we watched a pair of bald eagles – one mature and one immature – being buzzed by an osprey – there were more great egrets than we’d seen in any one location – a dozen or so kingfishers escorted us along the river, and, we saw treefulls of white ibis. Stan and I watched a newly hatched yellow bellied cooter turtle make its way down the pull-out ramp at US 19 for its first feel of the water. The latter was about the size of a quarter – a perfect miniature – which we helped to the water where it swam off no doubt looking for some food – see Stan’s Go-Pro video.

We completed the day with a late lunch at Corky Bell’s shaded by an umbrella on the deck while basking in perfect conditions with the St. Johns in the background. At ten hours, this trip became our longest local paddle partly because six of our group didn’t make a right turn, got mired in some deadfalls and had to backtrack, adding about an hour to their adventure. We learned that “follow the crab pot floats” is a useful guideline. Thanks to our photographers and all participants.