A Day out to Myakka River State Park

Since arriving to Florida many people have told us to make sure we visit Myakka River State Park before we leave.

We were also told that we should choose a hot sunny day in order to capitalize on all that the park has to offer. There is a very good reason for that recommendation that we will share with your further on in this post. 

So baring that in mind, we decided to wait for a hot sunny day to come along, as well as wait until our friend Gail came to visit us here from Boston.

Once all the stars were aligned Rick and I headed out on our first real Florida adventure. Tagging along with us was Gail and our next door RV neighbors Dave and Linda.

First I will share a little bit of what we learned about Myakka River State Park before we post some pictures. Myakka River State Park is one of Florida’s largest and oldest natural areas.

 The Myakka River flows through it and incorporates a variety of ecosystems such as wetlands, prairies, as well as thick stands of shade-tolerant hardwoods and pines.

Along with the river there are two shallow lakes that attract a myriad of wetland creatures making it perfect conditions for canoeing, kayaking, fishing, wildlife observing and one of my favorite thing to do; bird watching.

There is over 39 miles of hiking trails and many more miles of dirt roads that provide access to Myakka’s remote interior. Needless to say you can spend many hours in a day doing whatever you love to do.  

Once we arrived at the park we headed straight to Upper Myakka Lake were we hopped on-board the “Myakka Maiden” which is a large jet propelled air boat. We took a one hour scenic guided tour which was a perfect way to see Myakka nature at its best.

As you can see, you can also do it on your own should you own one of these modes of transportation.

These fellas below are the main attraction at Myakka, and as previously mentioned you need to have a hot sunny day to see them basking on the banks of the lakes and river. Oh and they don't like the wind, so you'll have to look for them in sheltered areas as well.

If you look closely in the shot below you can see a rather large turtle basking in the sun to the right of this big fellas tail on the left.

Alligators apparently eat turtles, does this guy have a death wish or what? Actually we learned Alligators usually eat at night and during this time of the year they don't eat very much. I still think Mr. Turtle is testing his luck!

 A Great Blue Heron can be seen on the right of this fella.

Close up shot of Mr. Al E Gator

Rick captured these awesome shots of two Anhinga's in flight.

Another Great Blue Heron hiding in the reeds.

Out for a swim

Canopy walkway...oh look, who is that up in the tree?

This is a Yellow Rat Snake which is native to Florida. Sandra spied him while waiting for everyone to come down from the canopy walkway.

Geckos are everywhere in Florida. Sandra caught one in the motor home, and he was promptly removed by using an empty red solo cup, albeit minus the tip of his tail that is.

She was a wee bit freaked out when she went back in to find it still wiggling on the kitchen counter though. We were told later that they do in fact grow back phew!

Some native fuana

What a great day out with friends, who are now in need of some nourishment and refreshments.

We learned a great deal about Alligators on this trip, too much in fact to tell you on the blog. Make sure you check out Myakka River State Park the next time you’re in the Sarasota area. Or you can simply click on this link Al E Gator and you will be taken to a website that will tell you most of what we now know.

It's hard to believe we have one week left here at Sun-n-Fun. We will be hitting the road on March 5th so stayed tuned for one more post sometime before that. Take care and thanks for stopping by. 

Chillax'n signing off for now.