We took The Monkey Cruise

Today, we may have had the most fun time of any day since we came here. We joined MOC friends Helen and Bill Moll, and two of their full timer friends, Steve and Lynette and took a pontoon boat ride up the Ocklawaha and Silver Rivers into the area of the Silver Springs State Park and Silver Springs Wild Park. We were entertained by monkeys that had been in the park during filming for the original Tarzan movies and then escaped and are now living wild along the river. We saw bejillions of gators, mostly small, young ones, birds of all kinds, turtles and an otter. We found about 23 baby gators sunning themselves on a log, some only maybe 3 inches long or so. The raw beauty of the cedar trees along the shore line held all sorts of surprises. When we got to the monkeys, we had to keep our distance because they wanted to come aboard. It took us three hours to get to where we wished to turn around and, as soon as we did, the rains came, lasting about an hour. Then the sun came back, bringing out the Anhinga birds spreading their wings to dry. These birds dive into the water, swimming underwater, grabbing their prey and surfacing. Their winds do not have the oil that most birds have so the water soaks into the wings, instead of running off. They have to spread them to let them dry, otherwise they would be too heavy to fly. We were soaked but saw birds and gators doing things that they probably would not do in the sunshine. All in all, a GREAT day, put together by our "Tour Director," Helen Moll - Thanks, Helen.