Occasionally, however, they would be stuck in the sand, just sticking out, barely visible. One time we saw a shell sticking out like this and when we went to pick it up we unearthed an entire crab! It was slightly scary but immensely cool. We had to watch our feet as we set him free, making sure that the waves didn't send him back into our feet. After our 2 hours at the meter were up, we climbed back into the van and made our way to Fellsmere. It was great to see Aunt Chris and Uncle Bill and we spent the rest of the night talking with them about our travels and all the fun things we had planned ahead of us.
On Wednesday, both Aunt Chris and Uncle Bill had to work again, so the day was ours to explore. The night before, during our long talk about our journey we had mentioned to them a stop on our trip that we were unable to make. The Blue Springs State Park was a stop that we had planned to make the previous day but did not get the chance to do. The draw of this State Park is manatees. During the winter months, all the manatees that are left along the Florida coast head inland, up rivers that connect to the ocean, into warmer waters. The Blue Springs State Park boasts that they house up to 78 manatees during these months, all which can be viewed from a boardwalk that surrounds the spring. Unfortunately, during our visit we were at the tail end of this season. We called the State Park a few days before we left Mike and Erin's and they told us that they only had 4 manatees that visited the park that day and it was in the morning hours. They day we left, they had only seen 2 and it again was in the early morning. Accepting that we missed our chance, we completely avoided the State Park, sticking to the coastline. When we brought this up to Aunt Chris the night before, she told us that there was a similar river nearby but at this river the manatees inhabit the area year round. Excited for this opportunity we made this place the first stop of our day. Canal 54, located within the St. Sebastian Preserve is only about 5 miles from their house and when we arrived at the manatee
viewing area there was already a group of people there, which we took for a positive sign. However when we get got out to take a look, we realized there was in fact no manatees present. The clear water was teeming with fish however and we spent a while watching all the different kinds swim about while birds dove and swam to catch them. Our manatee plans again thwarted, we decided to head north and visit the Canaveral National Seashore where we planned to spend the rest of the day. Lady luck must have been against us that day or else she had different plans for us than the ones we intended. Aside from no manatees, our first spot of bad luck came when we realized that we forgot our atlas back at the house. We had brought it in the night before to plan our trip and now were faced with the task of navigating by memory. We eventually made it to Merritt Island which itself is a National Wildlife Refuge and a place you must pass through to make it to Canaveral. After we crossed the causeway we noticed that the shoulders were lined with people in campers who had seemingly been stationed there for days. We thought this was a bit odd but didn't think much of it. Once we were on the island we were greeted by signs informing us that the National Seashore was closed. Perplexed, we stopped off at the Merritt Island Visitor Center to figure out why it was closed and also to discover what we could do with our day now that our plans were void. At the visitor center luck began to shift back to our side. We learned that the reason the Canaveral National Seashore was closed was because the last shuttle of the Discovery Missions was due to launch the next day. Apparently they close the area 3 days prior to a launch and though we would not be able to explore this part of the island, a whole new opportunity opened up to us. Also we were happy to learn that Merritt Island had plenty to offer us. First and foremost we were excited to hear that the park had a place where you can see manatees! This is a place where they come during the summer months and thus
were just arriving instead of just leaving like their inland counterparts. The visitor center told us that there was a few of them already and we headed straight there, hoping to catch a glimpse. When we arrived there was a bunch of people standing around, seemingly looking at nothing in the water. We waited about 5 minutes before we spotted one manatee that was sitting in the shallows hiding just out of plain sight. We watched him for a bit before another surfaced near the viewing platform. He was
more active and we watched him bob up and down for about 15 minutes before deciding to move on. Next we decided to take a driving nature trail that took us
back through the coastal swamps. This place was full of wildlife. It was here that we saw the first alligators of our entire trip! Aside from the 15 alligators that we saw along the road we also spotted armadillos, feral pigs, a graveyard of horseshoe crabs, and tons of wild birds,
including the pink hued spoonbill! We took this drive at a very slow pace, keeping our eyes peeled for wildlife around every corner. By the time we finished the loop it was time to head back to my Aunt and Uncle's place for dinner. After the meal we headed to the Indian River just after nightfall hoping to see some dolphins. We didn't have any luck but on the way home we stopped at an ice cream shop and indulged ourselves to make up for it.
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