It's a big deal when fall arrives in Florida. We turn off the AC, open windows, go outside for extended periods, and bask in the sun - like these turtles. Fall only stays for a few days, maybe a week if we're lucky, at first. So we close the windows, turn on the AC again, and seek out shade when outdoors. Fall and summer have a battle of wills for many weeks before winter swoops in to end the bickering.
Anyhow, fall has made a reappearance in north-central Florida, so we're enjoying it while it's here with a day canoeing on the Santa Fe. Yesterday was a day for turtles and turkeys on the river. Turtles were covering most every log they could climb onto. We kept hearing rustling noises in the woods behind the banks, and finally spotted four wild turkeys foraging on a slope down to the river. The bald cypress are turning gold and brown, maples and sweetgums are just starting to turn red and purple. The bald cypress are our southern take on Aldo Leopold's smokey gold of the tamaracks.
There hasn't been much (or any) rain lately, so the water was low, making some fun little "rapids" in the limestone bedded parts of the river. Before we reached the first set of fast-moving water, we stopped at a little spring bubbling up into the river next to the bank. The rapids didn't look too intimidating, so we figured we'd paddle right up them (yes, we were going upstream). About half the way up, we realized we were no longer making forward progress, so I jumped out of the boat and started pulling. The water was nice and clear, so I only bumped my shin into a couple rocks along the way. I jumped back into the canoe just in time upstream of the rapids, as the water was suddenly deep. We encountered several more stretches of fast water, but were able to paddle up them successfully. We ate lunch with a big turtle in a cove where water from the main channel was rushing in, swirling around in a whirlpool fashion, and being sucked down into the aquifer. The paddle back downstream was much more leisurely - only steering required on the way down the rapids!
