We remain anchored in the Little Shark River and today we took a 7 mile dinghy ride in the river and the mangrove forest.
The mangroves here are unique (at least in our experience) in that they are huge - 50+ feet. They also block out the sun from any shorter vegetation so there is very little undergrowth under the canopy. When you travel right into the forest via a little creek, it feels very primeval.
There are several places in the Bahamas where people talk about the mangrove forest. For example, on Shroud Cay in the Exuma Park, it is popular to time the tide and dinghy through the mangroves on the northern creek. There and anywhere else we saw them in the Bahamas, we have been underwhelmed by the mangroves. The soil there is so rocky and poor and the land is subject to periodic tropical storms, that everything grows sparse and short. Following are some pictures of Bahamian mangroves to showing a comparison to the Florida mangroves, particularly those at Little Shark.
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| Bahamian Mangroves at Shroud Cay |
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| Little Shark Mangroves |
During our ride we had a dolphin swim under our dinghy and bump the boat. Dolphins, of course, seem to love to play in the bow wake of our sailboat and it happens all the time. But this is the first time one tried to swim with our dinghy. He headed under and turned belly up - next thing we knew we got a solid 'bump' on the bottom of the boat. He then immediately doubled back and made another belly-up pass, not touching this time. We are not sure if he 'miscalculated' his first pass or if he just wanted a more vigorous belly rub.
Our 'neighbors' here so far have included turtles (Loggerheads we think), dolphins, manatees, and a variety of birds. In particular we have gotten some rather close views of several immature ibises; they are distinctive in that they have mottled grey and brown feathers, rather than the pure white of the mature birds.
This area is strikingly beautiful, but it is probably not to every one's taste. It is very desolate and wild. And then there are the insects! There is a bug for every temperature and the no-see-ums seem particularly bad this year (and we have been to this area in May several times before). Last night around 8PM we resorted to turning off all the lights inside the boat and listening to music in the dark until bedtime, something we have never had to do before. We have screens, but it is literally impossible to keep them out entirely.
Tom
Anchored Little Shark River
SW Florida
Via Satellite Phone
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