Houseboating Adventures - Issue 18 - (Page 60)

D Dolphins & Dock Holiday. DOLPHINS are complex, social and intelligent. You will see them frequently, particularly in the Barrier Islands area. Dolphins will swim near boats and exhibit playful behavior, but it is important to respect dolphins as wild and not try to touch or feed them. If you hold out food to a dolphin they may grab it and bite your hand. If you want a photo of dolphins, you’ll need incredible patience and luck because they are rarely visible at any predictable location or any extended period of time. DOCK HOLIDAY is located at Orange Park right near Jacksonville and is the base for houseboating on the lower St Johns. This area is particularly social with some terrific restaurants located near the marina and easily reached by the Gibson houseboats that are rented there. Be sure to ask Monty Murphy about the history of this area and about the pirates who frequented this part of the river. E Estuaries. upstream. The near-shore Gulf waters of the Suwannee Sound, rich with nutrients from the river create excellent habitat for fish, shrimp and shellfish and attracts thousands of shorebirds such as herons, egrets and diving ducks feed in the marshes, tidal flats and oyster bars. Raptors, including osprey, bald eagles, red-shouldered hawk and the seasonal swallow-tailed kites, sail the skies above the river and Gulf. East Pass, a broad, winding arm of the river populated with tall cypress, is a nesting area for osprey, while both osprey and bald eagles nest in the old growth trees of the tiny Islands dotting the shallow nearshore Gulf waters. Farther south near the Keys, Florida Bay is a shallow inner-shelf lagoon located at the southern end of the south Florida watershed. It is an area where fresh water from the everglades mixes with the salty waters from the Gulf of Mexico to form an estuary that is surrounded by mangroves forests and encompasses over 200 mangrove islands. Its nearly 1,000 square miles of interconnected basins, grassy mud banks, and mangrove islands are nesting, nursery, and/or feeding grounds for a host of marine animals: the American crocodile, the West Indian manatee, the loggerhead turtle, bottlenose dolphins, a variety of bird species and many gamefish. Florida's ESTUARIES are those special areas along the Florida coast where the freshwater from the land meets and mixes with the saltwater of the sea. From a biological standpoint, these waters are among the most productive on the planet. In fact, nearly 70 percent of the fish in the tropics and subtropics rely on our estuaries as nurseries for their young or as habitat for mature fish at some time in their lives. Estuaries where you will find houseboating include those of the St Johns River, Charlotte Harbor, Suwannee River and Florida Bay. One of the largest undeveloped delta-estuarine systems in the United States, the Suwannee River area is protected by the 52,935-acre Lower Suwannee Wildlife Refuge. The refuge was established in 1979 and covers both sides of the Suwannee River upriver for almost fifteen miles and 26 miles of Gulf habitat. The overall goal of the refuge is to provide optimum conditions to manage and protect the natural heritage of the area, while giving as much public access as possible. The diverse blending of natural zones at the confluence of the Suwannee River estuary and the Gulf of Mexico creates an unusually rich wildlife environment. Largely undisturbed by development and protected by the Lower Suwannee Wildlife Refuge the area is home to over 250 species of bird, reptiles such as turtles, sturgeon and bottlenose dolphin, which may venture a mile or two )6B@" A05("%C&5AB9&@

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Houseboating Adventures - Issue 18

Houseboating Adventures - Issue 18 Editor's Desk Desert Ritual River Dream Boatel 2007 Top Houseboating Accessories 2007 Impact Design of the Year 2007 Comeback Company of the Year Florida A-Z The Perfect Florida Houseboat Under Thirty Feet? Adventure Guide

Houseboating Adventures - Issue 18

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