Lens Artist Challenge – Nature

Last year, we took a tour boat ride down the Peace River for a day of relaxation. We were quite surprised at how much we didn’t know about Florida wildlife. It was a fun day. We plan to do it again.

Florida Gator out for lunch

According to our guides Captain Jeff and his First Mate Lisa, ibis, roseate spoonbills and alligators are native to warm climates and Florida. The information they imparted on our tour was both historic and humorous. He did manage a few tall tales along the way. 

His constant companion, Rusty, made himself comfy for a little relaxing snooze.

The sun reflected its’ warm rays on the calm waters as we traveled down the Peace River to hidden estuaries into undisturbed corners of nature. 

When Ponce de Leon discovered these waters, he’d penned the name Rio de Paz. It was later changed to the English translation of Peace River. Juan Ponce de Leon was a Spanish conquistador and explorer who led the first European expedition to Florida. 

In the distance, you can see white Ibis nesting among the mangroves. An Ibis is a gregarious wading bird with a downward curving beak.

During Hurricane Charlie, back in 2004, many of the wildlife shelters along these shores were damaged and destroyed. The banyan tree, native to India and part of the mulberry family, is an enormous tree with many uses.

Young plants put forth roots, which form secondary trunks to support the expansive limbs. These trunks send out more roots until they crowd out the host tree.

Fish and small birds, nest and take shelter in these roots. The leaves of the banyan tree are large, leathery, and used as animal fodder. The tree produces figs which are popular with birds and monkeys, and also produces flowers that attract wasps for pollination.

As we all know, every would-be pirate needs a good ship, and Blackbeard had one of the best. The Queen Anne’s Revenge was a monstrous converted slaver ship, packing 40 cannons with room for dozens of murderous pirates. This mighty pirate ship could go toe-to-toe with any armed merchantman. On board her decks, Blackbeard terrorized the Caribbean. 

There’s a tale that Blackbeard wanted to hide many of the treasures he’d amassed. As you can see by the photos, this is very dense foliage along these waters. To find the locations of where he’d buried his booty he would plant a palm tree. Palm trees do not grow along the water’s edge. They have to be planted. There are a great many people that, even today, search for Blackbeard’s treasures which are said to still be hidden somewhere in this dense foliage.  

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Lens Artists Photo Challenge # 33 – Nature

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Tags: #Blackbeard, #estuaries, #LensArtistsPhotoChallenge, #peaceriver, #photography, Florida, nature, outdoors, pirates, tour

• February 16, 2019
• Lens-Artists Photo Challenge, My Photo's, Photography
• 13 Comments