Lynn and I drove over to the Suwannee River west of Gainesville, Florida last week and stayed for a couple of nights at Fanning Springs State Park in one of their cabins.
Into the Suwannee River – The Manatee Springs run into the Suwannee.
It turns out that April is peak season for Fireflies, at least around here. It’s been many years since we’ve seen any and it was a treat to watch them. On the second night, I set up my camera on a tripod and used the remote control app on my phone to make this photo from the mosquito free comfort of the screened porch at the cabin.
Fireflies 2 – I used my Olympus E-M5 Mark II in Live Composite mode. This is an ~11 minutes total exposure, with ~330 frames at 2 sec, f/2.8, ISO 1600 each. Composited in camera.
We saw other wildlife too, including lots of birds and a few Gulf Sturgeons jumping in Fanning Springs. I managed to catch this snake swimming through the high water at Manatee Springs with my iPhone.
Florida Brown Water Snake – Manatee Springs, Florida
It’s a great time of year for a drive in Central Florida too. We enjoyed the beautiful wildflowers blooming along most of the roads.
Train Track Wildflowers – Next to the Williston, Florida Train Depot
And the farms in the Ocala area along our route are both scenic and idyllic.
Greener Pastures – A cattle ranch near Ocala, Florida
Fanning Springs and Manatee Springs are about 7 miles apart along the Suwannee. Both offer kayaking, and swimming (usually), and many other activities. High water at Fanning closed the swimming when we were there, but Manatee was open.
You can rent kayaks and canoes, and if you put in at Fanning, you can coast with the current down to Manatee. There’s a service that will return you back to your starting point. This sounds like a relaxing paddle to Lynn and I and we plan to try it next time. We’ll have to watch out for the jumping Sturgeons, though. There’s also a pontoon boat tour you can take from the concession at Manatee.
Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog. Now – go enjoy some Florida State Parks and make some photos too!
©2016, Ed Rosack. All rights reserved.
Great photos ed. Looks like you had a great trip. The Fireflies are magnificent. What lens do you use with your Olympus?
Thanks, Jim! I used my Olympus 7-14mm f/2.8 at 7mm for the Firefly photos. It’s the equivalent of 14-28mm on full frame.
Terrific write-up. And wonderful pictures to accompany. The brown snake shot, in particular, is a great capture!
Thank you Rhona. The snake was a grab shot. It was swimming pretty fast and I couldn’t get my big camera set up in time (wrong lens and a filter). So I used my phone.