St. Johns River Shipwreck #1

I came across this sunken boat that had washed up against the seawall in Lake Monroe along the Sanford Riverwalk. I've always found shipwrecks, even with relatively small boats like this, to be both intriguing and creepy at the same time. What's the story behind what caused the boat to go down? Who did it belong to? What happened to the rest of the boat? And then there's the creepiness of having a large, mostly submerged object, just sitting there in the dark water, creaking with the currents.


A few months ago, I noticed a few sailboats that had sank a few hundred feet off shore. They were gone when I came across this boat. Perhaps this is part of one?

Weeki Wachee Springs

These pictures were taken several years ago at Weeki Wachee Springs, located in Spring Hill, FL. No mermaids are in these pictures, but there are some manatees, wood storks, pelicans, fish, and raccoons along the park's boat tour going up the river...

Cypress Garden's Old Garden Railroad

Cypress Gardens is an amusement park in Winter Garden, FL. The park originally opened in 1936 as a botanical garden, and expanded from there with water ski shows, various exhibits, animals, and eventually a few small rides. The park survived until 2003 when Cypress Gardens went bankrupt and closed for a while. Luckily, the park had generated enough interest to attract a buyer who rebuilt and reopened the park with some major changes. A few roller coasters along with various other rides were added. This seemed to have saved the park from closing, but some of the best parts of the old version of the park didn't make it into the updated version. One example of this was the boat ride that would float through the canals weaving through the park's botanical gardens. Another example was this great garden railroad...



Since the construction of this railroad uses lots of natural materials in it's structures, it leads me to believe this was built by a company called Applied Imagination. Many of their other model train layouts appear to be similar to the one Cypress Gardens had, such as this one in the New York Botanical Gardens.


If I remember correctly from when I took these pictures, the buildings in the garden railway are modeled after actual buildings in Florida. I believe this is supposed to be the University of Tampa with it's onion domes. Could the lighthouse be the St Augustine Lighthouse?

Public School Number Four...

Public School Number Four is an abandoned building in Downtown Jacksonville that has always intrigued me. The former school has wonderful brick architecture and a columned entrance. It has been abandoned for as long as I can remember and like any long abandoned building, it has gained some ghost stories. Books have nicknamed the building as "The Devil's School" to go along with the associated ghost stories.

I don't know the whole history behind the school and why it was let to rot for decades, but my guess it had something to do with I-95 being twenty feet away from the front entrance. It's still a shame to let such a beautiful (and probably historic) building rot away, although I probably wouldn't be inclined to take pictures when riding by if the school wasn't in it's current state...

Cape Florida Lighthouse

The Cape Florida Lighthouse is located on Key Biscayne, just outside of Downtown Miami. The 95 foot tower has wonderful view of the surrounding state park, the Atlantic Ocean, Downtown Miami, Stiltsville, as well as the rest of the surrounding areas. The lighthouse is in Bill Baggs State Park, which has some really nice beaches, as well as some good waterfront restaurants...

Shipwrecks in the Florida Keys

Florida is surrounded by water. Boats travel on this water. Boats sink. When that happens, they end up like these shipwrecks and abandoned boats in the Florida Keys...

These two abandoned boats were on the side of the road in Key Largo. They were probably recently pulled from the water...


This sunken sailboat was in a cove nearby the Islamorada Fish Company restaurant. It probably floated free in a hurricane and sunk here.

Loggerhead Shrike Chicks

While biking along the Seminole Wekiva Trail along International Parkway in Lake Mary, Florida, I came across two young birds that must have fell out of a nest. They couldn't fly, and just sat chirping in the middle of the pavement. On the way back, I found another pair that were in the grass just off of the trail. From the look of these birds, my initial thought was that they could be baby Chickadees. After looking through some more bird books, and having corrections emailed and left as comments, these birds are actually baby Loggerhead Shrikes.

The mother wasn't around, and I didn't see any nest. I wasn't quite sure what to do with these birds. I ended up leaving them alone after I took pictures. Hopefully the birds survive, although it's probably quite unlikely.

















Youtube Video:

Sulphur Springs Water Tower

The Sulphur Springs Water Tower is a mysterious castle-like tower along the shore of the Hillsborough River. The water tower provided water for the town of Sulphur Springs. Sulphur Springs was once a town that was located north of Tampa, Florida. The town had started to evolve into a tourist attraction and built an alligator farm. There were plans for an amusement park, then the Great Depression hit, and all of the plans fell through, and the town slowly died.

Today, most of what remains of Sulphur Springs sits abandoned, as a reminder of the past...

Follow the link for more:
LINK: Sulphur Springs Water Tower

Citrus From the Past...

Along the Seminole Wekiva Trail, somewhere in Sanford, Florida, I came across this little historical marker...



The sign said...

Citrus Packing House:
The Umatilla Fruit Company was located here besides the Sanford and Lake Eustis Railroad Tracks and served the citrus industry that flourished in the Paola/Sylvan Lake area.

The Seminole Wekiva Trail was built on top of abandoned railroad tracks. You occasionally get little glimpses of the past from signs like these, a random railroad tie on the side of the trail, or even old railroad trestles.

Right across from this sign on the opposite side of the trail, this gift for patrons of the trail was set up with free oranges, tangerines, and kumquats. Could this fruit be from some leftover trees from when the citrus industry in the area was centered around this spot?




The fruit was in front of this old tin-roofed house. Could this be an old building leftover from the citrus packing house as well?