3/28 Back at St. Lucie Lock & Dam

I'm back at St. Lucie Lock & Dam for a couple of weeks.  It's never boring here because there are always different and interesting boats going through the locks.  

First, some of the boats going through the locks. 

This tugboat has gone through several times, mostly pushing barges full of equipment.

 

This boat spent the night in the river because it missed the lock's closing time.  I thought it was cute!  

There were also several boats tied up in the campground boat area.  Each has electric and water service. 

This building is rented out for family events, but the boats who are parked here for several days, also use it as a group meeting area.  There is a fire pit and grill here also. 

This time I got one of the three sites overlooking the river.  Nice view!  My rig is in the middle.

 

 

There are also three tent camping sites.  

 

No one home in this gopher tortoise den right now.  

 

Someone is home in this burrow.  There were at least 10 burrows in this small campground!  

 

Adult gopher tortoises have a shell about 12-14" long and 6-8" wide.  They are a lot taller than river turtles, and almost never need to drink water.  They will spend all their lives in woodsy areas with easy to dig in sand for their burrows.  They are federally protected because a lot of other animals use their old burrows for homes.  They live about 75 to 90 years.  

 

You can easily recognize a gopher tortoise home by the pile of sand in front of it.  This guy was suspicious of having his picture taken. 

 

This guy was on his way in a hurry.   It is surprising how fast they can move. 

Notice that he or she is eating something orange.  I came back later and took this photo of some kind of palm fruits that he had been eating. 

Notice in the photo above that some are brown and others are orange and ripe.  She/he seemed to be enjoying this orange one that was ripe. 

A close-up of the fruits under the tree. 

 

And this is the palm tree they had come from.  

I had noticed an old road or hiking path at the far end of the campground that followed the river, so on one slightly cooler day, I decided to walk down it.  Following are some photos of that walk, which turned out to be 2/3 of a mile each way--a lot longer than I had expected! 

Can you see the transparent wings on this guy?

At the end was a boat docking area for a nearby subdivision. 

The walking did not bother me that day, but after a long drive the next day, I could barely walk because of my sore muscles.