Hontoon Island State Park, Deland, Florida

Got up this morning to cloudy skies, still warm air. By 8:30, the storm had arrived. Winds, thunder and lightening, lots of rain. Luckily this dock is well-protected and secure, we sat on the back deck of the boat, drank our coffee and watched the storm. By about 9:30 the main storm had passed and we just had rain until late morning. After lunch, we hiked the trails in the park. Hontoon Island State Park is 1648 acres of parkland, with hiking trails, campgrounds and cabins. On one side there is a shell mound, similar to the one we saw on Snead Island. We hiked most of the trails, then went to the shell mound, it is quite large. The ranger told us that there are pygmy rattle snakes here, so we did wear long pants and closed shoes. The pygmy rattlers are apparently only about 8" long and look like a stick on the path, so we walked very carefully and looked where we were going. Only once did something slither off the path as we passed, it may have been a different kind of snake. There was a bear and cub on the island a couple of months ago, but no one has seen her lately. Did see several squirrels and an armadillo, many birds. Also saw deer tracks, but no deer. Saw several trees that looked like they had just fallen over, assuming the wind this morning brought them down.
After our hike, took the dinghy out for a run, saw another crocodile, many fish jumping. Saw more trees down. We went up the Hontoon Dead River for a few miles, beautiful area. It is state park on one side and wildlife refuge on the other, so no buildings. Unspoiled seems a good word for it. One thing we have remarked upon since we left home is that we have not seen bugs, and we are quite pleased about that. However, we are now seeing them. The past few days we have shad flies covering the boat when lights are on, and the mosquitoes have found us. Hopefully once we head north again we will get ahead of them.
Saw an alligator swimming in the river, he dived just as we approached. Sitting on the back deck of the boat, saw one swimming by.

This is a beautiful place, and we are quite pleased with how protected we were during the storm. Unfortunately it is time to leave, will go to Munroe Harbour at Sanford tomorrow.


some huge trees along the trail



the armadillo

this electric ferry, operated by a park ranger, takes people to and from the island state park

Hontoon Dead River; this greenstuff on the water is actually all kinds of tiny green leaves that in places start to grow bigger leaves. ?Part of the water hyacinths, we don't know.

The end of a beautiful day