Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Boating on the Dora Canal


We finally had a reasonably warm day and decided to take the pontoon boat out and explore the Dora Canal. This beautiful waterway connects Lake Eustis and Lake Dora on the Harris Chain of Lakes. Orinda and Cody are ready to go, but first, we had to transit Haines Creek seen below.


Haines Creek is a beautiful ride itself. It is about 3 miles from Dad's house and dock to the mouth of the Creek on Lake Eustis. As you can see, this is somewhat wild and filled with wildlife.


Haines Creek is an open river system -- but the Dora Canal, above, is cut right through a cypress swamp and you are really in the wild. This is an amazing boat ride and in fact, there are several commercial operators that give rides. However, we had no problem as Rick eased the pontoon through.
Orinda and Erica had a great time watching for birds and wildlife, although it was still too cool for alligators. Cody did not seem to be impressed at all! The canal is about 3 miles long and is about 3 to 6 feet deep.

Birds are everywhere and are used to the boats cruising up and down, so you can get a great view. This great blue heron gave us a wonderful closeup as he took off from a log in the water. Amazing!


No comments: