Do not feed ducks

But whatever you do, don't feed the ducks. That would be in violation of City of Naples Ordinance Section 26-4(c) ... and we all know that feeding leads to nuisance behavior.

Lowdermilk Park

Collier County has very nice parks, Lowermilk Park being

one of them.

Sea oat

If I'm not mistaken, here's a photo of a sea oat.

Florida statute 161.242

Sea oats are protected in Collier County. They provide habitat and keep the beach dunes stay stable. One day I'll memorize all the statutes. I've always admired the people that can rattle off the statutes by heart.

tourist attraction

Clam Pass get's quite a bit of us: not only by Collier residents, but also by visiting tourists from all over.

White mangrove

Recylced

Clam Pass

Clam Pass can get some tricky currents flowing in from the Gulf. Its a fun place to watch the tide flow in and out of the mangrove channel.

Turbulence

Speaking of strong currents, how about the vertical wind sheer you sometimes feel flying into a cloud. It's always hard to tell from the side windows of the plain whether the clouds ahead are going to be bumpy. I thought this one would bring us some turbulences, but it was a pretty smooth ride all the way through.

Gulf shore beaches

Speaking of strong currents ... that's one thing we typically don't get along the gulfshore beaches of southwest Florida. But currents can be tricky going in and out of the coastal islands.

Strong currents

Always be safe when swimming in any water body, particularly when currents are strong, or you are unfamiliar with the water body. This photo was taken at Collier's Ferry. It was a Sunday and many people were swimming around and jumping from the dock. But flow rates in the river were low: its summer and July rains had been scarce prior to Dolly.

Collier's Ferry, TX

Prior to bridges, the only way to get across the Neches was by ferry, thus the name of this park. The current can be swift at times. Prior to upstream Dam B, it routinely flooded above 30,000 cfs during the spring. That may have made the river impassable. But I would have to check up on that.

Water recreation

But that's not stopping these river recreationalists from having fun. Actually, this photo was taken a few miles downstream of the saltwater barrier at Collier's Crossing.

Do not anchor or dredge

Here's a view of the saltwater barrier from the freshwater side. The sign on the right is a warning not to dredge or anchor, because of the oil and gas pipeline crossing.

Stopping the salt since 2003

If you look closely, you can see the saltwater barrier in the background.

LNVA

Here's the sign along the road leading to the Saltwater Barrier on the Lower Neches River, in Texas. It was built as a joint venture between the US Army Corps of Engineers Galveston District and the Lower Neches Valley Authority.

Another shot of Dam B

Here's a zoomed in photo of Dam B. The river downstream of the dam is managed by Big Thicket National Preserve, a unit of the National Park Service.

Dam B

As promised, here's Dam B. It's managed by the US Army Corps of Engineers Ft Worth District. Interestingly, the Saltwater Barrier 80 miles downstream is managed by the Galveston District.

Bluff View Park, TX

Here's the sign at the bluff that looks over Dam B in Town Bluff, Texas ... along the Neches River. Tomorrow's photo will show you the view.

Sanibel beach

I took this photo from the airplane window, a few minutes before landing at RSW airport in Ft Myers. The way the islands sticks out from the coast apparently causes a gyre in the shallow gulf to the south, which is part of the reason that shelling is so good on the island -- the gyre is like a shell trap.

Windock 2

Wind sock pointing to storm cloud moving in from East onto Ochopee.

Wind sock

The wind sock doesn't lie. The cloud is pulling air towards it from all around.

Two track to water

This road leads to water. Lots of it. I promise!

Galveston, Texas

High above Galveston Bay, but dropping down into Hourston. Dolly would bring it rain within the week that this photo was taken.

One way to beat the rain

The best way to beat the rain is to ride over the clouds. Afternoon clouds rising along the Gulf Coast, somewhere between Florida and Texas, looking north.

Upper atmosphere

Here's a photo taken from an airplane flying along the Gulf Coast, somewhere west of the Florida panhandle. One the ground is a water way, presumably a shipping channel, ... but I'm not sure which one.

Weather station in waiting

weather station at Ochopee

Rita left her mark

Just like southwest Florida has Charley and Wilma. Southeast Texas has Rita ... in the form of lots of fallen trees. Big ones too. This photo is along Beech Woods Trail in Big Thicket National Preserve, in what used to be a text book example of a mature and well-shaded Loblolly-Beech-Magnolia tree forest. Now a lot more light shines through, and more undergrowth beneath the fractured canopy gives the forest a different feel.

Neches at Town Bluff

Looking south down the Neches River, just downstream of Town Bluff Dam, in southeast Texas. You can see "the bluffs" on the right-hand side of the photo, from which the town and the dam were named.

Swamps of Texas

Here's a photo of a cypress forest in eastern Texas, at Big Thicket National Preserve, taken just a few days ago. It's called a bayou, in this case it's called Little Pine Island Bayou -- which is a slow moving creek, that with a good dose of rain, rises up and overflows into the floodplain. And when it rises, watch out! Flood stage can rise ten feet, even higher, during those peak rainfall events.

Stop!

You can't stop the water cycle. Cloud moving in on Ochopee from East.

Watch your step

Stone steps to small creek, in eastern Belgium

Henderson gate

Another photo of the Henderson Creek structure, flowing at almost full capacity. One of the two gates is shut, but water is free-flowing over the spillway to the left, out of sight of the photo.

Flow intersection

Intersection of flows at Henderson Creek, after the storm.

Gumbo

Gumbo limbo in Ochopee

Danger

Cloud forming to east of Ochopee

Storm at beach

Storm clouds move in from east over Naples Beach.

Egrets in dome

Egrets perched at a cypress dome, eyeing fish being corralled into increasingly smaller and smaller pools of water as water levels do their annual disappearing act out of the wet prairies and into the cypress domes and strands.

Gators on log

Gators are a common site along the 25 miles scenic journey down Big Cypress National Preserve's Loop Road. Loop Road was Monroe's portion of the original attempt to build the Tamiami Trail. When Barron Collier took control of the effort he connected the Naples to Miami roadway to the north through Collier County. Monroes section was completed a few years later to form Loop Road.

Ortona spillway

Caloosahatchee's S78 Ortona Dam in action in mid October 2008.

Moore Haven spillway

The S77 is the modern day headwater source of the Caloosahatchee River. It feeds flows from Lake Okeechobee into the river. The lock next to the dam provides navigational access from coast to coast across Florida between Ft Myers and Stuart.

Ortona lock

Tailwater doors at the Ortona lock are opened to allow a boat to pass downstream. Special sensors on the locks help protect manatees. Seven feet of water was released from the chamber to drop the boat to tailwater river stage.

Bridge 66

The hydrostation at Bridge 66 is located along US41 in Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve. Its data record extends back to the early 1990s, and was recently renovated by the SFWMD so it can be tracked remotely using telemetry.

Rainy Season's last sigh

Summer showers are nearing an end. Here's a photo of a recent cumulonimbus incus cloud rising in the east, heading towards Naples

Boardwalk at Corkscrew

A recent rise in water levels makes bid to end the "Year without a Wet Season" on a soggy note

Shark Valley Tower

The viewing tower at the end of Everglades National Park's Shark Valley Tram is a great place to view the vast sweep of the Everglades. Wetland water atage in Shark River Slough is at a 17-yr September low-water mark due to below average rainfall and upstream discharges through the S12 structures.

Raccoon Point

Raccoon Point is located in Big Cypress National Preserve just a few miles from the L28 levee, the eastern limit of Water Conservation Area 3A. Big Cypress National Park Service and the South Florida Water Management District cooperatively maintain the hydrologic monitoring station in the background.

Alligator Alley

Aerial view of I75 looking north in the 35 mile reach that it passes Big Cypress National Preserve. I75 was built over SR84, dubbed "Alligator Alley", in the 1980s. Culverts, bridges, and spreader canals were added make the road corridor "invisible" to flow.

Bridge 105

This photo shows an aerial view of the Tamiami Trail looking south, in the eastern portion of Big Cypress National Preserve, at Bridge 105. Bridge 105 contains the oldest hydrologic monitoring station in the preserve, with a period of record beginning in the 1950s shortly after the establishment of downstream Everglades National Park.

S335

This photo was taken at the S335 water control structure near Dade Corners, looking upstream along the L30 canal. The levee on the right side of the photo forms the eastern edge of Water Conservation Area 3B.