Travel with Tribbles: On the canal, jumping mullet and Olympic kayakers

We are on another Corps of Engineers park on the canal from Lake Okeechobee to the Atlantic. There is a damn here to control the lake level and a lock for boat traffic. We are on the fresh water side of the damn, the lock drops the boats down 15 feet to the tidal salt water side. This park has only 9 rv sites and 6 boat slips, tough to get a reservation, after 4 years of trying finally got 2 weeks this year. Our site is on the water with a nice patio to watch all the activity.

The canal has schools of mullet, interesting to watch them jump out of the water. My observation is that the average mullet makes a run of three consecutive jumps, occasionally one will make 4 jumps, probably a youngster, once in awhile just one jump, maybe a senior? Fun to watch.

The German Olympic kayak team trains on the canal here for most of Jan and Feb. There are about a dozen members here. They arrive early every morning and usually have about 3 sessions a day. Their coach follows them in a small motored Zodiac boat. Have talked to several of them, the team members are Army, policeman and some students. They fly home to Germany tomorrow, spend a week there then fly to Spain for 6 more weeks of training, say they love coming to Fl.

That's our routine here, watching mega yachts going through the locks, bs'ing with the rv'ers/boaters, checking out the alligators/ birds and mullet jumping . Doesn't take much to entertain Octagenarians.