While on vacation with my family in Key Largo, Florida, I managed to sneak away for some solitude in the mangroves. The feeling of being enclosed by the mangroves was both liberating and claustrophobic at the same time, as it felt like the mangroves continued wihout any limits.
This was the start of the Mangrove Trail at John Pennenkamp State Park in Key Largo.
In the Florida Keys, the red mangrove prop roots creates a protective barrier along the coast lines as the prop roots stabilize the trees in the mud. The roots also help filter pollutants.
I was surprised to find so many colors in between the mangroves, and the sun's rays played through the upper layers to create a magical mood.
The mangrove leaves fall all-year round, and they quickly decompose in the muddy water, where they provide food for the small organisms living in the water. These are in return a food source for fish and shell fish, which provide great nutrients for birds and people in the local area.
The tidal creeks among the mangroves changes direction and speed with the rise and fall of the tide.
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Comments: 22
I bet! This is beautiful~
Wow...great pictures... thanks for sharing your experience with us
What a wonderful place to walk and explore! Your photos are wonderful!
That one picture, towards the end, is that a seed, or fruit?
They are very interesting trees to see, thanks for sharing your visit with them~
P;
the one with the long dangly things are seeds, known as pods in Mangroves.
You took great pictures
whast a wonderful stroll through the mangroves. I really enjoyed the knotty trees! Great work> Hope all are well in your world! :P
Wonderful pictures! You always are going so many places.
Great photo essay very well done thanks !
Lovely photo essay! Thanks for taking us along on the walk.
Looks like a beautiful place. I have never been that far south in Florida, but I can't wait!
J;
you have done a wonderful job here.
I've lived in Florida most of my life, most of the time across a hundred yards of creek from a huge complex of Mangroves, that man and boy I fished, wandered, and knew well, and I miss them terribly.
When I moved to NW Florida, which I love, one of the greatest disappointments was that up here the Mangroves, or what passes for them don't smell, look or SOUND right.
At home there was a bird that made almost exactly the same noise that Captain Kirk's old communicator made when you opened it.
not here.
Beautiful pictures.
what a wonderful place to have some me time
Pretty nature area!
I remember a very special day in the keys years ago with my daughter, nephews and sister in law. Very memorable!
What a lovely walk you had - thanks for sharing it!
Looks like a beautiful place
Beautiful photos
Beautiful photos. I am looking at the water, though, and thinking about alligators. I just finished reading Don't Look Down, and alligators figured prominently in the story, so...
Mangroves are beautiful trees, but they freak me out, because of the bottoms, and what might be hiding there!
It looks like a beautiful place to explore!