Snake Dance in Osprey, Florida

Friday, August 1, 2014

It was an early afternoon arrival for us at Oscar Scherer State Park located in Osprey, Florida.  Osprey is just a few miles south of Sarasota.  It was a sweltering hot Florida summer day.  The piercing heat brought an immediate sweat to anyone outside.  So, I was going to take my time setting up the campsite with  occasional relief breaks inside the cool comfort of our air conditioned camper.

Here's our camper on site #99 (note all the foliage around the campsite)

 I had only one chore left after unhooking the camper from the truck,  hooking up the electrical connections, and cranking the stabilizing jacks down. I needed to hook up the water hose to the camper.  But, the water spigot was about twenty feet from the camper and was almost totally obscured by the thick underbrush surrounding our campsite. As I bent down to get my head under a low hanging palm frond, I stretched out my long arms and was barely able to connect the water hose.  While doing this, I couldn't help thinking about some of the recent articles in the news about people being bitten by a brown recluse spider.  A spider could easily be hiding in the palm frond I was ducking under, and drop down the back of my shirt. I chuckled to myself thinking I wasn't even getting hazardous duty pay for this job!

But, all went well and I wiped the sweat from my forehead as I returned to the cooling comfort of the camper.  We had some refreshments and a light lunch while waiting for the outdoor temperature to moderate a little so we could do some exploring.  We talked about hiking some of the many trails here at Oscar Scherer, or spending all of our time on some of the many splendid beaches in this area, or renting a kayak and paddle down the South Creek. We are only here for the weekend, and won't have enough time to do everything.  The problem with walking the trails was the searing heat, and the problem with swimming in the gulf was the possibility of encountering the flesh eating bacteria.  There have been 44 cases of this in Florida with two fatalities.  But, we could relax on the beach and not go into the water.

We didn't make any final decision, but decided to take a short drive around the park and get the lay of the land.  South Creek runs through the park, and there is Lake Osprey, a small lake for those that want to take a chance.  We saw several signs warning swimmers of the alligators that call this lake home!

South Creek is ideal for canoeing and kayaks which can be rented at the ranger station. 

Kitty, Kallie (our standard poodle), and I were getting overheated from the brief walk by Osprey lake and the nature center.  So, we headed back to the camper to wait a little longer.  After about an hour, Kitty got up and opened the camper door to see if the temperature was more conducive to being outside.  Then, she started yelling, "Craig!  Come here!  Come here quick!  You've got to see this!"  I sprang out of my chair and made a quick step toward the door.  I could tell by the tone of her voice there was something out there I probably didn't want to see.  Kitty and Kallie were both blocking the narrow camper door, and Kitty was frantically trying to hold Kallie back.  I pushed my way through them and immediately saw why both of them were so excited.

A humongous snake was slowly making his way through our campsite.  Darn! My camera was in the truck!  No time to get it! I quickly grabbed my cell phone and hit the camera button as I stealthfully stepped out of the camper.

I quickly took this shot.  It was hard to get his entire body in the picture!

I could hear Kitty encouraging me to "get closer!  Get closer!"  After 33 years of being trained to do everything she tells me to do, I took two cautious steps forward thinking I could get a better shot if I jumped on top of the picnic table.  But, the snake saw me and that's when it happened.  It rattled!  That horrifying sound of a rattle snake struck immediate cold blooded fear throughout my entire body.  I could see the snake coiling his nearly six foot body into a strike position and his pointed head with beady eyes staring at me.  In a nano second, my body trembled in fear.  I couldn't hear anything except that awful rattle and my brain screaming "RUN SIMMONS RUN!!  My knees began to shake making a sound almost as fearful as the snake!  My heart was pounding so hard it beat the air out of my lungs!.  My eyes were the size of a Florida watermelon, and I had a sudden urge to mess my clothing while every muscle in my body stiffened in fear.

I turned and in a single bound jumped the ten feet back into the camper.  Thank God the door was open or I would have gone right through it!  I yelled to Kitty, "did you hear it!  Did you hear it!"  "Hear what?" she shouted.  "That rattle!  That rattle!  That awful rattle! That was a damn rattle snake!"  "I didn't hear it", she replied.  "I can't believe it! I can't believe it", she kept saying while shaking her head in disbelief.  "You can't believe what?" I screamed still terrorized by the sound that rattle.  "That snake dance you just did!!"