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and  Jack Woodward

Here is the link for the University of North Florida.

http://www.unf.edu

A little brief note that won't appear here anymore after this posting. I have had a request to provide a link to a website for truck stuff. Here is the link. After this posting it will appear in the other links at the bottom of the page.

TRUCK STUFF

http://www.truckchamp.com/

Hey Y'all

On Saturday the 24th, Dot and I made our first trip to the Silver River which has as its source Silver Springs, which of course we have all heard about. Here is a neat little history lesson on Silver Springs.

First off, it is the largest artesian spring in the world issuing 550 million gallons of water a day at 99.8% purity. Pretty impressive.

There are seven major spring formations at the headwaters which are up to 80 feet deep.

I'm sure most of us have heard of the monkeys at Silver Springs and that they are leftovers from the Tarzan movies made there, right? Not so according to what we heard the boat tour guides telling the paying customers. One of the people who first started the glass-bottomed boat stuff decided he needed an added attraction for his customers. So he bought 6 rhesus monkeys and put them on an island. Unknown to him rhesus monkeys are excellent swimmers and quickly escaped the island and started to populate the surrounding woods area. There are now several troops of monkeys in the surrounding area. So now we know. 

Colonel Tooey, a concessionaire who operated the Jungle Cruise boat ride, established the first troop of wild rhesus monkeys on an island in the Silver River. Tooey established the colony to attract visitors to his ride. He did not realize the rhesus monkeys were excellent swimmers. They quickly escaped, forming wild troops along the river. 1930s

I suspect a lot of you know that some of the Tarzan movies were made at Silver Springs. Here is the lowdown on the movie and TV stuff.

1932-1942 Six of the original Tarzan movies, starring Johnny Weissmuller, were filmed on location at Silver Springs. 

1958-1961 More than 100 episodes of "Sea Hunt," starring Lloyd Bridges, were filmed at Silver Springs. 

The horror movie classic “Creature From The Black Lagoon,

Since the 1940s, many movies have been shot in and around Silver Springs’ main spring area including “The Yearling” starring Gregory Peck and Jane Wyman, “Distant Drums” with Gary Cooper, “Underwater” starring Jane Russell and Richard Egan, “Blindfold” with Rock Hudson and Claudia Cardinale, “Never Say Never Again” starring Sean Connery, and “Smokey & The Bandit 3” with Jackie Gleason. 

And here is the complete list of movies made there.

Year Title Stars 

1916 The Seven Swans 

Richard Barthelmess Marguerite Clark 

1932 Tarzan The Ape-Man 

Johnny Weissmuller Maureen O'Sullivan 

1934 Tarzan and His Mate 

Johnny Weissmuller Maureen O'Sullivan 

1936 Tarzan Escapes 

Johnny Weissmuller Maureen O'Sullivan 

1939 Tarzan Finds A Son  

Johnny Weissmuller Maureen O'Sullivan 

1941 Tarzan's Secret Treasure 

Johnny Weissmuller Maureen O'Sullivan 

1942 Tarzan's New York Adventure 

Johnny Weissmuller Maureen O'Sullivan 

1946 The Yearling 

Gregory Peck  Jane Wyman 

1951 Barefoot Mailman  

Robert Cummings Terry Moore 

1951 Distant Drums  

Gary Cooper  

1953 Javiro 

Fernando Lamas Arlene Dahl 

1954 Creature From The Black Lagoon 

Richard Carlson Julia Adams 

1955 Jupiter's Darling 

Esther Williams Howard Keel 

1955 Underwater 

Jane Russell Richard Egan 

1955 Rebel Without A Cause 

James Dean Natalie Wood 

1955 Revenge Of The Creature  

John Agar Lori Nelson 

1959 Don't Give Up The Ship 

Jerry Lewis 

1965 Thunderball 

Sean Connery 

1966 Blindfold 

Rock Hudson Claudia Cardinale 

1979 Moonraker 

Roger Moore 

1983 Cross Creek 

Mary Steenburgen Rip Torn 

1983 Smokey & The Bandit "3" 

Jackie Gleason 

1983 Never Say Never Again 

Sean Connery 

1985 Legend 

Tom Cruise 

2005 Hoot 

Jimmy Buffet 

2005 IMAX Film/Louisana Wetlands 

Who the heck woulda thought eh?

But it doesn't stop there.

Major Television Shows/Specials and Commercials 
Shot at Silver Springs

Year Title Stars 

1951-59 You Asked For It Art Baker 

1958-61 Sea Hunt Lloyd Bridges 
1958-1961 More than 100 episodes of "Sea Hunt," starring Lloyd Bridges, were filmed at Silver Springs.

1950s The Arlene Francis Show Arlene Francis 

1960s The Jack Paar Show Jack Paar 

1960s Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom Marlin Perkins 

1960s I Spy Bill Cosby 
Robert Culp 

1960s Make A Wish 

1960s "Night Creatures"
National Geographic 

1960s One Life To Live (soap opera) 

1960s Waterproof Band Aids commercial
Johnson & Johnson 

1960s Outboard motors commercial
Mercury Motors 

1960s Fishing tackle commercial
Dupont 

I thought this last one was pretty funny considering what we heard one of the tour guides telling the paying  customers, that if someone is caught with fishing tackle on the Silver River, first they take all your fishing gear. Then they take your boat. Then they take the trailer you brought the boat in on. Fishing is not allowed on the Silver River.

1970s Alien Animals of Florida 

1979 240 Robert Mark Harmon 

1980s Silk industry commercial 

1994 SeaQuest Roy Scheider 

1995 "Beyond 2000"
Discovery Channel 

1996 "Next Step"
Discovery Channel 

1996 Financial investments commercial
Dean Witter 

1996 "Springs of North Florida"
National Geographic 

1996 "Alligators & Crocodiles"
National Geographic 

1997 "Big Cypress Gator"
Discovery Channel 

1998 "Ultimate Guide to Crocodiles"
Discovery Channel 

1999 "Crocodile Hunter" (Steve Irwin)
Discovery Channel 

2001 Wrigley’s Chewing Gum TV commercial 

2002 "Ice Age Oasis”
Wild New World (BBC-TV) 

2005 Coca-Cola Commercial 

Now I am duly impressed !  Aren't we all?

And as they say in Hollywood . . . On with the show !

As far as the videos go, both Dot and I are learning what works and what doesn't. Since Dot is the 'main videographer' and I am the 'main' computer type that gets them onto the website, we are both learning a lot about the ins and outs of videography. So bear with us. If you have any comments or critiques please feel free to pass them along. Dot and I are both on a learning curve and any input from our viewers can only help. 

One day I will figure out how to remember the difference between a cormorant and an anhinga. They are both diving birds that are a common sight in Florida. And I think the only noteworthy difference between the two is one has a straight bill and one has a slight hook on the end of its bill. I 'think' this is an anhinga. I'm hoping Donna will straighten me out if I'm wrong. As most of you know, I rely upon Donna Bear-Hull, Curator of Birds at the Jacksonville Zoo for my bird photos and upon Chuck Hubbuch, our campus horticulturist for the plant stuff.

The Silver River is indeed a very scenic river.

Dot's Video

An egret at the top of a very tall tree.

Paddling upstream.

Let me introduce Dirk van-Luling. Dirk is 'on loan' to us from someplace and is working with Facilities Planning. Dirk has been in Florida for a whole 4 weeks and this was his first kayak outing in Florida. We hope it will be a memorable one.

At first I thought this was a limpkin, now I am not so sure. I think it could be an immature ibis. Donna?

Dot's Video.

Turtles are abundant on this river. We saw a hundred or so.

The monkeys of Silver Springs are alive and well as you will see. This was a pretty neat treat to see these monkeys. 

A mother and child. We saw a LOT of babies. A LOT !!

Dot's Video. A baby grooming its' mother.

Some more of the turtles.

A great blue heron on the hunt.

We only saw 4 or 5 gators. Dirk took one look and said, cool, and he left.  Dot and I have agreed we have to take Dirk to Okeefenokee Swamp to help him get past his little fear of gators.

This is the headwaters of Silver River, the Silver Springs. Jeezel, what a tourist trap. I mean what a tourist attraction. It wouldn't have been too bad except for the live southern band that was playing and was booming out noise. After paddling up a quiet (almost), pristine river this was a rude comeback to 'civilization'. I say almost, because a lot of people have gotten in the tour boat business. We saw at least a dozen or so double pontoon tour boats. Hack Hack Cough Cough. Stinky gas fume emitters. We have decided to not come up here in the summer time. Fortunately for us and the environment, all the tour boats you see here operated by the Silver Springs area are battery operated . . quiet and . . NO FUMES !

We couldn't believe these birds were nesting right across from the main park area. I guess they must like people noise.

Another of the gators we saw. This guy was only about 4 feet long.

This is a wild iris growing along the river. It turns out this is one of Dot's favorite flowers. Blue is Dot's favorite color, so go figure.

Another of the gators we saw.

Like I said it is a very scenic river for kayaking.

Another monkey stop on the way back downstream. They are cute.

Dot's Video.

Near the end of our paddle. And what a paddle it turned out to be. On the way upstream there was one spot where the 'standing waves' from the current were about 5-6 inches high, almost making white-caps. So we were looking forward to the trip and easy float back downstream to the take-out. HA !

On the way downstream we had a 15-20 mph wind in our face that was actually blowing us back upstream against the current. So we ended up paddling in both directions. Nobody ever said life was fair, right? And it turned out to be a 12 mile round trip. UGH !!

It was a long way down to the Silver River, 85 miles or so from Dot's house in Switzerland. But it sure was worth the long drive. Seeing the monkeys was pretty unique. We also saw two otters. Well I saw one, but Dot saw two. Still an otter is an otter. So for wildlife, Silver River is pretty close to a 10.

Enjoy !!!

P.S. 

If you want me to ADD your name/email address to my emaillist when I add new photos to this website, email me at the address below and I will gladly add your name and address. If your name is already on the list, no problem.

Email to Jack Woodward      mailto:  jackwoodward66@hotmail.com

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