Cypress Gardens (2.0 miles; d=2.05)
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Pulling into the parking lot a handful of these massive old cypress stumps were scattered around...
Cypress Gardens Visitor Center
The visitor center is small but packed with a ton of info and stuff to buy concerning the area...
Cypress Gardens Visitor Center
Exiting the visitor center you have the option of looking through a number of buildings which display local wildlife...
Our first stop was at the butterfly house which housed a beautiful variety of plant life, birds, and of course butterflies...
By far the most common butterfly in the house was this one...a Zebra Longwing. They're occasional visitors to extreme southern coastal South Carolina...
This beautiful little Julia was nicely posing on its namesake sign...
This little dove was one of only a couple birds we saw in the butterfly house, but it was by far the best posed for pictures...
After looking through the buildings it was off to try out Cypress Gardens most popular activity, a half mile boat trip through the cypress swamp...
Backing the boat away from the dock...
Looking back at the boat dock as we cast off...
The first spot of interest we passed was this small island ringed with tiny cypress knees...
My rowboat steering skills were going to be put to the test...
The reflections of the tall cypress in the still water was something we never tired of seeing during our visit...
Yours truly, Captain Dan, rowboat guide extraordinaire on this trip...
A maze of cypress...
Little white arrows on the trees kept us heading in the right direction...
My first test, rowing under this fairly narrow and low bridge...
Safely past the first bride we emerged on the edge of a lily lagoon, no doubt even more beautiful once the spring bloom starts...
Thick tufts of Spanish Moss hang in the branches far above...
Exploring some of the side coves would have been fun but signs told us this was frowned upon...
The cypress canopy...
Black water...
We were constantly fooled into thinking that certain submerged logs might be an elusive gator...no luck though on this cool day...
Passing a pretty swing we decided we'd have to stop by on our later hike...