Everglades Day 2

Here is the official photo to show we really did visit the Everglades. Only took two tries this time and thank goodness there was no snow to slip on.

Our first stop of the day was the Royal Palm Center; here there are two trails, the Anhinga Trail and the Gumbo Limbo Trail. The Anhinga Trail should be renamed to include the Black Vulture, they were everywhere squawking and hopping.

This walk was about 1/2 mile long, most of it a boardwalk. Saw lots of alligators, great blue heron, anhinga and their nests, a few turtles, and of course the vultures. When we got to the the end of the boardwalk we were treated to the alligators sunning themselves. I think Dan said he counted 26 that he could see. There always seem to be more that are hiding and if you look really hard you will see them.


Never really have had the chance to look at an anhinga up close but the pattern of their feathers is just beautiful, looks like a piece of fabric.


Then it was on to the Gumbo Limbo Trail, another 1/2 mile trail but this time through a hardwood hammock. This is the gumbo limbo tree, it's sap/resin is used for making glue, varnish, and liniments. The wood was used to make carousel horses in the past.

Next was the Pa-hay-okee Overlook, again a 1/2 mile boardwalk that has an observation tower at the midway point. This is pretty much what the Everglades looks like. Also known as the "River of Grass" and having seen it I can understand the name. For the most part it is tall grass growing in water that is constantly moving, not very fast but moving. Scattered throughout are tree island, three kinds that I can remember. Cypress, hardwood, and willow, what grows where is determined by how far beneath the surface the limestone is located.


This map shows the location of the Pa-hay-okee Overlook, but also shows where Shark Valley is and how it got it's name as I explained in day one.

When we got out to Flamingo (which has no flamingos, never has) we saw so many osprey nests it was unbelievable. It was hard to tell if the eggs has hatched or not because the nests are so high but every now and then I thought I saw a head poke up.

We did all the stops on our way down to Flamingo (the end of the road) so we just made a leisurely drive back, stopping every now and again if something caught our eye.

When we left the park saw the same thing as when we went in this morning, big water trucks watering the fields. They had covered quite a bit of area while we were driving around.


Again this was a great place to visit and two days was good to see what we wanted to see. Would like to return maybe more at the start of the dry season when things might be a bit greener instead of brown.