Everglades

This is definitely a must do trip, although if you can't go in the next few weeks I would hold off until the end of the year or beginning of next year. The weather was beautiful while we were there but I can see it getting very hot, very soon. Most of what you see is either wide open space or walking through very dense tree growth, so you will either have the sun beating down on you or be in the shade with lots of humidity. Found out that November - May is the tourist time in the Everglades but we never felt it was crowded.

We drove down to Naples on Thursday evening so we could start the drive to Miami first thing in the morning. We didn't head out extremely early because the Visitor's Center was only about 30 miles away and didn't open until 0800. Got our map and we were on our way. We pretty much knew we were stopping at everything we saw and we were glad we did because you just didn't know what you would see and it was always different.

First stop was the Ochopee, Florida Post Office, it is the smallest in the US. If you get a post card from us it was mailed here. If you don't get one, I'm sorry, wasn't prepared with addresses, will be better prepared the next time we travel.


The one thing we wanted to see was a Florida Panther, saw these signs everywhere we went.


But this was the only panther we saw.


Right next to the Skunk-Ape Research Headquarters. This then put it into our minds we might see a skunk-ape also, but that didn't happen either.


This was about the only butterfly we saw also.

Shark Valley was our big destination for the day, but there was no valley and no sharks. It is actually named for the Shark River that runs into the bay south of Fort Myers and that is where the sharks are.


Blue herons were one of the most common bird we saw, I was just watching this one standing there looking beautiful.


Next thing I knew it was down in the water, making quite a ruckus.


And comes up with lunch. If you look closely the bottom of his beak pierced the fish and he had to work pretty hard to actually get it into his mouth.



He finally did and we watched it slide down his throat.


And now you would never guess he had just eaten that fish.


At Shark Valley we took a 15 mile tram ride that lasted about two hours. It was will worth the time and cost. At the half-way point is a tower you can climb and seeing as how we had such a nice clear day Ranger Kris said we should be able to see 18 miles and I'm sure she was right.


But before we could get to the tower had to get pass the two alligators sunning themselves on the walkway. The tram driver Moses came with his big stick and chased them back into the water.



The tower was very easy to climb, had a spiral ramp that went up to the first landing and the second landing was closed. Enjoyed the view for a while and headed back to the tram. On the way came across a short trail we decided to take. Meet a woman coming out as we were going in and she told us there were two alligators on the trail (guess they travel in pairs) so we were on the lookout. When we saw them just wanted to get a couple of pictures and turn around.


Well Dan happened to look down where I was standing and there was this alligator about 1 - 2 feet from my feet. I backed up very slowly and we went back to the main path, I wanted to keep both my feet for this trip and one gimp in the family is enough. Right Dad.


The second half of the tram ride must have been the baby side. These are baby anhinga, they are about 4 weeks old (aren't they huge) and will leave the nest at about 7 - 8 weeks old. I never expected them to be this color.


Then it was baby alligators, these are about a year or so old. Did you know that baby alligators stay with their moms for about three years or until they start eating their younger brothers and sisters?


On the tram ride we saw lots of ibis, this was the only place we did see them.


I was expecting to see lots of turtles but there didn't seem to be very many.


This was our last stop of the day and we headed to the hotel. Got all checked in and then went in search of dinner. Decided "On the Border" sounded good and it was delicious. Went to Barnes and Noble after eating just so we could walk around some after that big meal.