One of the things I really want to do on this trip was to see a (wild) alligator. I never imagined I'd see more than a hundred in a day, but we did. Anyway, let me start at the beginning:
La Quinta provided us with a quite elaborate continental breakfast this morning so we got off to a good start. The plan was to drive straight to the Everglades, but we made a last minute decision to pull into the Big Cypress Bend boardwalk into the Fakahatchee Strand. It was nice, but if you're pressed for time I'd skip this and wait for the Everglades.
Sandy on the boardwalk. See the strangler fig wrapped around the big tree on the left?
There's also a pair of resident bald eagles. Here's one of them was guarding the nest.
We stop at the Big Cypress head quarters near Everglade City and look at some of their exhibits. They also have a short boardwalk in the back that connects to the Thousand Islands. There's not a lot going on, but there's a few manatees swimming around and everyone else excited to see them. The water is dark because of the leaves in the water and we're pretty spoiled when it comes to manatee encounters, so after stretching our legs we get back in the car.
Along the way we see quite a few quirky things, like the postal office for Ochopee. The mailman was just coming to collect the mail, probably all three letters worth haha.
These two are random pictures I took on the way to Kirby S. Storter Park (also part of Big Cypress National Preserve). It almost looks fake!
There are some picnic tables and a boardwalk leading to a small water hole where we spot a few birds and some turtles. It's now so hot that even with just shorts and a t-shirt I'm getting overheated. What a difference a day makes!
There's another visitors center for Big Cypress in Oasis and we almost drive past it, but it's a good thing we didn't because there are tons of alligators resting on the banks and in the river.
Finally we make it to the Everglades and our first stop is Shark Valley. They rent bicycles and there's a tram that takes you to an observation tower, but both those options take about 2 hours (or more) and we have some other stuff planned so we decide to just go for a short walk along the main loop.
It's really crazy because there's alligators everywhere! There are signs posted about keeping at least a 15 foot distance between yourself and any wildlife, but I don't think the path is wide enough to allow that. So what happens instead; you see people strolling along with their little toddlers running free within 5 feet of enormous alligators!
The river runs parallel to the paved walkway.
Another cute bird ... quite the fat little thing!
Here's me posing with the gators!
On the way back to the car we take a small detour across a somewhat boring wooden walkway, called something like the Bobcat trail. The vegetation here is a lot higher and denser so it makes it harder to spot animals. I did see a few tiny lizzards that were pretty cute.
Back on the road we spot another neat caution sign (I'm fascinated with these signs, they're yellow diamonds with sometimes the craziest things to watch for). This one's for cougars!
Finally we get to the Royal Palm visitors center. There's a lot of different things to see and do on this side of the Everglades, but because we only have so much time we go directly to the Anhinga Amble trail. This is supposed to be excellent alligator viewing, and anhingas of course!
The signs in the parking lot are more concerned with another animal; the vultures. They apparently love chewing on windshield wipers! Haha.
View of the general area when you step outside of the visitors center. It really doesn't show how incredibly beautiful this place is ... (nothing like Shark Valley, which although impressive, is somewhat of a tourist trap.)
Luckily the vultures are all hanging out along the trail and not chewing on our rental car. (I had visions of having to return the rental car with the wipers gnawed off, but luckily they were still in one piece when we came back)
We had two very interesting interactions with the anhingas: first one of them attempted to court us by performing a wild, wing flapping, body flinging dance. Ooh baby! Sadly, I didn't have right lens on my camera so those pictures didn't come out, but I did get a good one of it giving us the crazy eye.
The other was when there was one sitting on the railing and we stopped right by it. It just stayed there and we were commenting on how cool it was when it projectile pooped and Sandy had to jump out of the way to avoid getting pooped on (I think she still got some splatter on her shoes lol). Hey, they don't say keep 15 feet between you and all wildlife for no reason!
Here's another kind of bird. For some reason his feet are bright yellow.
At the end of the boardwalk we were greeted by this incredible scene; more than 20 alligators lazing in the sun!
The Anhinga trail was definitely my favorite spot of the day. So much diversity of flora and fauna within a small space and there's so much of everything. You just don't know where to look sometimes. This is on the way back to the vistors center.
In Homestead, right before you turn on the road to the Everglades is a large fruit stand called Robert Is Here. I had heard a lot of good things about it so after we saw it on the way in we made sure to stop on the way back. One word: AMAZING! If you're in the area be sure to check it out.
There's also a small petting zoo out back. Nothing terribly exiting, but this goat made me laugh ... why climb a rock if you can stand on a turtle?!
Unfortunately this is where the battery for my camera died, so until I get my underwater camera developed I won't have any more pictures from today.
Anyway, after a missed turn thanks to our GPS we made it to Key Biscayne just as the sun was setting. It was just gorgeous driving across the bridge with the sun reflecting off the tall hotels on the left, the island to the right and the sun setting behind us.
When we get to Bill Baggs Cape State Park it's 20 minutes to close so we only have to pay half the entry fee. It's a short drive to the very end of the island where we get to watch the sun sinking lower and lower ... until a park ranger drives up and tells us the park is closing in 5 minutes.
There's still quite a few people there and I don't think they'd actually close the gate on us, but this makes me a little bit nervous so we get back in the car and drive to the lighthouse. I run across the parking lot as fast as I can when suddenly there's a rush of movement to my right, followed by a lot of rustling in the bushes. My first thought is "squirrel," but then I realize that it must have been some incredibly large squirrels. When I stop I realize there's one tiny petrified raccoon still frozen in place. Awww I love raccoons! Picture unfortunately did not come out at all :-(
My camera ran out of film after I take a shot of the lighthouse (beautiful tall white building with a black top) so unfortunately there's no pictures of the four raccoons we find scrounging in the parking lot.
We're in North Miami Beach right now in a hotel room that strangely appears to sleep about 7 people?! I think it's a time share place or something because we have sitting room, a kitchen, etc. Not nearly as nice as it sounds unfortunately.
Total miles for today: 206
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Breakfast: free breakfast at the hotel
Lunch: leftover breakfast and snacks
Dinner: Thai House II
Hotel: Newport Beachside Resort
