Everglades...

alligator in the mud

swallowing a live snake

After disembarking from the boat at 8 a.m. we decided to head to the Everglades. It took us about an hour to get there as traffic was backed up on the interstate due to a fender bender.  We drove a short distance in to the back country to Everglades National Park and this was amazing. The interpretive center is much like Clear Lake, only the content is different, and of course the building is not as beautiful.  That said it was very informative and we were able to gather maps for our trip through the park.  A great surprise was the cheap cost to enter the park, a mere $10.00 a car for 7 days of visiting.

The first stop was the Royal Palm, a boardwalk through the swamp.  It was hot and humid, (again) but definitely worth the trek. We saw so many different types of birds and fish. The ultimate was the alligators.  The nesting of the different bird species and the whole eco system of the swamp was very interesting. It happened to be vintage days at the site so there were park staff around explaining, not only the history of the everglades, but all about the swamp and what lives there. I did not know that the Florida everglades were unique and that there was nowhere like it anywhere else in the world.  I am so glad we took the time to see it. We continued down the park road taking in the scenery and the beautiful river grasslands. There were view points along the way and the one I particularly liked was called nine mile pond. It reminded me so much of Lake Catherine with the nesting birds, ducks and grasses.  You could sit for hours just looking at it. People were kayaking and canoeing( no motor boats)  and taking pictures with huge cameras.  We drove to the end of the road and there was another area that had been hit hard by Hurricane Wilma, but has managed to kind of regroup and open up a small visitor center.  The park staff pointed out the crocodile for us and oh my gosh, it was so neat. It slithered under the water without a ripple in the water and disappeared. I am glad we were on the bridge and not the bank of the river. After seeing the crocodile in the water we decided not to rent the canoes.lol.

On our way back we stopped at a Fruit and Vegetable Market like you have never seen. It had fruit I did not know existed.  I asked a man what a fruit was and he looked at me strange and said, “that there is a Papaya mame”. It was massive and did not look like papaya, but when they split it open, yes it was. They had avocado the size of large grapefruit and grapefruit the size of large melon.  It was like everything had gone mutant. On the way back to the car I noticed a man with a bag of onions, and yes they were oversized.

Once out of the everglades we continued on down the keys until we settled on Islamorada. It is lovely here and we are staying a couple of days before heading further south.

Cheers!