I definitely have bed bugs or something. I was being bitten through the night so I didn’t have the best sleep and I think there were some mozzies thrown in there as well. After using the Casino facilities and having a very lazy start to the morning, I resolved to drive to Everglades National Park for a relaxing explore (I was a little tired after yesterday’s riding). The drive there was surprising. I was away from the built-up chaos of the tourist-cities and into farmland. Most seemed to be nursery farms, but I passed a few fruit stalls so assume there were some fruit plantations as well.
After an hour I was into the Everglades and made my first stop at the visitor’s center. I eavesdropped onto someone else’s conversation with the ranger and made a rough plan, to do all the touristy stuff, including a boat tour in Flamingo, the area at the bottom end of the park at the ocean.
Anhinga trail was my first adventure, it was the most popular trail in the park. Before even leaving the carpark I was confronted with wildlife. Many cars had tarps covering them and I wondered why. The park service provided the tarps to protect your vehicle from the numerous vultures hanging around that would peck and scrape at your car. I considered using the protection, then decided that to cover the bike and surfboard with the tarp would be too much trouble, so I took the risk (when I returned later, there was no damage). The Anhinga trail is a boardwalk that covers some swamp lamp that is abundant with wildlife. Within minutes I saw my first alligator, turtles, Ibis birds and plenty of fish. The boardwalk did a circuit and I, like everyone else, was on the lookout for creatures of all kinds. The gators were easily the best, they are just so placid as they move through the water, if they are moving at all.
I gawked at each animal I saw, then when I came across the gator camp, everything else seemed to pale in comparison. There were at least a dozen gators just hanging out in the sun, in some cases lying or crawling on top of each other. I don’t know how they weren’t overheating! There wasn’t much movement, but it was still quite a sight!
On the way back on the boardwalk, a small crowd of people had been stopped in their tracks by a gator that was sitting at the side of the trail. After I’d cautiously walked past him, I asked someone to take my photo and sat as close as I dared, looking at the camera and asking my photographer to tell me if he moved. A few seconds later, an onlooker shouted, “He moved!” which made me whip around. Ha, ha, of course he hadn’t moved, but I didn’t look away again.
I’d seen my fair share and walked back to the car. I did the nearby Gumbo Limbo trail which wasn’t nearly as popular as it went through thick mangrove forest and didn’t offer any wildlife sightings, but I had to know. I carried on into the park, stopping at the next couple of short walks and discovering that I’d already seen the best there was so was a little discouraged to stop after that. I had lunch at the Pay-Ah-Okee overlook which looked out over a vast grassland, not much to look at in the middle of the day, but it would be a sweet spot for sunset.
I didn’t stop between this and Flamingo, it was getting too warm so I was happy to drive all the way down to Flamingo and get some cool ocean breeze which was as refreshing as the view. I went to the marine shop to buy my boat tour ticket, $35 for a two hour tour through the Everglades canals. After I’d purchased, I saw that I could hire a kayak for less than $35 and was kicking myself, thinking I could have saved some money but I drowned that thought, I was being a tourist and was having a relaxed day. I had about half an hour to wait until boarding, so I bought an ice cream at the shop and wandered the marina. I saw some people standing on a pontoon looking at something in the water so went to join them.
I couldn’t tell if the huge blobs in the water were living things or not, so I asked a guy that was standing nearby who had a “volunteer” shirt on. He explained that I was looking at Manatees. When I asked what the hell that was, he had trouble explaining without a picture, but my understanding is they are somewhat like a dugong with more of a snout and a weird circular fin for a tail. Many of them had scars from fights they’d had with boat propellers which looked nasty. I thanked the volunteer for explaining the creatures to me, excited to see an animal I’d never even heard of before! He took me across the marina wall where there were often crocodiles and sure enough, right at the end of the walkway was a croc, it’s mouth wide open just waiting for someone to crawl in. The volunteer explained that a croc’s jaw is open when it is relaxed, explaining his unusual pose. So now I’d seen crocs and gators!
A small crowd had gathered where we stood and I chatted with him, finding out that Art was a camp host in the park for around four months and would often come down to the marina on his bicycle to talk to people like me and see if anything needed doing. What a life! When boarding time came, I meandered over to my dock where there were a few people waiting. When the ship’s mate Sheiston asked for our tickets, we walked down the pontoon and onto the small platform boat with some seating down the sides. Of course everyone squeezed onto the shady side, but I sat in the sun, knowing full well that the boat would be turning around. Our captain, Alex, was chatting with the crowd as soon as he boarded, comfortable in his job and clearly still enjoying it after over four years.
The boat could take 40 people and we were 30, so it wasn’t too crowded. As we set off down the canal, Alex gave us a narration and Sheiston did an exceptional job pointing out wildlife. We saw another croc, lots of birds and his best find was a baby alligator that couldn’t have been more than 30 cm long, he was such a cutie! They pointed out the most deadly tree in the world, hardly distinguishable from the mangroves surrounding it, it’s leaves were a slightly different shade of green and a little more shiny, but touching the leaves would leave oil on your skin that would cause it to blister and boil. Indians used to tie people they didn’t like to these trees and when it rained, they would be coated in the poisoned water and die a painful, horrible death.
After traversing the canal, we came out into Coot Bay, then after another short canal, into Whitewater Bay. We saw a few kayakers on the way and I became very happy at my boat tour choice. I wasn’t using any energy and I was seeing much more and learning much more on this tour than I would have paddling around. In Whitewater bay, we turned around and went back the way we came, pretty much motoring all the way back without any more stops for wildlife. I listened to Alex as he chatted away with one of the tourists about the park and life there.
At the end of the tour we were greeted in the marina by a croc floating in the middle of a docking station and the Manatees had moved on. I went into the visitor’s center for a bit and asked a few things about the north end of the park that I would be driving past on my way out of Florida, then with it being 4pm, I left for the car. It was a two hour drive home and my only stop was at a servo to fill up with water, but they couldn’t help me, so I was pissed off and did without, I would survive another night.
The traffic back to the casino was horrendous, with road works all the way from the town of Hollywood to the door of the casino. I arrived back at camp right on sunset, which was a stunning view. I made dinner just in time. As soon as the light had faded from the day, the mozzies were out in full force, so much so that I almost gave up on cooking dinner outside. They were relentless! I ate dinner inside the van with the windows closed, trying to kill the ones that had already got in but to not much avail.
After dinner, I went into the casino armed with my laptop in the hopes of finding a quiet corner to use the Wifi. I asked for the password at the front desk and they explained that the Wifi was not free, but I could use one of the computers provided in the business center for free. The man pointed me in the direction of the room and I found it easily enough. A quiet place with two office spots and computers hooked up to the internet and I had the place to myself! I comfortably spent the next few hours finishing up my new website and had a chat to Dad along the way. Unreal that I should be staying in the carpark for nothing and have use of these facilities for nothing!
My work done, I got back to the van, opening the doors as little as possible, before getting into bed and swatting a few mozzies before I shut my eyes.