|
The 2015 Florida Adventure
Trip
|
|||
|
|||
| Day Three: Naples...to Everglades City...through Fakahatchee Orchid Preserve...to Florida City...the entryway to the Keys... | |||
| ...first...a cuddle with a baby alligator...and then a ride on an airboat through the Everglades...really cool! | |||
|
|||
|
 |
||
|
 |
||
 |
|
||
|
 |
||
| ...the first alligator we saw on the ride...keeping an eye on us... | |||
|
 |
||
 |
 |
||
| ... a couple of cute small raccoons and our second gator... | |||
|
 |
||
 |
|||
| ...a gorgeous osprey looking for lunch... | |||
 |
 |
||
| ...a little blue heron who danced as we passed... | |||
|
 |
||
 |
 |
||
 |
|||
| ...the airboat pathways... | |||
|
 |
||
| ...one minute, they're wide and empty...the next there are approaching eyes watching us... | |||
|
 |
||
|
 |
||
 |
|||
| ...and after goodbyes to my airboat compatriots, it's on to Fakahatchee Strand Preserve...known for wild swamp orchid walks... | |||
 |
 |
||
| ...where vultures watch your arrival and departure...and orchids grow wild in the swamp...but there were no swamp walks scheduled that day, so I took myself on a land hike...and saw lots of orchids and amazing vegetation... |
 |
||
 |
 |
||
|
 |
||
|
 |
||
 |
 |
||
| ...not to mention a juvenile White Ibis, molting its brown feathers... | |||
|
 |
||
 |
 |
||
 |
 |
||
| ...and glorious butterflies and White Egrets...and Great Blue Herons... | |||
 |
 |
||
|
 |
||
 |
 |
||
 |
|
||
|
 |
||
|
 |
||
| ...it's a very good thing that I didn't know that this was the site where one of the 16 foot marauding Burmese Pythons attacked and maimed a man!!... | |||
|
 |
||
| ...on down Route 41 E to the animal 'sanctuary'...owned by the airboat people... | |||
 |
|
||
 |
 |
||
| ...a seriously overweight albino Siberian tiger.... | |||
|
 |
||
|
 |
||
 |
 |
||
| ...and fat and happy gators everywhere.... | |||
|
 |
||
|
 |
|||
| ...and finally, it was very clear what the difference in snout-shape is between alligators and crocodiles...here's a croc...with a long skinny snout....the one who got Captain Hook??? | |||
 |
 |
||
| ...and on east on Route 41...with a lovely canal on its northern side...filled with wildlife...so that I was stopping the car every 100 yards or so... | |||
 |
|
||
 |
|||
| ...and the first thing I see is a HUGE alligator in the wild... | |||
|
|
 |
||
| ...a tri-colored heron on a 40 foot stump...and a belted Kingfisher on a wire.... | |||
 |
 |
||
| ...many tri-colored Herons...this one with a mangrove cuckoo in the background... | ...and | ||
|
|
 |
||
 |
|||
| ...another Great Blue Heron... | |||
|
|
 |
||
| ...an Anhinga showing off for the snowmen... | |||
 |
 |
||
| ...and then I drove into the storm system that was to follow me...on and off...for the rest of my trip... | |||
 |
|||
|
|
|
||
| ...even the local airboat guys began to close up shop... | |||
|
|
|
||
| ...and I reached Florida City in the pouring rain... | |||
| Day Four of the adventure took me past the Coral Castle in Homestead (didn't look worth stopping in) and onto the Keys...press here to continue the adventure! | |||
