Shark Valley

There are three areas of Everglades NP, each separated by a significant distance – Flamingo, Shark Valley and Gulf Coast.  I went to the the Gulf Coast area a few years ago when I came to Naples over Spring Break, we won’t be going there this time.  Shark Valley is on the northernmost part of the park and away from the saltwater and slightly higher ground – this means that the terrain is different, the animals are different, but it’s still a lot the same!  At Shark Valley there’s a tram that you can take or you can ride your bike the 15 miles around the road.   We went to Shark Valley and did the tram tour a few years ago and today Dad and I rode our bikes.  Biking is a much better way to experience Shark Valley, but then again it was cloudy most of the day and when it was sunny we were riding into the wind and that made it cooler, I’m sure that on a normal South Florida day with tons of sun & heat it would be miserable. 

When you ride your bike you have to go opposite of the trams so you can see them coming – they don’t make a lot of noise so you can’t hear them coming.   This means you start along the canal which is just crawling with animals – alligators, anhingas, great white egrets, snowy egrets, wood storks, little blue herons, great blue herons, and turtles!  It was a chance for me to learn what birds we were going to see so I could id them as we rode.  We also saw our first alligator.

Can you find it?

Here’s it’s eye:

There wasn’t much more to see until we got to the Observation Tower about halfway around.    At the tower there was a short trail and you could hike up the observation tower and get a 360 degree view of the “River of Grass”. 

 

The road we were riding on.

We saw a purple gallinule!

The trams stop at the tower and everyone gets out for 20 minutes then they have to get back on.  If you ride your bike you get to hang out at the tower after all the tram riders have left and it gets really quiet.

The trip back was more exposed and into the wind.  We did get to see more alligators!  Some where very close to the road!

This wasn’t even the closest alligator to the road, it was just the closest one I stopped to take a picture of. 

There were plenty of birds though….here’s a wood stork walking along almost on the surface of the spongy stuff (that spongy stuff is some kind of algae that feeds the apple snails and the birds eat the apple snails).

When we got back to the Visitor Center  we went back to the canal where we’d been this morning.  The sun brought out the alligators!

There are 5 alligators in this picture!

I was able to take some great shots of the gators.

Alligator & Little Blue Heron

 

There were plenty of birds too!

Great Blue Heron

Great White Egret

Little Blue Heron

Anhinga

Snowy Egret

 

 

And even a turtle

      

After we left Shark Valley we took the Loop Road through the Big Cypress National Preserve.   It was a dirt road for part of it and on one side of the road there was a cypress swamp and the other was more jungle like.  There were gators on one side, not on the other!  There were birds too, but they were hard to see because of the trees and the undergrowth.

 

There were tons of air plants!

  

And a few Ibis

With one more stop in Florida, Titusville, my thoughts are beginning to turn to the trip home so today when I had cell phone signal I checked the weather forecast…it’s going to be a rude awakening back in Virginia – Friday’s high is forecast to be 29*!  With the coldest air of the season arriving Saturday!  And, there could be a snowstorm Thursday into Friday!  Fun Times!

Snake Bight Bike Ride

Yesterday when we were at the Visitor Center the Ranger told us about a great bike ride down the Snake Bight Trail (a hiking trail that is open to bikes) to a view of the Florida Bay.  (A bight is bay within a bay) It was only 2 miles from the park road to the Snake Bight overlook so we’d planned to make a loop with the Rowdy Bend trail which was also open to bikes.   We also decided to ride from the campground to give us more miles – it would be about 16 miles round trip. 

Before we left I applied 100% Deet bug repellent to my shoes, pants and shirt! 

The portion on the road was rather boring and over 1/2 of it was what we rode last night.  I was excited about getting off the main road and seeing more of the park.  The trail description had said that the trail went by a canal and you could see alligators and birds and all sorts of stuff.

We reached the parking area and turned off the road and saw that there was a gate across the trail so we got off our bikes to walk them around the gate and instantly the mosquitoes attacked.  It was almost a swarm.  I was swatting left and right.  Dad was frantically trying to get the bug spray out of his backpack. I hadn’t brought any because I felt I’d applied more than enough before I left!  Guess not.  As Dad is spraying himself down again I looked at my leg there were about 10 mosquitoes all biting me on the same place!  He handed me the spray and I sprayed them directly and they died!  I was now coated with Deet – it was even dripping off my helmet! 

Once we got moving though, the mosquitoes weren’t a problem.  Unless you stopped moving, in which case you were fair game and got eaten alive. 

The problem once we were moving was the spider webs.  I was in front and every few feet I’d hit a web and scream!  When you are riding a bike you can’t swat at the webs once you hit them or you wreck your bike!  Especially on an “off road” trail where there are roots and logs and all sorts of stuff on the ground!

The trail at first was wide and smooth and soon it became overgrown with sawgrass and the trail was narrow and harder to navigate.   It was in here where we decided that we weren’t going to try Rowdy Bend – the Ranger had told us that it was probably overgrown and if the “cleared” trail was a mess then that one probably was worse. 

Soon the sawgrass thinned and the trail opened up…into a mud flat!  Slippery, thick, hard to ride through mud.  Luckily this section was only a few feet long before we hit the boardwalk at the end of the trail. 

It was low tide and we could see a bunch of birds!

 

 

 

 

We applied more Deet before we headed back! The ride back went fast and soon we were back at the road, with only a few more mosquito bites.   Despite the bugs, it was a pretty trail…we didn’t get very many pictures because if you stopped you risked your life!

   The canal  was neat looking and I’m sure there were interesting things in it, but there was no way to look and ride and you couldn’t stop.  I have no idea how anyone hikes that trail!

On our way back to the campground we stopped at the Marina where Mom had seen the crocodile yesterday to see if we could see it.  Sure enough, he/she was hanging out just where Mom had said.  I didn’t get a very good picture.

We were about a 1/2 mile from the campground when it started to rain.   The rain continued for over an hour!  This worked for us though… I had chores to do so I could be ready to leave and I needed another shower to wash off the Deet (when I did wash my hair the Deet flowed right off my head and into my eyes!  I rinsed it out quickly but, seriously…how much Deet does one need?  And, despite being covered in Deet, I’m *still* covered with bites! ugh!).  We got kicked out of the campground at 12:15 (checkout was 12) and made our way back to Homestead. 

I saw this sign on the way and and had to get a picture of it on the way out…

Elevation: 3 ft!  WOW.  Such a difference from this summer in Colorado when we were over 12K ft! 

On the way out we had to make one last stop at Robert is Here!  One last Key Lime Milkshake fix! YUM!  While we were in line we were chatting with the person behind us – he’d moved to Homestead about a year ago from Frederick, MD.  He’d graduated from West Springfield!

After milkshakes it was time to head to Big Cypress to Midway campground.  Tomorrow we are biking Shark Valley.  Along US 41 there’s a canal and there were tons of birds and probably alligators – very distracting to try and drive and look at the birds and try and distinguish logs from alligators.  I missed the turn to the campground and went to the Visitor Center where they have several alligators hanging out so got some pictures.  Also walked maybe a 1/4 mile on the Florida National Scenic Trail!

Edited to add: When I went to bed I surveyed the mosquito bite situation – I had over 20 bites on my upper arms and lower legs, then on the backs of each of my thighs there was a solid section of wall to wall bites – you can’t distinguish one from another!  They go from mid-thigh to  where I was sitting on my bike seat.  Then there’s a line of more bug bites right along my waist on my back!  It reminds me of something that might happen to someone in a Carl Hiaasen book!   And it makes me wonder just how many mosquito bites a person can sustain before it becomes a big issue!

Nine Mile Pond Canoe Trip

The Everglades is a neat place!  I’m sure that my enjoyment of it is greatly enhanced by the fact that it’s been cloudy, breezy and cool and the mosquitoes, while plentiful, are less than in other seasons.  There are tons of animals, interesting birds and the geography is totally unlike other places I’ve been!

Our first item on the agenda today was to visit the Flamingo Visitor Center and ask the Rangers a million questions about kayaking, rentals, biking, etc.  We determined that we’d like to go boating today and that my inflatable kayak was simply not appropriate for the Everglades.  First, there’s the obvious concern – alligators.  You don’t want an alligator chomping down on your inflatable kayak (yes, it happened and it made the news, the gal had to hang into the mangroves, there is no dry land anywhere around here, with an angry alligator at her feet, luckily the gal’s cell phone worked and she called for help.).   The other issues that I hadn’t considered were wind & tides.  

We were able to rent a canoe and canoe the Nine Mile Pond Canoe trail.  It’s called Nine Mile Pond because it’s nine miles from Coot Bay to the pond and the ranger station was was at Coot Bay.  The canoe trail is 5 miles long and starts in the lake and then goes through the swamp, marked by PVC pipes that stick up and are numbered.  If it weren’t for those markers you’d never make it out of the swamp, it all looks the same.   There was promise of seeing alligators, crocodiles, and plenty of birds!

There is very little dry land out there – lots and lots of water!  In places it looks like there is dry land, but it’s just an illusion – there’s spongy stuff on the top that makes it look solid.  Some parts of the trail were grassy and open, others were tight with mangroves.  A kayak would be a much better vessel for this type of trip – the canoe was not very maneuverable!

Nine Mile Pond – where we launched the canoe.  The canoe trail starts all the way at the other end of the pond – you have to go against the wind!  I was quite glad I wasn’t in the Sea Eagle, which is basically a giant balloon!

One of the many mangrove hammocks.  These were sometimes very narrow and usually we had to pull ourselves along since the paddles wouldn’t go in!

 

The stuff floating on the surface near the tip of the canoe is spongy stuff that gives the illusion of solid ground when you look at it.

 

  There were bunches of air plants in every tree!  Made me think of my friend Andy!  He used to have a whole bunch of air plants!

We did not see much of the promised wildlife.  We saw one Great Blue Heron, a Little Blue Heron, and the top of an alligator.  We never would have seen the gator if it wasn’t for someone coming from the other direction pointing it out.  I saw the top of his head before he sunk to the bottom.  The other guy told us not to paddle over the gator, but Dad couldn’t see where it had been and it made me wonder how many alligators we paddled over and hadn’t realized! 

After we made it back to Nine Mile Pond and put the canoe away we headed back to the campground and stopped at West Lake.  There was a canoe trail there too, as well as a 1/2 mile boardwalk.  Dad and I walked the boardwalk which went through a dry mangrove hammock and went out over the lake.  West Lake is a big lake! 

After we returned the canoe paddles and the key to unlock it and got back to the campground we got on our bikes and rode back to Mrazek Pond to see what animals were out at sunset.  We saw a Roseate Spoonbill! They are pretty cool!  There were also a ton of ducks, a couple anhingas, and some other birds.  Soon it was dark and we were getting eaten alive by mosquitoes so we put the bikes on the car (Mom had driven from the campground so we could ride back) and headed back for dinner. 

Tomorrow Dad and I are going to do a bike ride in the morning and then we will drive to Midway campground in Big Cypress National Preserve so we can go to Shark Valley on Monday. 

Everglades NP – Flamingo

I left the KOA around 10 to head back to the mainland!  The drive back up the Overseas Highway was nice, sunny at 1st and then it started raining – pouring – then sunny, finally settling on cloudy. There was a ton of traffic coming onto the Keys so I think we timed it just right. 

I was able to locate Card Sound Road this time and took it around to RT 1.  That was a nice drive!  Lots of FL scenery, which, while not really all that exciting, is better than cars and stores and stuff! 

Once I got to Homestead I had some errands to run – Publix for Club Soda, fuel for the RV and Robert Is Here for OJ, bananas and a milkshake.  The key Lime Milkshake was better than the Key Lime pie we’d had on Duval Street last night!  Definitely going to have to stop on the way out for another!

I was almost into the park when Mom texted that they were just now passing Robert’s, where was I?  If I’d known they were so close I could have shared that milkshake with Dad (it was HUGE and yes I ate every bite!).  We met up at the Visitor Center and Dad took the car off and we drove to the Royal Palms area so we could walk the Anhinga Trail.

Anhinga’s are birds that live in the Everglades and they were out in abundance tonight!  They are easily confused with the cormorants though.  The Anhinga Trail is mostly boardwalk over the pond and swamp and there are tons of birds, plants, alligators, and tourists.  We managed to get there during a ranger program so there were extra tourists.  There were 2 gators – one that I couldn’t see because there were too many people and the other I wasn’t convinced it was a gator – thought maybe it was a rock.  The trail was a nice way to stretch my legs though!

Apparently vultures are a problem around here:

Anhinga

Cormorants

White bird (might be a heron…)

Great Blue Heron

 

Air plants

River of Grass

Alligator?  (I don’t think so…but it’s sure close!)

 

Since I finished the trail before Mom and Dad did I walked the Gumbo-Limbo trail, which was an entirely different trail, though a hardwood hammock – it was very jungle-like!

By now it was after 4 and we still had an hour to drive to get to the Flamingo campground at the end of the road so we headed off down the road.  It was a long way down here, but it was a pretty drive! It was raining when we left the visitor center and soon after there was a rainbow way off in the distance, I wasn’t able to get a good picture of it.  The grass of the Everglades looks like the prairie or the African Savannah – I kinda expected to see a giraffe or elephant or something.   The sun was going down and the clouds made it pretty!

When we arrived at the campground I went for a quick bike ride to check the place out before it got dark, I only had about 10 minutes and I had to go really fast to avoid the mosquitoes but it was nice.  It’s very cool here & doesn’t seem as humid as it was in the Keys. 

We have the whole day tomorrow here – we’ll probably go kayaking or biking or walking…we’ll see!

Dry Tortugas

Our whole point in coming to the Keys was to take a day trip to Dry Tortugas National Park.  Several years ago I’d read Flashback by Nevada Barr and it wall all about Dry Tortugas (Nevada Barr has written a series of books about a park ranger, Anna Pigeon, and each one is set in a different park.  I’ve found that she mostly writes about the obscure parks that aren’t heavily visited!).  I wanted to go and when I told Mom about it, she wanted to go too.  Finding a time when we could go that wasn’t in the summer proved to be a challenge (no one in their right mind comes to the Keys in July), but then Christmas fell on a Wednesday and we were blessed with a 2 week winter break!  We’d bought the tickets and made the camping reservation back in May and today was the day!

The Dry Tortugas is a small chain of islands about 70 south/west of Key West.  Fort Jefferson was built on Garden Key just before the Civil War and the fort was used during the Civil War.  Many of the Lincoln conspirators, including Dr. Mudd who treated John Wilkes Booth when he was fleeing Washington after assassinating Lincoln.  One big downfall of Ft. Jefferson was that there was no fresh water on the island (this is why it’s call Dry Tortugas – no fresh water), they collected rainwater in cisterns, but that system had a lot of downfalls too!

In order to get to the Ferry Dock in time we had to leave our campground on Sugarloaf Key at 6:30 am!  We arrived with plenty of time to find parking & get checked in for the boat, soon we were on the boat settling in for the 2 1/2 hour ride out to the islands!

It was cloudy and windy on the way over.  We sat on the sun deck and it was nicer out there than in the cabin with the AC on!  They served breakfast on the trip out and our tour guide gave us information about the islands and some of the islands we could see from the boat.  About 1/2 way there it started to rain, but the shower didn’t last long and soon is was back to being cloudy. 

Early in the trip I pulled out my book I’d brought to read – Carl Hiaasen’s latest, Bad Monkey.  Several people around us commented on what a perfect choice that was for our trip and how they themselves love Carl Hiaasen’s books and like me, have read every one!  The Carl Hiaasen discussion turned to Nevada Barr and soon we were discussing National Parks we’ve visited!  Turns out on of the folks we were sitting by is a teacher.  Ahhh..nerdy teachers on vacation, making new friends over books and national parks!

 

First view of the fort

 

We only had 4 hours at Ft. Jefferson and it seemed like there was a lot to do.  We started with snorkeling.  The boat provided all of our snorkel gear so we grabbed masks, fins, and snorkels and headed to the beach.  Both Dad and I dressed for this by wearing our “quick dry” clothes so we could just get in the water, then get out and dry fast without having to change! The water was a bit chilly at first, but once you got used to it I thought it was very nice.  I swam the wrong way and went around the fort (this is what I get for not listening when the told us on the boat where to go!) and got separated from Dad.   When I finally doubled back and found him he was on his way back in from the reef and was cold & tired so was heading back to the beach.  He pointed me in the right direction to see it for myself and I kept swimming!  When I found the coral I was getting tired and there wasn’t a whole lot to see – some corals, some fish – the water was murky (it has been clear everywhere else) and ocean was rougher out there and I kept getting water in my snorkel so I decided it was time to go in. 

After snorkeling/swimming we went back to the boat to get lunch – they set up a buffet with sandwiches, veggies, chips, fruit and cookies.  We were able to fix a plate and take it to a picnic table on the dock. It was a good quick lunch so we could continue exploring the island. 

We were lucky in that we were allowed to visit Bush Key.  Bush Key is right next to Garden Key (where the fort is) and is connected by land bridge, only the land bridge just appeared last year!  Prior to the land bridge showing up you would have had to kayak or swim the channel.  Also, the island is closed to visitors most of the year because of nest turtles and birds. There was a 1 mile nature trail along the shore of the key and it was a nice walk, even if I was fighting the sand/shell fragments in my shoes.  We could see another Key – I can’t remember the name of it, but it was closed because of nesting frigate birds. 

 

I got back to the fort before Mom and Dad did so I walked around the fort a bit on the moat wall.  You could go all the way around the fort on the moat wall, but that wasn’t going to be that interesting.  When Mom and Dad came back we went into the Fort – back to the gift shop and then Dad and I explored the Fort.  The fort was pretty cool! We walked around the top and checked out the rooms inside and walked over to Dr. Mudd’s cell. 

By this time it was time to get back on the boat to go back to Key West.  I went to change out of my soggy clothes – I had mostly dried but was still clammy, probably because of the humidity. My feet were not happy though – spending the day walking around with sand & shell fragments in my wet Tevas lead to some hotspots, no blisters, but not very comfortable.  Mom had secured us seats on the sun deck facing the sunset for the ride back, and the sun actually came out!  I slipped off my shoes to let them dry (the sun had come out for real!)  and propped my bare feet up on my backpack and settled in to get lost in Carl Hiaasen’s crazy world of corruption, eco-terrorism and crazy hijinxs (Bad Monkey really is perfect for this trip – it’s set in the Keys! I didn’t realize that at first, I just decided to read it now because it was set in Florida and I hadn’t read it yet). 

The first part of the trip back was rough – they’d told us it would only be rough going out, but they were wrong.  It was kinda like riding a roller coaster – the boat would go up and then come crashing down (it was a catamaran so that might have impacted how it was going over the waves).  I tried to get everyone around me to hold their hands up like on a roller coaster but no one was really interested.  It made the trip back more fun!

We arrived back in Key West just in time to totally miss the only nice sunset of our visit!

Folks crammed into Mallory Square and surrounding piers to watch the sunset:

Sunset from our boat as we turned into the harbor (and away from the sun!)

  Oh well, we had dinner on our mind!  We’d decided we were going to eat at Blue Heaven, a restaurant that Mom had found and that our blog “friends” the Gadius’ had visited when they were here.  It was 16 blocks (I think) from where we’d parking but parking is a challenge in Key West and we’d already paid for the day so we hoofed it.  The restaurant was neat – they had a lovely outdoor patio with big lush trees, flowers, neat lighting and  live entertainment.  Unfortunately that area had a 30-45 minute wait.  But they had immediate seating inside.  We opted for inside.  The atmosphere wasn’t quite the same, but the food was quite good!  We even got a little live entertainment:

This guy was ride his tricked out bike up and down the street blaring music!  We’d seen him a few blocks before the restaurant and he was playing "“Respect” by Aretha Franklin, by the time he made it back to Blue Heaven it was “Brick House”. 

After dinner we walked back to the car via Duval Street, definitely an interesting way to spend the evening! We saw Darth Vader playing the light-up banjo!  I wanted a picture but I didn’t have cash for a tip handy!  I saw a sticker on a bike that said “Key West: Where the weird go pro.” Very accurate! Mom had forgotten to take a pill at the restaurant so needed some water.  Dad and I again had to “take one for the team” and purchase dessert so we could get a cup of water!  This time it was a slice of Key Line Pie!  It was quite good!

Soon we were back at the KOA and headed to bed after a long, fun day!