dare2go

Florida's Everglades


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After having our fill of what the Royal Palm area had to offer, we drove to Flamingo, where we planned to take a boat trip into the back country the next morning, before driving out of this part of the Everglades. At the campground we met up with a French couple that I had spoken with briefly a couple of days earlier. They are on a "World Trip" and have recently spent a year travelling in South America. It was great to talk to them and ask questions about things such as safety and where they parked for the night. It is most reassuring to speak with people who've actually done what we want to do - so many people who hear what we plan look at us a bit sceptically and say, "You're driving into Mexico and then South America? Good luck!"
We were packed and ready to leave much earlier than usual on Thursday morning as the boat left at 10.00 for a 2 hour trip. There was a naturalist on board who gave a commentary of what we were seeing and it was quite interesting. The first thing we saw, before we left the marina area, was an American crocodile. They live in the saltwater while the alligators live in the freshwater. Until coming to the Everglades, I didn't even know that there were crocodiles here. Our narrator was quick to point out that while they could be more aggressive than the alligators, they don't have man on their list of food items, unlike the Australian crocodile. Nice of him to mention it! We also got a glimpse of a Manatee swimming by, just because we were looking in the right direction at the right time. The driver backed up for those who'd missed it, but by then it had disappeared. The boat trip gave us a different view of the Everglades, but we did feel like we spent a bit too much of the time just cruising slowly across a large lake like area, with not much to see, so the kids could get a chance to steer the boat - I guess the kids liked it though.
Another part of the Everglades that one can reach quite easily by car is on the northern edge, right by highway 41 (the Timiami Trail), which joins Miami on the east coast and Naples on the west. This part is called Shark Valley and, after the boat trip, we headed up there to see what we could see. We had thought to cycle the trail, which is about 15 miles long, as there are bicycles for hire, but when we found that they cost over $6 per hour and you would need at least 3 hours, we had second thoughts. They also provide a 2 hour tram ride with a narrator for $14.50! Since it was mid afternoon and we would have had to come back on Friday to do it by bicycle, and the weather was very windy and expected to become more so, we decided to do the tram ride that afternoon and drive on.
The tram ride was also very interesting - the narrator had a lot of knowledge and passion for the place and passed it on in a manner that was both easy to understand and enjoyable. He told us why the wood stork became endangered: he said that all wood storks in North America come to the Everglades to breed. They know that at the right time of the year the water is just retreating enough that the food supply for their young is bountiful and readily available. When the building boom was happening in the 70's and water was being diverted for human use, the storks came at the same time as usual, built their nests, laid their eggs and waited for them to hatch. But not enough water had been allowed into the Everglades that year and by the time the young were hatched and ready to eat, the water had dried up and there was no food available. This happened two years in a row and then the storks just stopped breeding - for 20 years! It was predicted that they would be extinct by 2000. After 20 years or so of not breeding, they began again - it seems that the food supply had become reliable again at the right time. We are sometimes so ignorant of the delicate balance and timing in nature and how something humans do can upset it with such severe consequences. I believe the wood storks are still on the endangered list, but we saw quite a few of them while visiting the Everglades, and it seems that they are coming back well.
He told other stories of the affect that population expansion in this area has had on the wildlife in the past and all were equally as thought provoking. The highlights of the tour were seeing two sets of very small baby alligators, right by the road, and also witnessing the mating dance of an anhinga pair. We also had a rare sighting of a Roseate Spoonbill and a Southern Bald Eagle. Some of these things were not all that easy to get good photos of, but it was exciting to see them. The close-up observation of the mating dance was beautiful and it was a rare occasion when we would wish for a video camera. Our new camera will take them but we haven't quite got to work that bit out yet... This tour was even better than the boat trip, but we would actually recommend both of them - and that is unusual coming from us!
Not far from Shark Valley is the entrance to the Big Cypress National Preserve. This area also protects the Everglades, but not as stringently as a national park. For example, hunting is allowed in the Preserve at specified times and in specified places, and that is never allowed in a national park. But a Preserve is definitely better than no protection at all. We spent Thursday night in the Midway campground in the Preserve and on Friday morning drove the 'Loop Road'. This 26 mile unpaved road passes through different plant habitats. Whilst driving you don't see much evidence of the wildlife - most birds simply fly away. But we stopped in a couple of places, turned the engine off, and sat for a while. The alligators stayed right where they were - they don't move much at this time of the year if they have found a sunny spot to lie - but the birds would start to settle and go on with their normal routine as if we weren't there. The scenery was like something out of the movie 'Deliverance', and I couldn't quite imagine going off in a canoe down one of these waterways without some trepidation! Nevertheless, it was certainly beautiful in a very unique way.
It took us over 2 hours to drive this road, but it was definitely worth it. There were very few cars and when we stopped it was silent except for the sound of the wildlife. In fact, the whole Everglades experience was one of the highlights of our journey for me. We drove on through the Big Cypress National Preserve on the Tamiami Trail, with canals along the side of the road and the different plant habitats of the Everglades in evidence. There were sometimes alligators lying in the sun on the banks every 10 metres or so! When we left the Preserve, we drove on and spent a couple of nights at the Collier Seminole State Park near Naples, before continuing our journey up the western side of Florida.