2016 Feb 17 - Boat tour of Florida Bay

Today, we went on a boat tour of Florida Bay. Most of the bay is included in the Everglades National Park and averages only about 3 feet deep.

We saw dolphins, manatees, and a lot of birds on the 90 minute tour. After the tour, we took a short nap then went over to the campground loop that has solar heated showers to take a shower. Our showers are cold!

We had dinner outside and beat the mosquitoes, for the most part, but doing dishes was a real battle. We managed to get the dishes and the grill washed, but took them back to the camper to dry them before the mosquitoes carried us off.

After dinner, cocktails and conversation in Jim & Jan's screen room was relaxing before we headed inside at about 8:30.

2016 Feb 16 Shark Valley Tram Tour

Today the four of us left the campground at 9:30 and ran some errands (beer, WiFi, etc.) on the way to Shark Valley where we had reserved tickets for the 2:00 tram tour. It's a round-about route from Flamingo to Shark valley and takes us out of the park, then back in. Without errands, the drive takes over two hours.

We decided to head for Shark Valley after doing the errands and get a bite to eat at the snack bar before getting on the tram. Well, Marsha and I thought we remembered a snack bar at Shark Valley. Wrong! So we got our tickets and went back to the car to scrounge around for something to eat before getting on the tram. Between the vending machines and what we found in the car, we had granola bars, two apples (split four ways) and four bananas. Great lunch!

We saw quite a few gators even though the water was very high due to all the rain. They got over ten inches in south Florida during January when they usually get about two inches.

After the tram tour, we went to a restaurant down the road from the entrance to Shark Valley and had an early dinner at around 4:30. On the way back to the camp, I stopped to take some shots of the sunset. It was a good day.

Enjoy the pictures.

2014 Feb 14 - 15 Flamingo Campground, Everglades National Park

We arrived at Flamingo Campground on Sunday at 4:15 PM. Our Illinois friends, Jim & Jan, were already here. We were lucky enough to get the campsite right next to them. We relaxed in our camper with snacks and libations before turning in around 9:30.

Monday after lunch, we drove a short distance to Eco Trail and did a 1/2 mile hike around the pond there. After that, we went to the marina where we saw a couple of very large North American Crocodiles. This is the only place in the U.S. where crocs and gators can be seen together.

We set Jim & Jan's new screen room up it was a life saver while we ate our burgers and socialized during the evening. Headed for Shark Valley in the morning. See you there!