Everglades City and Shark Valley

After waking around 6:30 am we had a breakfast of the Wheat Chex and bananas as well as a couple of cups of tea.  We left the Wyndham Gardens Fort Myers Beach before 8 am and headed south through Naples to Everglades City and Everglades National Park.  We purchased a pass on a guided boat tour through the mangrove areas in the estuarine areas nearby.  We were the only passengers for our young captain, Parker, who was very knowledgeable of the birds, wildlife and ecology of the area.  In our 90 minute tour we saw a number of local birds including kingfishers, great blue herons, little blue herons, green herons, great white herons, yellow crested night herons, white ibis, rosette spoonbills, brown pelicans, cormorants and anhingas among many other small wading birds. 

We took the boat into an area called a mangrove tunnel where the white, red and black mangroves grow over the river channel to form a tunnel effect.  We saw a number of alligators, turtles, fish, fiddler and mangrove crabs back in the mangrove tunnel.  The only negative was that the mosquitos were voracious back in the mangroves.  We both came away covered with bites so Mary bought a bottle of 98% deet when we got back to the dock.  We drove around a bit in the Everglades City area then started east on Rt. 41 through the Everglades.  We had a lunch of peanut butter and crackers as we drove. Although much of the day was a bit overcast, the temperature was in the low 80s.    

In the mangrove tunnel

We saw a loop road that parallels Rt. 41 through the Everglades so we took the narrow gravel road for 24 miles.  Along this road we saw a great deal of wildlife including a huge variety of birds, many alligators, soft shelled turtles an even a cottonmouth water moccasin.  The water moccasin was in the road and we were afraid that someone would run her over with a car so I blocked the road with our car and put her over to into the wetland where she would be safe.  There were few cars on the road but I wanted to make sure that she didn’t get killed.  We spent a lot of time on this road since there were many places where we could look for wildlife.  We saw two wood storks that we hadn’t seen this year.

Continuing back on Rt. 41, we made a brief stop at the rest area where we walked the boardwalk and saw a few anhingas and three alligators.  We stopped at the Big Cypress Visitor Center for a brief walk to the viewing area where we saw one manatee behind the visitor center.

Continuing east on Rt. 41, we drove to the Shark Valley area of Everglades National Park.  We paid the $20 fee for a seven day National Park pass as we waited for a parking area to open.  The ranger only lets additional visitors into the area when a car leaves to assure that adequate parking is available.  We decided to walk some of the Shark Valley Loop Trail which is a very level paved trail. 

A female anhinga dries her wings

During the first half mile of the trail we saw many birds and lots of alligators some of which were very close, some even lying on the trail.  We saw large adult alligators as well as a clutch of newly hatched babies and everything in between.  We saw most of the birds that we had seen earlier but we also saw a purple ganinule that is one of the prettiest birds in the area.  We had walked out the loop for over 2.5 miles before we discovered that the trail is a loop that is over 15 miles in length.  Since it was after 4:30 by then we decided to start back toward the car.  It was just as well since we saw nothing new after the first half mile or so of the trail.  Most of the trail was many of the same birds and fewer alligators than in the first part of the trail. 

A large alligator sunning

When we return to the area we will walk the first half mile and some of the short side trails but skip the remainder of the trail.  It is a great place to walk or bicycle but we felt that we had walked plenty by the time we returned to the car after our 5 to 6 mile walk.  A two hour tram ride around the loop is available for $24 which isn’t bad but you can’t get out and see things as you like.  Bicycles are also available to rent and we saw many European and Asian visitors riding out the trail.

We left the Shark Valley Trail Loop area of Everglades National Park a little after 5 pm and drove back west on Rt. 41 to Everglades City. 

A clutch of baby alligators

We went to dinner at City Seafood that was recommended to us by Captain Parker from our morning boat ride.  It is a very casual places that caters to locals and boaters.  The freshly cooked meals are “baskets” that come in the paper boats.  We both had the fish basket which is made with locally caught grouper and included black bean salad, very good cole slaw that may have included Granny Smith apples, a generous portion of French fries and lots of fried grouper.  We both enjoyed our meals.

After dinner we drove back to the Wyndham Garden Fort Myers Beach but going through Naples and Bonita Beach.  It took a little longer but allowed us to see some different places.  We got back to our room a little after 8:30 pm and crashed after quick showers.  Since our room keys didn’t work when we got to the room, I ran to the office to get them reprogrammed.  The hotel restaurant/bar, Pinchers, has live music a lot of nights.  The band was playing all classic rock, mostly from the 60s and sounded OK although we were happy that our rooms were on the other side of the hotel.  It just cracked me up that the old geezers (a little older than me) were out in their Bob Seeger and Jimmy Buffett (sorry, I fell asleep between Jimmy and Buffett) T-shirts and rocking out.  The party animals tired out by 9 pm and the place quieted down.