Flamingo and Anhinga Trail

We woke at our usual early hour this morning although neither of us slept exceptionally well on Sunday night because we hadn’t set the air conditional cool enough.  It sounds odd to want the air conditioning cranked up in mid-January but with the heat that we have been having here on the southern Gulf Coast of Florida, the air conditioning feel pretty good at night.

We got on the road by 7:15 am after a breakfast of Kashi cereal and bananas since we were out of Wheat Chex.  We headed south down I-75 to visit the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge.  However, we could find no visitor center for the area.  A very large area was enclosed to provide a safe area for the breeding population of the Florida variety of pumas in the area.  Although there was no visitor center, we did find an informational kiosk at the trailhead for a hiking trail around the refuge.  Brochures and signage informed visitors of the status of Florida panthers and how the facility seeks to protect the remaining population.

We headed southeast on Rt. 41 stopping at the Ochapee, Florida Post Office to mail birthday cards to Robert and Michael Whittington and Greg Koehler.  The Ochapee Post Office is in a building that appears to be about 4 by 6 feet and is reported to be the smallest in the US.  We had passed it several times and were glad to have a reason to stop. 

We drove a little further to the Oasis Visitor Center on Rt. 41 where a boardwalk provides a view of alligators, wading birds and fish in the canal.  Since we were there fairly early, there were few alligators out because the temperature was still in the low 70s.  I guess we shouldn’t complain about the 70s when the temperatures back home are at zero with the wind chill and light snow is in the forecast.  We are perfectly happy with the 70s!

We continued southeast on Rt. 41 until we got to Rt. 997 toward Homestead.  This is one of my least favorite roads since it is 20 miles of very congested two lane road.  There is a lot of traffic going to the Coe entrance to Everglades National Park many of whom are from out of state and out of the US.  In addition, there are many trucks and tractors serving the large agricultural areas along Rt. 997 near Homestead and Florida City.  Because there is so much traffic on the highway no passing is permitted at any point on the road.  It would just not be safe to allow passing on this busy road.

We passed fields of tomatoes, beans, squash, papaya and many other fruits and vegetables.  We also passed the famous Robert is Here fruit stand.  We arrived at the entrance to Everglades National Park around 11 am and used our receipt from our entrance to Shark Valley to get us in to the park with no additional charge.  We started our visit at the Anhinga Trail and covered our rental car with one of the tarps provided by the Park Service.  Since the resident black vultures will eat the rubber wipers and moldings from parked cars, the Park Service recommends covering cars to discourage the birds.

A large group of elementary school children were at the Anhinga Trail while we were there as well as a van tour of senior citizens.  We were surprised at the lack of wildlife along the trail.  When we were here on January 31, 2013 there were many more birds and alligators.  We speculate that el Nino is keeping the coastal areas warmer and not driving the birds inland at this time.  As with other visits to the area, we saw many tourists from Europe and Asia visiting the Everglades.  After our walk around the boardwalk at the Anhinga Trail, we returned to our rental car with the rubber parts intact and had a lunch of peanut butter and crackers as well as sesame sticks and mini carrots as we drove to other trails and viewing areas in the National Park. 

We stopped at most of the attractions and walked around the interpretative trails.  We finished the trip at Flamingo where the Everglades meets the ocean.  This area has both American alligators and crocodiles but we saw neither while we were there this year.  We saw both alligators and crocodiles there in 2013.  A ranger was pointing out a manatee in the marina area and several ospreys were in the area including several on nests.

After spending some time looking around in Flamingo we started back toward our room in Fort Myers.  We knew that the drive north on Rt. 997 wouldn’t be fun but we were anxious to get back.  Along Rt. 41 we had to slow down at several places since the speed limit is lowered from 60 to 45 after dark to protect panthers than may be crossing the highway after dark.  We were disappointed to not see any panthers.

We stopped in Bonita Beach for dinner around 7 pm at a place called Big Hickory Seafood Grill House and Marina because it is on Big Hickory Pass on the north end of the island.  Mary had fish tacos made with locally caught grouper that had a key lime aioli and slices of avocado.  I had a grouper sandwich.  We both thought our meals were very good, the service was excellent and the prices reasonable. 

We returned to the Wyndham Garden Fort Myers Beach.  We hope to get together with our friends, the Johnson, tomorrow at Marco Island.  We head back toward St. Pete on Wednesday.