Everglades City

I was up first after sleeping until 6 am. It was nice to sleep in a bit and get up in time to start getting breakfast ready. I got water started for tea and oatmeal. We had raisins and walnuts to add in to the oats. Of course it took me longer since I was not familiar with the operation of the appliances and didn’t know where things are stored in the kitchen. Mary and I did a couple of quick German lessons before Mark and Cindy woke. We enjoyed the oats and tea then planned our day.

We decided to stick close to our lodging today, and Mary suggested Collier Seminole State Park nearby. The drive on the Tamiami Trail (Rt. 41) was easy. When we entered the park, the volunteer working the entrance told us that the area we were in had a short 1 mile trail and a 5 mile trail that was partially in water. Another park entrance had a 3.5 mile trail that was through the state park. We opted to walk the one mile trail but not the 5 mile one through thick mud. As we were exiting that part of the park, we picked up a trail pass for visitors. The $8 entrance fee to the park covered both areas.

The 3.5 mile hike was very beautiful through mangrove, palmetto and pine brush. We saw a few alligators, several snakes, many anoles and lots of birds of all types.

We returned our trail pass to the visitor center then sat on a bench overlooking the water with a few manatees. Our lunch was the usual peanut butter and crackers with the bottles of water that we picked up the night before.

After finishing lunch we drove to Everglades City stopping at the ranger station to pickup a map. We walked another short trail of less than a mile, but it had good signs pointing out local native plants. After our walk we drove to the historic 1906 Smallwood Store but didn’t stay there long.

We continued east on US 41 to the Big Cypress National Preserve visitor center. We walked behind the visitor center to the deck overlooking the water. A few alligators were there but no manatees that we saw. A ranger came out and told us that she was waiting for another ranger who had been out freeing an anhinga from a snarl of fishing line. We didn’t stay at the visitor center long and headed back toward the house. 

We stopped at a Publix for groceries and picked up fruit and a few other things for meals. We bought a rotisserie chicken and salad makings as well as precooked corn fritters and potato wedges. We went to the Publix Liquor Store and picked up a bottle of Bacardi rum for mojitos and Larceny bourbon for sipping at the house.

When we got back to the house we ate about half of the chicken along with the potatoes and corn. Everything was very good. We crashed and enjoyed a glass of the bourbon while Mary and Cindy played cribbage.

Big Cypress National Preserve

After a restful sleep we went to breakfast at the Days Inn which was minimal at best.  There was cold cereal and the ubiquitous Belgian waffle iron.  There were a number of construction workers in the breakfast area as is typical of this area.  

Great egret

We met Mark & Cindy at 8 am to drive down to the Everglades City area of Everglades National Park.  We drove around the small town then entered the park which is very small compared to the part on the Atlantic side.  Most of the park on the Gulf side is islands and waterways.  A volunteer at the visitor center was very helpful in identifying hiking areas and places to see in the western side of the Everglades. 

Our first stop was at the trail at Kirby Storter Roadside Park which is a half mile boardwalk through a cypress swamp.  Although we were there in the dry season, the recent heavy rains over the past week had more water in the area than is typical for this time of year.  We saw a number of birds but nothing we hadn’t seen on Tuesday at Shark Valley.  Since this area is normally drier in winter, we didn’t see alligators in the 6-10 inch deep water around the cypress trees.  

Cypress swamp

After leaving the Kirby Storter Roadside Park we drove through the Loop Road through the Big Cypress National Preserve.  This 24 mile drive is a loop off the Tamiami Trail that goes through spots where wildlife gather.  We drove slowly and stopped whenever we saw alligators, birds we may not have seen or an attractive view of the cypress swamp.  We saw several birds that we hadn’t seen before on this trip including a black crowned night heron.  We met a number of other tourists who were driving along the loop road including some of Belgium, France and England.  We also met two families from West Virginia, one from Talcott and one from Peterstown.  We stopped for a lunch of peanut butter, crackers, fruit, corn nuts and jerky.  It took us over four hours to drive the 24 miles of the Loop Road since we stopped very frequently to see something along the drive.  The last 8 miles or so of the drive was through Indian villages and had so stops for wildlife viewing since it was more populated with houses.

Black-crowned night-heron

Back on US 41, the Tamiami Trail, after leaving the Loop Road we drove to the Turner River Road Trail.  This area is accessed by turning off US 41 at the H. P. Williams Roadside Park and driving for 15 miles on a dirt road.  This drive was beautiful.  Paralleling the road was a canal that was filled with alligators and birds of all types.  We saw many of the same birds that we had seen earlier in the trip but also little blue herons, reddish herons and tricolored herons that we hadn’t seen yet this week.  We also saw several osprey and hawks that we believe were broadwing hawks and red shouldered hawks.  We stopped at a trail that goes through a Florida prairie for 2.5 miles.  We enjoyed the walk but saw very little wildlife and only one other couple walking the trail.  The trail was mowed and kept in good shape for walking.  It was a nice walk but we were tired at the end and ready to go to dinner.

Since we were running late, we decided to just go to the Culver’s across the street from the hotel in Bonita Springs.  It was actually a pretty good choice.  Mary had a garden salad with grilled chicken and I had a Reuben sandwich.  We all enjoyed our meals.

Mark found a small tick on his arm so we all rushed to get a shower after the walk and to check ourselves for ticks.  

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.

Gators, gators and more gators

We left the Travelodge in Florida City around 8 am after a good breakfast at the motel.  Although the parking lot isn't nearly full, there is a "No Vacancy" sign at the registration desk.  Like the motel in Key West, we have noticed a lot of Europeans here.  We have heard a lot of people in the breakfast area speaking French and others speaking some Eastern European languages.

As we drove toward Everglades City, I had a conference call for work to set up a training session with RCBI and NASA on March 9.  The call was productive and only took about 30 minutes, long enough for us to get to US 41 which we would be on for most of the day.  Route 41 is sometimes called the Tamiami Highway since it runs from Tampa on the Gulf Coast to Miami on the Atlantic Coast.  The first 11 miles of Route 41 were under construction and down to one lane in many areas.  The construction didn't slow us down much.

Our first stop of the day was at the Shark Valley Visitor Center in Everglades National Park.  There was a strong breeze making the air seem cooler than the actual temperature in the low 70s.  The trail along a small canal was a great place to see many interesting birds and TONS of alligators.  The birds and alligators were nearly as good for viewing as the Anhinga Trail that we visited on Thursday.  There were several types of ergets, storks, herons, and Purple Gallinules that we had been looking for earlier in the week.  There were alligators everywhere sunning in the morning light.  The trail runs 14 miles to an observation tower along a canal.  There is a tram that takes visitors along the trail or people can walk and bicycle there.  Since we wanted to get to Everglades City, we choose to not walk or tram to the tower but rather move on west.  

Our next stop was at the Oasis Visitor Center in the Big Cypress Preserve where a nice boardwalk paralleled the Tamiami Highway (US 41) and a canal where many huge alligators basked.  We stood in one place and counted 18 alligators, most of which were over 8 feet in length.  We saw several that were at least 12 feet long.  The canal also had many Florida gar, walking catfish and several types of freshwater turtles.  The water was clear enough to provide good visibility of life in the canal.  There was a volunteer ranger on the boardwalk who was very helpful in identifying the fish and other wildlife in and around the canal.

We drove on to the Big Cypress Visitor Center that was small but had an interesting short boardwalk.  There was a lot of information on the cypress trees of the area and the creation of the park in the early 1970s to preserve them.  On the boardwalk, there was a canal where we didn't see alligators but there were manatees.  They were difficult to see since they only came up briefly for a quick breath.  Mostly, you could see bubbles from the paths of the manatees underwater. 

Just before we got to Everglades City, we stopped at the H. P. Williams Picnic Area where there were a number of alligators out in the sun.  We watched anhingas feeding including on that caught and swallowed a large cichlid that left a lump in the anhinga's throat.  It was a tiny area but was an interesting stop because of the concentration of alligators.

We made it to Everglades City a little before noon and checked in at the Gulf Coast Visitor Center.  We learned that a tour boat around some of the mangrove islands in the Gulf would be leaving at 1 pm.  We couldn't resist the opportunity to go.  The boat had about 20 people on board and traveled around many of the islands and to rookeries and areas frequented by dolphins.  Only Mary and one other person on the boat managed to see a dolphin but there were many types of birds and the 90 minute ride was nice.  After returning to Everglades City around 2:30, we drove around the area and to the old Smallwood Store in Chokoloskee.   The store has quite a history since it was built in 1906.  There is a small airport in Everglades City that mostly brings private planes with visitors to the Park.  We learned that the airport had a very different purpose not long ago;  In the 1970s, over 80% of Everglades City's residents had a drug conviction!  With the presence of the Park Service in the area, the drug trade in town decreased dramatically.  

We left the area and continued northwest on the Tamiama Highway toward Naples.  We found a well reviewed seafood restaurant in Naples called Randy's Fishmarket.  In addition to the restaurant, Randy's sells fresh locally caught seafood.  Since we just had snacks for lunch at the Gulf Coast Visitor Center at Everglades City, we were pretty hungry.  At 4:30, the other diners in the restaurant were mostly senior citizens.  The population of Naples is generally very wealthy and very old.  On our way to the restaurant, we passed dealerships for Bentley, Porsche, Mazzarati and Land Rover.  Since we are here in stone crab season, we started with an appetizer of stone crab claws.  To harvest the claws of the stone crabs, fishermen collect the crabs in traps and remove the claws in such a way that the crabs are released unharmed to regenerate claws.  For our meals, Mary had crab cakes with a baked sweet potato and green beans.  I had pan seared mahi mahi on a bed of whole wheat penne pasta with garlic olive oil, portobello mushrooms and wilted spinach.  We both had good spring salads with blue cheese dressing. After our meal, the waiter brought us each a complementary slice of Key Lime Pie since were were first time visitors.  We would recommend Randy's as a place to eat when in Naples.

We left Naples around 6 pm and drove back to the Florida City Travelodge arriving at 8:30.  
In checking the weather back home, we see that the Tri-State is being hit with a blanket of snow and that schools across the state are closed.  It sounds like more snow is coming for the rest of the weekend.  That sure makes us happy to be in The Sunshine State this time of year!

   

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