After breakfast at the motel, we drove fifty miles to the Flamingo Visitor Center of the Everglades National Park primarily to take the Back Country boat tour and learn a bit more about this area. We arrived shortly before the first boat of the day was to go out - early enough that there was only one other couple on the trip with us. (There is only one way in and out of this center - a drive of 38 miles from the park entry point so everyone has to do a long drive to get there)
Ken made good use of our binoculars just searching out the area.
One of the first things we saw as we were heading up the canal was a small alligator swimming into the bushes alongside us.
Our very informative guide spent a good deal of time telling us about both the American Alligator and American Crocodile that both hang out in these waters. And to prove that shortly thereafter we saw a baby croc lying on a tree branch just above the waters surface.
Our guide pointed out some of the varieties of trees and plants that grow in this area. Back in the 1940s the trees were so tall they arched across the area creating a huge canopy but this was destroyed by a hurricane and the area is still recovering from that damage. The mangroves are amazing. They put out long roots from high up in the tree creating huge "walking legs" that grow very close together.
These tightly twisted roots create great hiding places for the wildlife of the area. If you look closely you can see one of several egrets we could see in this area.
One other tree that we had never heard of before was this deadly tree - its leaves and fruit are filled with toxins. The sap will cause bad blisters on the skin that fester causing a slow death. The fruit that looks like a green apple is poisonous. The Calusa Indians who lived in this area use to put the sap on their arrows and were known to tie their enemy to the tree to die a slow tortuous death. The leaves have a bright shine to them. It was one of these treated arrows that killed Ponce de Leon.
We saw lots of birds including egrets, ospry, green heron, anhinga, eagles, and vultures.
We not only saw alligators and crocodiles but manatee in the water. And our guide told us about the snakes in the area especially the invasive pythons (started when "pets" were released - that have become a major problem as they eat so much of the wildlife in the area). By the time we heard about the poisonous snakes and trees and saw how dense the growth was around mangroves, all interest in doing any off the beaten path hiking was quickly squashed :-) not that we really were planning on doing it anyway.
But from the safety of our boat the area had a very special beauty of its own. The skies provided a variety of different types of clouds, hanging above the huge open expanses of water doted with little islands.
After returning to the dock, we went into the Visitor Center
And this intriguing picture of "skis" used by some of those who had resided in the area to get around.
The center has a huge upper walkway that overlooks the Florida Bay and all of its little Keys.
A late lunch and very light supper at the local Panera's was the only thing that took us outdoors in the high heat and humidity for the rest of the day. I used the time to begin going through two weeks of collected email and Facebook messages as well as downloading pictures and writing this blog. Ken enjoyed some quiet time reading as well as getting caught up with the bills that needed to be handled.
Our contact at Lazydays again did not respond to our calls to find out more about the status of our motorhome. We're getting frustrated but realize there is nothing we can really do about it. So we decided to spend the rest of the day here and then set off in the morning for North Carolina to attend Jackson's Eagle ceremony which is on Saturday. That is an 850 mile trek so we face alot of driving for the next couple of days.
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