Dave and Sandy On The Road: Back in Fort Myers and Everglades National Park

On Saturday the 13th we left Disney and drove back to Fort Myers where we plan to stay until the middle of March. Along the way we drove past miles and miles of orange groves like this one.

Today is Valentine’s Day and the park had a Valentine supper and dance at the club house

The dinner was excellent as was the entertainment. Brian Roman is a Canadian who at the age of 42 gave up a career in insurance and became a professional entertainer in 2005. Up to that point he had only sang at weddings and similar events. Brian’s program consisted of songs from Sinatra, Martin, Elvis, Humperdinck, Diamond and similar singers. Brian put on a very good show.

On Veterans Day, Paul, who has a boat down here, took Dale, Bob and I out fishing in the San Carlos Bay area by Sanibel Island.

Here we are launching Paul’s 18 foot boat.

We caught over 20 Spotted Sea Trout (Speckled Trout) of which we kept 9. Dale caught the largest one that measured 21 ¼ inches and weighed 2 ½ lbs. Each person can keep four fish of which only one can be over 20 inches.

Here is Paul with a 19 incher.

We saw one Porpoise that came up to our boat while we were fishing.

On the way back to the launch site we saw quite a few more Dolphins that were sounding.

On Sunday the 21^st we drove to Flamingo, FL which is at the south end of the Everglades National Park. It’s a 4 to 4 ½ hour drive, so it was a full day for us.

On the way down we had to go though the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. They have these high fences (you can see them in the lower left corner of the picture) line parts of the highway with areas that go under the highway for the Panthers to cross safely. Even though there are many “panther crossing” signs, we didn’t see any panthers. They probably are at night more.

The entrance sign to the Park was so small we almost missed it.

We stopped at the visitors center to get a lay of the park and pick up some information. The only thing about being over 62 is that I have a Golden Age Pass, so that gets us into the National Parks for free.

On the way in we had to go thru the Rock Reef Pass. I can hear all of our friends from the west laughing about the elevation of this pass. After going through the pass we pressed on to the summit.

Our first stop was at the Royal Palm area where we went on the Anhinga Trail. Here is an Anhinga looking at the water for its next meal. They are a diving bird that swims after its prey.

Then when done they sit and spread their wings to dry out.

Here is a Wood Stork foraging for food. Every now and then it would spread it wings. I wonder if that was to frighten the insects it was looking for so they would move and it could find them. Interesting to watch it feed.

It’s amazing how close predator and prey get to each other.

This bird reminded me of a Great Blue Heron, but it was half the size.

And, of course, there were plenty of Alligators to be seen. Supposedly there are a few American Crocodiles in the area, but we did not see any.

Here is one of the interesting plants called an Airplant.

We went to look at the campground in Flamingo and came across this Osprey with a fresh catch.

In the campgrounds we came across a couple of interesting rigs.

Here is Sandy at the Flamingo Visitor Center with the ocean in the background showing some of the many small key island.

On the way out we stopped at the Mahogany Hammock site. This shows some of what grows on the high spots in the Everglades.

This is a raised trail that goes though the Mahogany Hammock area.

One of the Mahogany trees. There were also a lot of Mahogany trees that were blown over from the hurricane that hit Homestead. The Mahogany canopies are so large and the roots so shallow, that they are easily blown over in the hurricanes. New plants thrive in the undergrowth exposed to sunlight.

The Mahogany trees that fall down become “nurse trees” for the new plant growth. We saw the same type of situation in the rain forest of the Pacific Northwest a few years ago.