Click on a photo to enlarge it.
After saying goodbye and thank you to Carolyn, we drove back along the Keys to the 7 mile bridge and walked the 4.5
mile stretch. Then we went to Sombrero Beach and Kirsten and Andrea went snorkelling (nothing to see) and sun bathing!
Driving from the beach we saw a manatee mail box which Kirsten had to take a photo of. She also had to have a photo
of one of the many hurricane evacuation route signs that you see throughout Florida.
The dolphin research centre was too expensive so we took photos of a giant lobster instead. Then we went back to the
cinema to watch "National Treasure" with Nicolas Cage - very good.
On Tuesday, we drove back to Florida City/Homestead and stayed at the same campground again for the night. We did all
our washing and worked on the computer. On Wednesday, we went to Everglades National Park. We watched a video at the
visitor centre and then found out that there were loads of mosquitoes at Flamingo (about 46 miles along a road that
goes through the park down to the southern end). So we decided to go to the park via the other two entrances.
We drove to the Shark Valley entrance (north) and Kirsten and Andrea went on a bike ride along the loop road. Helen
took the tram tour as it cost the same price as renting a bike which she would only have been able to rent for 2 hours
anyway. (Well, that´s her excuse!)
Shark Valley.
The tram tour was excellent and so was the guide. Lots of interesting information.
Helen met the others at the observation tower and Kirsten and Andrea button holed the guide for 20 minutes to ask loads
of questions. We saw lots of alligators and their babies, and loads of birds. Afterwards, we drove to a primitive
campground in Big Cypress National Preserve for a very peaceful free night under the stars.
On Thursday, we drove along the scenic road in Big Cypress and then went to the west entrance to the Everglades and
took a 1.5 hour boat tour around the Thousand Islands where we saw dolphins that loved to swim right under the nose of
the boat.
Unfortunately, the tour was a bit too expensive for what it was. It might have lasted 1.5 hours, but one hour was spent
getting to or from, places where we could actually see anything! At least the dolphins saved the day!
On Friday, we drove to a campground which
has a marina and got our canoe down off the roof so that Kirsten and Andrea could go for a canoe ride through the
mangroves and get eaten alive by mosquitoes. They didn´t see any alligators and grounded themselves several times in
the mud! They also managed to break the rudder as they had to constantly manoeuvre through the mangrove tunnels. Helen
spent the day cleaning Winnie and cooking the evening meal for the hungry girls when they got back!
Boat tour & Kayaking amongst dolphins.
On Saturday, we left the Everglades and started heading North along the West coast of Florida. We drove to some islands
and picked a wonderful beach for a walk - a dog beach!! So we drove further north and went to Fort Myers Beach. The local
supermarket had a lot of tasting sessions going on, so we ate chicken cordon bleu, some kind of sausage meal (very tasty!),
spinach dip on crackers and yummy banana bread! All for free!
On Sunday, we drove to Sanibel Island where we saw a lot of hurricane damage. We went to J.N. "Ding" Darling National
Wildlife Refuge - what a mouthful! Why not call it Ding and be done with it. Anyway, we watched a video at the visitor
centre and then went on the 4 mile loop road to see lots of birds and wildlife.
We drove further and went across to Captiva Island which had even more hurricane damage - from hurricane "Charlie" which
was the first of four hurricanes to hit Florida in September this year. The friendly staff at the visitor centre had told
us to go to the "Mucky Duck" restaurant as they had good food. Unfortunately, they forgot to mention that they were closed
on Sundays! So we watched the dolphins and the sunset instead. Then we drove back to Sanibel Island, found a spot to park
up for the night and made ourselves Chinese.
