Blogs from Everglades National Park, Florida, United States, North America - page 4

After 2 weeks in ultra crowded Marathon we decided to head north (!) up the west coast of Florida - and both agree it has been the highlight of our cruise so far. A 50 mile day found us in the Little Shark River - totally isolated - no McDonald's or roads or cell phones or wifi for many miles. The wildlife was spectacular - a dolphin almost joined us in the dinghy during one ride. Big rays lept clear of the water, flipped and splashed down noisily - always when you least expected it. Big turtles drifted by and the birdlife was amazing. We continued further north to Everglades City (really a village) where we had a great but short visit with Kim, James and Lukas - they drove down from Punta Gorda where they ... read more

February 12, Thursday Morning hot showers, another confab with Mike and his maps, and we packed up for departure. We had been warned at Flamingo by a Ranger to find a spot this day and stay "hunkered down" due to the 3 day weekend of President's day. There was plenty of room at Flamingo, so we headed there for a four night stay. A pleasant but slow ride north on Route 1 through the keys brought us back to the Park entrance, and we continued on to Flamingo after a short stop for groceries, a small tent peg hammer, and coffee. We met a gentleman in an RV in the Home Depot parking lot who was from Vernon BC and knew some of the folks that Deb knows. Small world. We were allowed free entrance to ... read more

With absolute stillness, the creature sat with a powerful gaze that completely neutralized the glare and reflections on the surface of the water. If it were not for the beautiful but subdued colors in its plumage, it would have been very difficult to differentiate its shape against the thick vegetation surrounding it. Several minutes passed by, accentuating the creature's almost inanimated stance. Sitting behind my camera, I was challenged to imitate the stillness in anticipation of what might happen next, but my gene make up was not up to par with my subject's. After so many generations of human reliance on technology and a very specialized society for the provision of sustenance, most humans can't stalk prey the way that animal predators can. More minutes went by slowly until all of a sudden, in an explosive ... read more

“Nature nurtures the soul”. Printed on one of the sign boards at Everglades National Park. Well, the last couple weeks have been interesting as they were in many ways complete opposites: • One week I am sleeping in a clean bed with a mint on my pillow each night (except the night Larry and Barry stole my mint!). The next I am sleeping on the ground with specs of dirt on my pillow each night. • One week I am taking a hot shower at least once or twice a day. The next week I am cringing every time I have to step in the cold shower where the soap never really rinses off. • One week I am relaxing in a lounge chair soaking up the sun rays. The next week I am relaxing in ... read more