Back to Florida

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After nearly two weeks on the go it’s an adjustment to catch your breath and realize that you’re back in the U.S.A. We awoke to the port sounds of Fort Lauderdale and made our way up to the Lido for a quick breakfast. The porters had taken our luggage left in the hall the night before, nicely marked with our port-to-destination-airport transfers which meant that we wouldn’t need to handle them or check them in or even see them before we searched for them in the baggage claim at LAX. Sharon and I have used this option on our last couple of cruises, and it is definitely the way to go. The mood in the Lido was somewhat solemn, and not the cheery energized buzzing that you normally are confronted with. Somewhat annoying were the people who felt they needed to bring their hand bags and carry-on luggage with them and drag that ensemble around the Lido and park it by their tables so that nobody could easily pass. In between tracking down a waffle, with syrup on the one waffle (not two waffles), but not on the hot apples on the side, a bowl of oatmeal, a dish of fresh fruit, a coffee, some orange juice and a glass of water for her morning pills (where does my petite mother put all of this food); well, Sharon and I managed to get some French Toast for her and an omelet for me.

We went back to our cabin and awaited for our group to be called to disembark. We have the Holland America Transfer to Miami airport (from which we were able to get a non-stop flight to LAX). Before our late afternoon flight we had an airboat everglades tour scheduled. We were among the first to disembark. Simon and many of his staff were there to say farewell to all of us. And we whizzed passed the rows of luggage already in the disembarkation hall of the port authority. We cleared customs and passport control and found ourselves on the other side of the terminal where already the diesel fumes of the many busses greeted us. We had green-4 stickers on our shirts that we’d received the night before with our other stickers and luggage tags. People in yellow vests kept routing us to the next bus, and when we’d gotten to the end we discovered that our bus was not here yet. Well the bus for the Everglades and Fort Lauderdale Airport transfer was here, but we needed to wait for our bus. I think it was driving around in a circle; but, needed to wait for another bus to leave before they would let it park. After what seemed an interminable length of time of wondering whether we were being forgotten, someone came over and told us to get on the Everglades/Fort Lauderdale bus. Since our flights weren’t until 5 PM that afternoon there would be time to get us to the airport after the others were dropped off in Fort Lauderdale. There was one other Miami bound couple that was also shuttled onto this bus so we weren’t feeling completely abandoned. It was about a forty minute drive to the air-boat tour business on the edge of the Everglades. I was dressed in my typical short-sleeved polo shirt, while almost everybody else had at least a light windbreaker; except, of course Sharon, who was pretty much in the same boat as me. Our guide told us to stay together, we could use the restrooms while she went to see whether we would be going on the airboat ride first, or go visit the wild animal rescue center where a number of abandoned, neglected or injured wild animals had found a home. The refuge is run completely on donations. Our guide returned, and we headed over to the air-boats for one of the first journeys into the Everglades this morning. The evening’s dampness still clung to the open boats, and we were herded into the narrowly rowed seats of the airboat. I was seated on the end, most exposed to the elements and spray from the boat and I was only hoping that this would end well and quickly. There was the sharp edge of chill still in the air, and wouldn’t you know, our boat-guide-driver informs us that this is not ideal conditions for finding cold-blooded crocodiles. They like to surface to sun themselves; but, with chilly windy conditions such as these they prefer to remain in the warmer muck on the bottom, surfacing only occasionally to breath (which they don’t seem to need to do all that often when conditions are as chilly as this). Everyone is onboard and we inch away from our berth, just the second boat out on the water this morning. Once we were pointed towards the open waters and our rear facing fan was not in danger of blowing anybody ashore, we accelerated rapidly. There was no mistake about our guides recommendation to turn our hats around to avoid having them blown off of our heads. I decided to sit on my hat while we were in motion. We made our way to a couple of promising sites, one that was sheltered from the wind; but, there was no movement. The airboats are equipped with a tall flexible flag pole and a flag so that the crafts can be spotted over the marsh grass going around bends. The guide told of an incident that had happened when two people in a rowboat had been parked in a blind turn in the Everglades, and he had come across them, barely missing them. He came back and told them they needed to make themselves more visible to avoid any accidents. They probably shouldn’t have cussed him out and flipped him off; because, he didn’t take it too well. He turned the boat around, pointed the fan towards them, and accelerated away. Both of them were blown out of the boat. I guess you can give some people advice; but, you can’t make them take it. He expected to be fired when he brought the airboat back to the dock; but, nobody ever filed any complaints. He decided to try one last area and as we approached the first airboat to go out this morning, that captain gave us the “We found a gator” wave, so we slowed and approached slowly and there in the marshy waters between the two boats an 8-foot alligator was sunning itself. We took some pictures and watched for a while; before, speeding back to the dock. Our guide signaled a couple of out-going airboats, letting them know which area we’d seen an alligator.

We walked through the animal refuge and saw a number of rare and endangered species. There were a couple of black panthers. There was also an impressively large owl which we were told was just 9 months old. The handler told us about the owl and the other animals in the refuge. Our HAL guide had a favorite, the marsh fox that was in residence at the refuge. The handler brought him out and the marsh fox seemed comforted by her way of holding him. She held him until another handler needed to take the fox for viewing by a group of school children in the other pavilion.

On the way back to our bus we passed an immobilized grille trailer where specialties like gator-burgers could be tried. We’d been warned that there is generally a twenty-minute wait for any grilled food, and we wouldn’t be there that long, before continuing on to the airports. So we went to the Miami Airport by way of Fort Lauderdale’s Airport. We had some trouble with our boarding passes, printed by Holland America, and needed to leave the security line and have them reprinted by an American Airline agent. Again, the security agent routed us into the ‘short line’ because we were travelling with my mother. We found our gate; but, still had some hours to kill. I went out and found a place for Sharon to get Fish-and-Chips, this being a Friday in Lent. At the intersection of several terminal rows I found an Irish Pub that had just what she wanted. We decided that that might be a bit far for my mother to walk. My mom said that all that she wanted was a bagel with cream cheese, so that’s what I got her. I found a place that served a hot pastrami sandwich, and so that’s what I had for lunch.

We boarded our flight without incident and mother took to the onboard entertainment console where she mastered playing the Easy Sudoku Game. Sharon urged me to show her how to play the game; but, I wasn’t sure she’d take to the GUI. But she enjoyed it once she got started. She was sitting across the aisle from Sharon and I. We arrived in LAX and I had a text message from Ron to text him once we were standing on the curb outside of baggage claim with our bags. Well, I’m guessing Ron is not happy with Brandon, because he was supposed to pick us up, so he can’t be a happy camper being down at LAX on a Friday evening. Our bags were among the last to come off, and we were about to go and report them as missing, when they did eventually show up. We made our way to the turn from the Brady International Terminal in front of American and texted Ron. He showed up with a scowl on his face… but he did show up. Two days later we bought him dinner at the Tam O’Shanter, so I guess all is good.

Altogether, this has been an enjoyable nearly two-week cruise celebrating my mother’s 85th birthday.

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