Alligator alley

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Woah, where did the time go, those couple of days flew by. Sadly had to pack up and check,out of the lovely hotel and say goodbye to one of the coolest places on earth.

Not before enjoying another free breakfast and a few sneaked treats to enjoy on the long journey ahead.

A duller day, drove back up the keys, over the endless bridges back towards Miami.

Heading over to the Gulf coast, decided against the road known as Alligator Alley as it is a four lane highway and am pretty sure any sensible 'gator will have backed his bags and headed away from the traffic fumes and noise. We took highway 41, just a regular road and cut straight through the heart of the Everglades national park. Sensed Alex's frustration 30 minutes into the drive on 41, no alligator spot just yet, I had warned him not to bellow and grab my arm when he spotted the first one as I was driving and likely to crash into the swamp, not a good plan.

Shortly after, he managed to contain himself as he spotted the first one, followed by one every 10 metres, time to stop and take some photos plus take our lives into our own hands in my opinion!

Managed to find a pull over spot (am pretty sure there's a reason why they don't encourage you to stop here) parked up and headed off to face some 'gators head on. Got some great photos and my diet must have worked as none of them saw me as a decent dinner.

Reached our hotel in Naples beach area, a pleasant surprise as I didn't book this via Bookings.com as usual, I did it direct with hotel, who actually posted the confirmation to me in Spain, no emails here very quaint!

Checked in and thankfully although they don't do emails, wifi is available in all the rooms, phew. A wonderful room with kitchenette, huge bed and a lovely terrace overlooking the harbour.

Noticed on checking in and looking around the place, we were the youngest here by a good 20 years, most of the units are condos owned by Americans who spend part of the winter here and the rest of the time rent them out, lucky for us as this place is super cute and what a view. According to the guest book and the plaque on the desk, our unit is owned by 'Abe and Margie' from Wisconsin!!

Our unit overlooked the lovely tiki bar jutting out among the yachts and early evening a crowd was building, now I mentioned the average age of these people but boy can they party, it was like living above a bar in Benidorm (except more money and less Union Jack shorts).

A large passenger yacht was docked by the hotel and as the sun went down around 7pm the pretty lights came on, crew members in crisp white uniforms attended the entrance. The seniors in the tiki bar started to drift over to the vessel and at least a hundred older folk boarded for what we naively assumed to be a romantic dinner cruise.

Some three hours later after we returned from our Thai meal we heard a real racket in the distance and went out onto the balcony to investigate. The 'dinner cruise' for the 60-somethings turned out to be a lary booze cruise, they were screaming, dancing, shouting the DJ was giving random shout outs to Ernie and Elsie from New Jersey and spinning tunes by J-Lo, Beyonce and unbelievably Tupac, all I can think is they left their hearing aids back in the hotel. Seriously though, these older folk, known as snowbirds who come down to Florida for the winter, are super fit, play golf, run and cycle every day, give me a few pots of what ever pills they are popping!

A quick observation, this place is one of the cleanest, crime free, beautifully manicured places I have been, the main dining and retail streets are decked ready for the holiday season already, with classy subtle lighting in a single plain colour in every tree, bush and shrub, the place simply twinkling with affluence. Surprisingly the hotel is one of the lowest price of the trip.

It is a beautiful place to stay and I would definitely come back for a holiday, but to live here I would still choose Miami area for it's realness, edge and ethnicity.

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