We love Florida!

Homestead, FL  March 1 - 10, 2013

We headed down to Homestead, Florida which is a central location relatively close to the Keys and the Everglades and planned to stay nine days so that we would have plenty of time to enjoy all of the sights.  We arrived at the Boardwalk Mobile Home park to find that it really is a mobile home park.  They have a few spots for travelers, but we were surrounded by permanent residents in single and double wide mobile homes.  Everyone has taken really good care of their homes so we were surrounded by trees and flowers.   They also seem to own two cats for every person - cats were everywhere!  A few tried to make friends with Midnight and Miciou, but Calcite and Zoe would have none of it.

On our first day we had arranged to meet my niece Melissa and her husband Jerad down in Key West.  They were taking a long weekend away from the snow and kids in Kansas City and we were excited to see them.  We didn't realize that it was a two hour drive down to the last key, but we were planning on making the drive anyway.  It is a really nice drive through all of the keys, over beautiful water and across the famous seven-mile bridge.  Their weekend hadn't really been going as planned as the Keys were having a very unusual cold and rainy snap so many of their water excursions were cancelled.  It ended up taking us three hours to get there because there was an accident on the two lane bridge / highway and a life-flight helicopter was called in.  We met them for a late lunch at the Southern Most Cafe which was a great spot right on the water only 90 miles from Cuba!  We walked around Key West which is really just a tourist village with very little beach.  We learned that the definition of a key is an ancient coral reef that has been uplifted and exposed so there is no natural sand as there has not been enough time for erosion to do it's thing.  Key West actually imports their sand from the Bahamas.  We had a great visit and even got a beautiful beach shot without our jackets!

                                                         We are coming Melissa!

                                                          Southern Most Beach Cafe

With Melissa and Jerad on Key West
 

                                     Osprey Condo - note the flip-flop at the top in the center

The next day was supposed to be rainy all day so we planned to catch up on our grocery shopping and housekeeping.  We did go to a very famous fruit stand called Robert is Here where they had amazing fruits and vegetables mostly grown in the area.  They are also famous for their fresh fruit milkshakes.  We bought a delicious sampling of grapefuit, oranges, papaya and mangos and were not disappointed.  They were all delicious!  We didn't try the milkshakes because the line was out the door and around the building.

                                                                Look at those onions!

                                                    Yummy fresh produce everywhere

We had been looking forward to an airboat tour for a long time since neither one of us had ever been on one.  There are so many companies it was hard to decide which one to choose.  We settled on Coopertown which is the oldest one and seemingly the closest to us and the Everglade National Forest.  We feasted on a lunch of gator tail, frog legs and catfish before heading on a giant "car" airboat which we learned from JT is a wanna be airboat that runs using a car engine instead of an airplane engine.  Our guide drove us out into the everglades pretty fast for about nine miles and then slowly worked his way back stopping to show us lots of alligators, birds and turtles.  We learned that the Everglades is not a swamp, but actually a very shallow and wide river covered with grass.  The Indians called the Everglades "river of grass."  There are hammocks located throughout the Everglades which is where dirt has accumulated and trees and shrubs grow giving the appearance of a island.  Our favorite new bird is a Purple Guillenote a very pretty duck like bird.  The airboat captain stopped in the middle of the glades, made a weird sound and a male Purple Guillenote appeared, landed on the boat and climbed up his arm.  When we got back to the starting point we all got to hold a three year old baby alligator!  It was very cold and soft - not what we expected - but then again they are cold blooded reptiles.  A very fun day.

                                                                  Purple Guillenote

                                                           Born in captivity 3 years ago

                                                                   Baby Daddy

Our next day we drove back down to Key Largo which is the largest key in the chain and the first one you come to driving south on US 1.  We visited the John Pennekamp State Park which had a couple of nature trails and a little beach swimming area.  Their visitor center boasted an aquarium, but it wasn't much of one and a little disappointing.  We walked the dogs on a trail which was actually very nice and ended in an orchard that was planted many years ago and had avocado and mango trees.  They had to blast the limestone/coral to make the holes to plant the trees.  Since most of the state park is technically under water they offered glass bottom boat and snorkling tours so we thought we might come back for some snorkling.  We then went looking for the maritime museum that had been written up in our 2001 Florida traveling guide, but it was no longer open - very sad.  So we went to the Wild Bird Rescue and Rehabilitation Center.  It was so fun.  They had all kinds of raptors in cages that they had been taking care of after cat attacks and insecticide poisoning... falcons, screech owl, barred owl, great horned owls, kestrel, hawks and tons of pelicans, cormorants and herons.  The pelicans were walking all around throughout the sanctuary right along side us, it was a little creepy.  We were there at feeding time so I watched in slight horror at the raptors eating little baby chicks and mice.  Like a train wreck I couldn't look away.  Really cool place, don't miss it if you head down this way.

Our next adventure was planned for Biscayne National Park which is another park that is mostly underwater.  They do have a fabulous visitor center with great displays of all of the plant and animal life found on the massive coral reef off the coast which is the third largest in the world.  We rented a canoe and paddled all around the bay in search of said wildlife, but alas the only thing we saw were diving pelicans and osprey.  It was a really windy day and the water was so choppy we couldn't see any fish until they were swooped up by a hungry pelican.  It was still really fun to be out on the water and I was very thankful for Peg's great canoeing skills as I am a poor canoe-mate.  I did learn how to forward and reverse sweep as she "J" stroked in the stern attempting to keep us in a straight line as we paddled into the wind!  I also heard "don't forget to feather as you return stroke".  I never did quite get the hang of that.  They also offered snorkling trips and they were much smaller, more personal and the portion of the reef within Biscayne is in shallower water so we booked a snorkel trip for Friday.  So excited.

Canoe Queen.  I took this shot over my head, not turned around. 

Who can move on that tiny little seat!

Now it was finally time to head to the actual Everglades National Park!  We started at the visitor center which was a wealth of information on the wildlife, trails and history of the Everglades.  Of course one of the primary focal points is the alligators because who is not enthralled with these prehistoric and dangerous looking reptiles.  We took the drive from the main entrance down 38 miles to the Flamingo center which is on the southern most coast of the mainland on Florida bay.  We stopped at every kiosk and took most of the off-shoots leading to trails through the mangroves, sawgrass and hardwood hammocks.  We saw a few alligators meandering around and tons of birds, but the one bird we had been most excited to see, the roseated spoonbill, eluded us once again.  On the trail thru the mahogany trees we heard an owl right in front of us and the roar of an alligator - so spooky!  We saved the Anhinga trail for last and boy was it the best.  We were treated to a barred owl sitting on a branch staring at us to start, then several nests of baby anhinga's and finally alligators everywhere.  It felt more like a zoo, but there were no cages or barriers of any kind and signs everywhere reminding us that these were free wild animals.  We nervously watched a large alligator and black vulture interact within a foot of each other for the longest time sure the vulture was lunch, but it was not to be.  Darn it, Peg was pretty excited to watch that meal take place.  We also watched an anhinga dive underwater, come up with a fish and turn it over in its beak and swallow it down whole right in front of us.  The mile long trail follows a boardwalk above the water and is a natural congregation spot especially during the dry season for alligators as it always has water.  In one spot there were at least twenty alligators taking a sun bath in the gooey warm mud.  It was really fun watching them swim every other time we have seen them they have just been loafing around.  Honestly, at times you even wonder if they are not statues strategically placed by the park!  I was very glad the dogs were in the car.

                                                            Alligator right next to the road.

                                                                Hardwood hammock

                                          The maximum elevation change in the Everglades.

Now it was time for snorkeling!  Yippee!  This was a great tour with knowledgeable, friendly staff, and great equipment.  We boarded the boat for the 45 minute boat-ride out to Boca Chita Key where we dropped off some of the passengers for an island tour.  It was a great little island with a beautiful lighthouse and overnight primitive camping.  We then headed out to the reef.  Luckily we had rented wetsuits as the water was a chilly 70 degrees!  It was so worth it.  We snorkeled for an hour all around one of the most beautiful reefs I have seen.  The coral and sea life was phenomonal.  We saw huge puffer fish, trunk fish, angel fish, trumpet fish, large schools of blue tang fish not to mention the colors and diversity of coral - 40 of the 52 species of coral found in the Altantic are found on this reef.  They had to drag Peg and I out of the water at the end of our hour snorkel.  It was fantastic.

                                               Snorkling tour with Boca Chita lighthouse.

As you can tell by the longest blog ever, we really enjoyed our time in South Florida.

Coming soon... Fort Pierce and Jacksonville, FL working our way north!