Florida & the Everglades

November, 2013

Florida

We arrived in Fort Lauderdale late Sunday November 10, 2013 and drove to Mizner Place, Weston, Florida. The resort was very nice and we attended a presentation on Monday morning which was very informative. Not wanting to do too much after a long day of travel the day before, we decided to go to Sawgrass Mill and pick up a few bits and pieces. Sawgrass Mill is the largest Premium Outlet Mall in the world and luckily for us they had huge markdowns for Veterans Day. We shopped at Nautica, Jones of New York, Clarks etc. Jim left his watch behind at home so bought a cheap tick a tick Timex. Quite stylish actually. We only bought tee shirts, shorts, sandals etc., some of which were 90% off the original price.

Tuesday we went into full swing and left the shopping behind. We drove to Fort Lauderdale and booked in for the Riverfront Cruise. After having lunch at Briny's we embarked on our cruise, duration 1 1/2 hrs. We cruised by the most amazing houses and yachts worth millions to hundreds of millions of dollars. Sadly most of these homes and yachts are rarely used, some maybe one or two weeks a year or the odd weekend and some have not been occupied for two years or more. How the rich live. It was a lovely day as we cruised the waterways seeing small two bedroom single story homes to massive homes with 22 bedrooms. The yachts have year round staff and some never move. The property taxes alone for one house was $64,000.00 US per month, $768,000.00 per year and that is a summer house. After disembarking we then walked along the riverfront boardwalk and onto Las Olas Boulevard. Not as impressive as we were lead to believe. It was very hot and we walked almost to the beach, around an hour but succumbed to a beach shuttle for the last little way. We strolled along Fort Lauderdale Beach for a while but the traffic was very noisy. We found a Haagendas Ice Cream shop and sat and enjoyed a cone each. Very delicious. One salted caramel truffle and the other Jim's was coconut and pineapple. We returned back down Las Olas by way of the Beach Shuttle and then walked back along the riverfront to the car park.

Wednesday we went to the Flamingo Botanical Gardens and Wildlife Refuge. It was cooler with some light rain at times. We took the tram around the 60 acre property and the driver gave a running commentary of the gardens and their history. 2,000 acres of dry muck land was purchased in 1926 by Mr Floyd & Mrs Jane Wray who turned it into a citrus plantation. After the death of Mr Wray, Jane sold all but 60 acres and placed it in trust in perpetuity. Their summer house remains on the property and is open for viewing. It is quite historical with many fascinating antiquities. The gardens are quite beautiful with many trees having been designated as the world's largest of their species in Florida. The wildlife refuge is quite spectacular. All of the animals and birds that live there are injured, have been rescued and are unable to be released back to the wild. Many that do come to the sanctuary are rehabilitated and released back into the wild. Those that stay are usually paired with others of their species that are injured and unable to fend for themselves, to breed, with their offspring being released into the wild. There are countless birds at the sanctuary, many of which are uninjured, but were bred there and choose to remain or come back at night to roost. Apart from the birds, there are many mammals including Florida Panthers, Bobcats, River Otters, Tortoises, Alligators, Opossums and Josh the black bear. Unlike the others Josh was not injured but hand reared as a cub and was used in educational programmes. When he was retired his home was a 20' x 20' enclosure which the authorities deemed to be too small and the living conditions not ideal. Flamingo Wildlife built him a new home including his own cave and a pool. Josh is neutered and prefers humans to other bears hence he is solitary and he weighs an almighty 600 lbs.

Thursday we drove to The Everglades to take a two hour eco pole boat tour. This was an amazing experience. The Shealy family have been operating these non motorized tours for four generations. Jack explained to me that it was like punting along an English river only with alligators. Our guide was Tommy Owen who gained worldwide fame by wrestling a Burmese python out of the river while taking people on a tour. Burmese pythons are an invasive species and unbalancing the eco system. They eat anything and everything they can get their jaws around, including alligators and can grow twenty feet long. Tommy thought that the snake that he was about to capture was around 6ft in length until he got hold of it and it was 10'. These pythons are enormously strong and wrapped itself around both of his wrists at one point. Not to be deterred Tommy persisted and caught the snake. The film went viral around the world on "You Tube" and appeared on CNN and BBC News. You can see it on Tommy's website phloridaphoto.us The two tourists in the boat certainly got their money's worth that day. Tommy took us along the Turner river which like all the rivers in the Everglades is very shallow fresh water. The water in the Everglades all comes from rainwater and flows gently to the sea. Our boat made barely a ripple, not disturbing the wildlife. We passed so closely to the alligators we could have touched them yet they made no attempt to move. As we entered the river the alligators were fairly large and as we made our way further into the swamp we passed juveniles and then babies. Alligators stay with their mothers until they are about three years old and about five feet long. By this time they are looking at the new hatchlings as food so they are then ostracized by their mothers who are very protective of their young. Apart from being up close and personal with the alligators we saw wonderful mangroves, cabbage trees and various other flora and fauna. The birds are very diverse, including anhingas, white herons, great blue herons, egrets. ibis and belted kingfishers. We also witnessed a beautiful green heron catch a baby turtle and eat it. Its a dog eat dog world. The Everglades are surreal and serene and these pole boat tours are the best way to see them. It was a phenomenal experience. After we thanked Tommy and left him to impart his wealth of knowledge onto his next two passengers, yes the boats only hold two people at a time, we went back to the headquarters and took a tour of Rick's babies. Rick has many rescued birds and reptiles and he is also a wealth of knowledge. His feathered and scaly friends all love him. His green winged Macaw from Brazil gently takes peanuts from his mouth, while he has a medium sized alligator which gives him a kiss. He has many snakes including rat snakes, Burmese Pythons of which two are albino and a massive Reticulated Python which is twenty feet in length, weighs 300 lbs and is ticklish. She is amazingly beautiful with iridescent blue markings and so soft to touch. We held some of the birds, the alligator and some of the snakes. It was a wonderful experience. (evergladesadventuretours.com)

Friday we took a very long drive to The Florida Keys. Unfortunately the weather was not great, grey and overcast and on the way back torrential rain. We got a little lost in the dark on the way back but managed to pick up the Tamiami Trail and found our way. Dinner was a little late but after the large lunch at Islamorada we did not need much. The Keys were fascinating. They are just like a giant causeway with shops, homes, hotels and businesses on either side strung together by bridges. At some points they are just the width of the road. Even though the road was long and the speed very slow we soldiered on all the way to Key West. We got out of the car and stretched our legs, had a walk along the pier, where a wedding was taking place and watched the daredevil pelicans dive into the shallow water headfirst to catch fish and then being harassed by the gulls trying to steal their catch. It was a long and arduous drive and we wouldn't do it again in one day. You need to spend at least a couple of nights there to appreciate the history and have better weather. Being so narrow it must be a nightmare if you have to be evacuated in a hurricane. One way in and one way out.

Saturday, after all of our activities of the past few days we decided to stay at the resort and maybe enjoy the pool, or not!!! Although it was very warm it was cloudy and rained on and off. We went and did some grocery shopping for lunch and dinner, did laundry, some packing and later when the weather cleared went for a long walk. Weston is actually very beautiful. It is lush and green with beautiful flowers, lots of water, both lakes and canals and less hectic than other parts of Florida and very accessible to The Everglades. Mizner Place, pronounced My not Miz, was an RCI Gold Crown Timeshare exchange. It is immaculately clean, well equipped and Bernice the concierge is the most knowledgable and helpful person that you could meet. She made our trip memorable.