Gators, Gators, Gators! Everglades 🐊

The Everglades is a very special place in Southern Florida. We learned a lot about the landscape and wildlife by listening to a "stuff you should know" podcast before arriving at the park. We were able to stay in the national park at Long Pine Campground, this gave us easy access to the trails, visitor centres and Gators!! Our first day we set out on our bikes to the visitor center, we took a bit of a wrong turn and ended up biking around the park for a bit longer than anticipated. We were lucky enough to spot Gators on the side of the park road. We watched a Mama gator for quite sometime as it was obvious she wasn't going anywhere. After our ride we drove over to the Anhinga Trail which promised lots of wildlife viewing opportunities! We were welcomed with a gator tail spotting and watching gator eyes in the water. The trail wound through a swampy freshwater pond that was home to lots of fish, turtles and birds. On the way back we got an even better view of some Alligators swimming around!
The next day we ventured down to Flamingo which is situated on the Gulf of Mexico. A very picturesque bay with lots of Mosquitoes, they seem to be a bit of a local celebrity. Once we were out of the trails we went to the Visitor Centre to learn about the Mangrove Trees, Crocodiles and Manatees in the area. We were lucky to see a crocodile swimming around the boat area and Manatees coming up for air from our picnic spot. It made for a very special stop.
The next day was on to the Florida Keys which was a short drive from the Everglades. We made the most of the short drive by making 2 pit stops. First stop was at the famous Robert's Fruit Stand! Rows upon rows of tropical fruits: mangos, oranges, passion fruit, dragon fruit and lots of others! We couldn't resist the popular fresh smoothies with local fruit! We enjoyed our smoothies while watching the animals roam around the grounds at the back of the fruit stand. After we were filled with fruit we made a second stop at Biscayne National Park. We didn't plan to spend much time here as 90% of this park is underwater. If you have the time and a boat you can explore protected reefs in the area. We did manage to learn a lot about the fish, shells and reefs at the park. The kids also completed their junior ranger books and earned an additional patch for visiting the south Florida parks.Okumaya devam et