Everglades et al.

Since we do not believe that the China virus should restrict our movement and luckily being in Florida which is not locked down, we headed to South beach with the hope of also visiting Key West to celebrate Michelle's birthday. 

Unfortunagely for us, despite the limited tourism activity everywhere, the KeyWest visit was frustrated as the tour was sold out.

We however had a nice time exploring South beach and while it is great for those wanting to tan, it was no big deal for me. For, I go to the beach to swim and am accustomed to warm water. But that water was very cold, so no swimming there for me. 

On day 2, since we could not go to Key West we decided to take in a trip to the Everglades. I had done one before but Michelle had never been. 

This time, I actually held a live gator. Yes it was a baby and the mouth was taped up but I don't even like little lizards, so before, it was quite a stretch that I would hold a gator!

An airboat in port

This bus tour took me to another park from the one I had visited before, so I did not mind, The food available for sale at this park was really lousy though. 

They had on sale alligator tail, fried chicken wings, and spring chicken. Having tried the gator twice before and never being in the mood for frogs, I opted for chicken wings.

 They were awful and unseasoned but I was too hungry to realize it until I had finished!

😋

Would you believe though that one of the blackbirds that hang around the place, swooped down and stole a wing out of my hand when I was eating? Damn cannibal. For aren't birds and chickens family?

The trip into the river was on locally made airboats that just skim the surface of the water. The one we traveled on this time had two large cadillac engines, a top speed of 35 mph, and was extremely loud when at full speed. Most importantly though, it skimmed the water well. 

Actually, I think I learned far more about the everglades on this trip than I did the first time, so it was great. 

An added attraction was the one-man show with gators by a member of Proud Boys.

These Proud Boys are not the same as the racist ones aligned to Trump. These fellows collect gators that stray into people's yards, pools, etc in Florida. 

They capture them humanely and take them back into the wild. It is some of these same gators that they use in their shows too.

  I have to admit that the one who did our show seemed absolutely fearless among those monstrous creatures and one lady on the team had quite an active snake around her neck too!

  This is a recap of some of the information I got on this trip given; 

The Everglades were formed when lake Okeechobee overflowed. It is the world's shallowest river, being only 9 feet at the deepest point. It consists of around 400,000 square miles of wetlands. The name Okeechobee is a Seminal Indian name meaning endless grass and the glades are now 90% grass. The grass filters the water on which 8 million Floridians depend for drinking. There are around half a million gators in that river but the Burmese python is an invasive species that prey on the gators. A large python can eat an 8-foot gator easily. It takes about a month to digest this size reptile. 

There are also Florida Panthers in these wilds as well as numerous bird species. The largest bird is the great white heron which eats any and everything including baby gators. There are no crocs in the everglades as they are salt water reptiles.