Naples, Florida

 My interest in nearby Naples, Florida, stemmed from the fact that I love the beach and had heard they had wonderful beaches there.

Wonderful is relative though, for what is wonderful to North Americans is certainly not wonderful to people from the Caribbean, who are accustomed to white sands beaches with clear, warm, beautiful waters. So, although the sands are pretty and widespread, the water there just does not meet our standards.

Nevertheless, like much of southern Florida, Naples, (a Trump city (?) an assumption made because no business requires masks!) is a playground for snowbirds and persons with many vacation homes. And the city caters for them with some 450 restaurants to suit every palate and more than 100 golf courses.

 On a tour, some prominent names of home owners were floated as having homes there. Among them was the famous Judge Judy, who we were told was often seen driving around in her convertible Bentley.

A view of Naples from the roof of Baker Museum

It wasn’t only the beach I had a misconception about, but also the city itself, which I thought was a huge metropolis with high rise buildings like many other Florida cities. However, it proved to be quite delightful with attractively designed neighborhoods, moderately tall buildings, with a green and lush environment.

We enjoyed touring the Baker Museum which has some really good art, the luxuriant botanical gardens and the Zoo.

This amazing work of art at Baker Museum looks like a bunch of wires until you see the shape of the mosquito beneath!

I was particularly impressed with the zoo, where I saw an anteater in the flesh for the first time and was introduced to the Gibbon.

Seeing this particular ape in a tree at first, I thought it was hanging upside down, as its arms are so large and strong, that I thought what I was seeing were legs.

I so fell in love with this creature that I had to do further research in “Monkeyworlds” and learnt ;

Anteater

·     *  A Gibbon is often described as a Monkey but most classify them as Apes. The controversy often continues and so you will find information out there about them in both categories. You may hear them called the Lesser Apes at times too. They are smaller than Apes and they don’t have the size differences.

·      *  The Gibbon is the fastest of all mammals that live in trees for they have a body that is designed for speed and movement.

·        *The molars are sharp which can help them for fighting off predators and for food. Some species have two fingers on each hand that are stuck together.

·      *  Northeast India, Indonesia, and Southern China are home to the Gibbon. They live in both the tropical and sub -regions. They are arboreal which means that they only live in the trees.

From Naples, we journeyed over to nearly Ave Maria town which we were told, was built around a cathedral constructed in the shape of a bishop’s miter.

It is a new clean, attractive town which already has a university by the same name. Interestingly too, every business has incorporated the name Ave Maria, so if you want coffee, you go to the Ave Maria café etc. The town is undergoing massive development and I suspect it will be considered a major city soon.

From there we also visited nearby Immokalee, a Seminole reservation in the Everglades with casino and all.

Now that was a surprising experience, since I have always found casino food reasonably priced as that is one means of ensuring that the patrons stay inside. Not here though, for it was the most expensive menu I have ever seen outside of a gourmet restaurant!

A quick drive around the town, indicated why this was so though. For the fact is that it seemed to be the only decent place in town to grab a meal. So, what do you get when there is no competition? Ridiculous prices.

This is clearly a farming community though with a high percentage of persons who looked like Caribbean farm workers and very few Native Americans in sight.

Even in the casino, the workers appeared to be Afro Americans.

The trip to Immokalee was the only disappointment, for although Naples was not what I imagined it to be, the surrounding areas were really interesting and pleasant, including nearby Cape Corral where we had the most wonderful eco-tour.  

 

                                                                            The Gibon monkey on the move

 OTHER MEMORIES

Immokalee hotel and casino