Key West, Long Key, Everglades National Park, Breakdown in Miami (posted from the Quality Inn South Kendall, Miami)
(this post covers 21-27 February)
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Tuesday, 27 February-
Last night was quite humid and the low was 74 degrees. We wanted to be away from the cold weather but that’s almost too much. Fortunately, we had a light breeze and that made it okay— but that’s hot enough!
This morning we checked out of the campground and drove to the Christian Point Trail. This one is an hour-each-way walk through different habitats. The first was a very jungly-looking one with lots of overhanging vines and a narrow trail winding through it. The first quarter mile of trail had lots of scurrying little bugs, some type of beetle, I suppose. They were comical—they’d all scurry out of our way and sometimes that was practically a stampede; they were crawling over each other to get away from the giants (us!). You could almost hear their tiny, tinny little voices---“Run away! Run away!!!!”
The trail then opened up to a large open area which looked like African savannah. We wouldn’t have been surprised to see lions and hyenas and zebras (OK, we would have been surprised—but they would have looked like they were at home!). Another section took us across an open area of ‘marl’, a spongy earth deposited there by a hurricane. It supports a few small mangrove plants here and there but otherwise we saw sun-bleached stumps and tree trunks on a dusty plain—with palms in the background. Finally, the trail brought us to Florida Bay. Again we were there when the tide was out so we saw many wading birds on the tidal flats.
After returning to the van we drove back to the Flamingo area visitor’s center parking lot for lunch. The temperature was in the low Eighties and hot in the sun but under the mahogany trees at the visitor’s center we opened the van doors and enjoyed a wonderful cooling breeze while we had lunch.
We then drove north intending to leave the park. But as we passed Paurotis Pond we remembered we had only been there at night and couldn’t see across the pond. Today we could see a nesting site on the far end of the pond and there we saw woods storks and the spectacular roseate spoonbills. The latter looked like flamingoes from a distance. Their color was the exquisite pink of the flamingo but a closer look through the binoculars revealed the white head and spooned bill.
As we exited the park we stopped at the Coe visitor’s center and spoke with the ranger about primitive campsites for the night. Two of them show on the park map and we wanted to know if we’d be able to get to them and camp there in our van. The spots are at the end of the hard road and the beginning of a dirt road and we also wanted to know if that road is open and we’re allowed to cruise that dirt road looking for wildlife. He told us that’s a great place and we’re welcome to go there so that’s the plan.
Before heading that way, however, we wanted to hit a Wal-mart to stock up and then a coffee shop near Kendall which has a free wi-fi hotspot. We’ve not been online for over a week.
As we drove up US 1 we stopped at a drive-thru Starbucks and I noticed the van began missing as I sat in line. The missing became bad enough that I put the van in neutral and sped up the engine to clear it up and that seemed to work. But when I pulled back into traffic the missing started again. Within a few blocks the missing became so bad that I had to drift off into a new car dealer’s lot to get out of traffic. Mocha Joe then refused to start. We talked to the nice folks inside and they told us there’s a Ford dealer just a few blocks back—just beyond the Starbucks. But we couldn’t get the van running so once again it was time to pull out the AAA card and get a tow. While waiting for the tow I called the Ford dealer and explained our problem. They said they’d work on it as soon as we had it towed there.
An hour later Pepe from The Tow Connection showed up with his roll-back. Pepe is a Cuban and had a very strong accent. But Pepe was a great guy. He loaded the van up on the roll-back and entertained us with stories of Havana and his kids while hauling us to the Ford dealer. There Gonzalo set us up right away with a work order and asked the mechanic to work on the van right away. But it was already late—after 1600 by then—and it was not to be. The mechanic worked on the van a bit but the problem had cleared up and he could find nothing wrong—he will have to do more testing in the morning. Gonzalo made arrangements to have us dropped off at the local Quality Inn for the night. Unfortunately, when the Quality Inn’s computer was down and we couldn’t be assigned a room. The three guys behind the desk were very apologetic but could do nothing…. but the tech support guy was on the way and perhaps if we came back later, we could get a room. I explained our situation and one of them said we could store our stuff in a back room and go get some dinner and by then the machine should be back up. We agreed and had a nice dinner at Snapper’s Seafood next door. But when we returned the computer was still down. We said we’d take a walk and the three guys gave us suggestions and directions to an upscale mall some nine blocks away. We walked there and toured the fancy mall called ‘The Falls’. When we came back, they again apologized for the delay and gave us a 10 per cent discount for all the trouble. But that was still $116!
But we do have a wi-fi connection and Labashi enjoyed a nice bath so it’s not so bad to be in a motel for a change. Hopefully we can move on tomorrow.
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Monday, 26 February –
This morning we arose early and prepared for our boat rental. We drove to the marina and loaded our gear onto a Sundance FL17, a nice little fiberglass skiff with a 40-horse Evinrude four-stroke and (thankfully) a nice bimini for shade. It was named ‘Snook’. After our operations and safety briefing we motored up the canal to Whitewater Bay. We turned off the Wilderness Waterway course into the lower reaches of the Joe River. Once out of the no-wake zones of the canal, we zoomed along quite nicely, topping out at 24 mph according to my little Etrex Legend GPS. In fact we zoomed along a little too easily. We were looking for a turnoff to the South Joe River chickee (a chickee is a roofed wooden platform on the water where backcountry canoeists and kayakers stay the night) but we had already passed the turnoff when we started looking. We had the GPS along so we had no concerns about getting lost but we didn’t have the coordinates for the chickee. And we wanted the chickee because it had the only bathroom around. It took us the better part of an hour to find the chickee after we realized we had missed it--- but at least we found it! This chickee consisted of two largish roofed platforms (they looked like wooden docks) on stilts about four feet above the water level and about thirty yards out from the nearest land. The two docks were joined by a walkway and halfway between them was a porta-john. That’s about it. No tables, no lights, no walls. But it would nonetheless be a nice place to spend a night in the backcountry.
After our stop at the chickee we motored back down the Joe River to Tarpon Creek and then on across into the southeast portion of Whitewater Bay. We diddled around out there and then headed back, just making it to the dock on our contracted half-day time. This little adventure cost $100 for the four-hour (half-day) trip but it was well worth it. We were a little disappointed in that we didn’t see much wildlife and didn’t see any manatees in the canal but we nevertheless loved the remote backcountry feel of the far reaches of the Joe River. We saw only two kayakers back in there and recognized them as two guys from Baltimore who had stayed in our campground the day before. They were carrying QCC kayaks (QCC is a brand name) atop their car in the campground and I had stopped to chat with them about their boats.
After returning the skiff we drove back to the campground for the afternoon. We had lunch and listened to several podcasts from ‘This Week in Alberta” and “This American Life”. Labashi then hit the showers and I went for a jog back the Coastal Prairie Trail. This trail was damaged by a hurricane and is closed but you can get back in a mile or so and see some nice country. I met some birders back there who said they had seen three bald eagles there today. I was jogging in 86-degree heat and high humidity that moved in overnight so I only lasted about 50 minutes, then had a beer (one has to balance, you know) before taking my shower.
We spent the evening blogging and reading.
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Sunday, 25 February –
Today was a few degrees warmer than yesterday but nice and airy so we didn’t mind at all. We picked up the keys and paddles and PFDs for our rental canoe at 0800 and drove to Nine Mile Lake where the canoes are locked to a rack. We were warned that some people have been feeding the alligators there so be careful if they approach you for a handout. We launched without incident and paddled across the windy lake, passing a wood stork. These large birds have been on the Endangered Species List since 1984 so we felt lucky to see one in the wild. Then we entered a marked path through the mangroves. In places the mangroves were overhanging and the water-trail was only wide enough for the canoe—we even had to pull our paddles in to pass through. We met an oncoming group of three canoes in that area and had to find a pull-off to let them pass. But it wasn’t long until the pathway opened up to a more comfortable twenty feet as it snaked back and forth among the mangroves. By lunch time we needed a rest so we tied to a mangrove and munched our granola bars. After another half-hour we crossed a large open area and that was the toughest part of the trail. It was only about three inches deep and we were barely able to maintain headway by pushing against the spongy bottom. The wind was blowing off the port beam and tended to push the canoe sideways and at times it seemed we were making way to leeward faster than forward. But after twenty minutes of that, the water deepened again and re-entered the mangroves and our only challenge was to find the trail markers. These were numbered poles of white PVC pipe and most were easy to see but a few hid from us. Finally we entered the two ponds marking the end of the trail. There we rested and looked for gators. As we eased along the lee shore, a gator passed under the canoe- I saw his side as he dove for deeper water--- very cool! As we approached our take-out point we saw splashing and soon saw its source- an eight-footer. But he soon moved on and we landed without difficulty. We had no problems stowing the canoe and returning the gear. Cost for our half-day rental was a very reasonable $22.
We spent the late afternoon lounging about and were hoping to see another program but then learned the programs are only done on Friday and Saturday night. So we decided we’d do a little night hike here in the darkest-of-the-dark, fiercest-of-the-fierce Everglades. At dusk we drove north from the campground and soon noticed something new--- a crackling sound on windshield. It was caused by bugs hovering over the roadway. We had been up this same road the night before to look for wildlife and had seen no bugs at all yet a night later we apparently had thousands of them. They were collecting on the underside of the windshield wipers and we could see them in the headlights. But the crackling let up after twenty minutes or so as we continued north past Nine Mile Lake and on another 15 miles to the Pa-hok-ee Observation Tower. There we put on our long pants and long-sleeved shirts and loaded up the pack with Maxi-DEET and extra flashlights. We have mosquito headnets stored away for times like this but we decided if the bugs are bad, we’ll just run back to the van and call it a night. Surprisingly, the bugs weren’t bad. Since we had a half-moon we could see well enough to walk out the Pa-hok-ee boardwalk without turning on our flashlights. Once out to the Observation Tower overlook, we turned on our largest flashlight, a three-cell Maglight, and looked for reflecting eyes. Surprisingly, we saw only two little green reflections nearby, probably a frog. The light seemed to draw mosquitoes so we turned it off and walked the boardwalk listening to the night-sounds. Then we drove south to the Mahogany Hammock trailhead, were we did the same thing—and again no surprises. We drove each of the side roads leading to a hammock or pond and only one gave us a good result. Good ol’ Nine Mile Lake sounded different right away—we could hear a lot of night-noise, from roosting birds off in the distance (they had that dinosaur-sounding croak of great blue herons), to water swishing both to the left and right, and then a very large splash, then we could see the firey-red reflection of alligator eyes. What a great place!
The other thing we had tonight was low-lying fog—lots of it. We first saw a little of it – just a bit of rising mist--- along the road into Pa-hok-ee. But later we had enough fog that we were thankful for the reflectors on the centerline of the road. The fog was patchy and would condense on the windshield—I had the wipers on delay but had to keep them on. As we came back toward the campground, we noticed that the bugs were gone now—no more crackling sound, no more of them in the headlights. We have no idea what they were or why they were there and then gone a couple of hours later. And though it was only nine at night, we were completely alone out there on the park roads. There were no lights anywhere in sight – just us little innocent bugs wandering around in the Everglades in the dark.
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Saturday, 24 February –
Today we awoke to a spectacular Everglades day. The temperature overnight was a very comfortable 59 degrees and today is in the low 80’s and sunny. We rode the bicycles to nearby Eco Pond for a morning bird walk. A ranger-led walk had started there about an hour earlier and we caught up and tagged along for the last part of it. Afterwards we rode another mile to the marina and checked on boat rentals. We couldn’t get a skiff for the weekend but reserved one for Monday. We also found out how the canoe rentals worked and reserved one for tomorrow. We rode our bikes back to the campground and then drove Mocha Joe seven miles or so up the main road to Snake Bight trailhead. The word ‘bight’ here refers to a bay within a bay. Snake Bight is a small bay within the much larger curve of Florida Bay. The Snake Bight Trail follows an old straight-as-an-arrow canal to the small bay where a small boardwalk juts into the bight and gave us a nice view. The tide was out and by standing on the resting bench we could scan the tidal flats with our binoculars. There were hundreds of great blue herons out there, each claiming a territory of several acres. With the binoculars, we could see them lined up for several miles each direction, each slowly walking its territory, just the right distance from his/her neighbors on both sides.
The four-mile walk in the heat on Snake Bight Trail was plenty of exercise for today. We returned to the campground and took our cold showers (there’s no hot water in the campground)—a refreshing experience to say the least!
That evening we rode the bikes to Eco Pond and circled it just before dark but we timed it badly—it was a little too dark to see anything. We then rode on to the visitor’s center where ranger Tim gave an excellent presentation titled “The Most Dangerous Reptile in the Park?” It gave us an intro to the park’s more dangerous reptiles (eastern diamondback rattlers, dusky pygmy rattlers, water moccasins, coral snakes, brackish-water crocodiles, and alligators) but then told us why each is not really a threat. Then he introduced the Burmese python and showed us a chart showing python removal rates. In the late 90’s the numbers were single digits. In 2006, rangers removed 154 pythons from the park. The question of whether or not the python is a dangerous reptile has not been answered. Tim showed us photos of seven encounters between gators and pythons and the score is five wins for the gators and two ties (both gator and python died in those). But Tim points out those were encounters between big gators and pythons. It is likely pythons are eating many of the gator young. I asked Tim about recent sightings and he says there have been two in the last ten days… one near Eco Pond and one on the nearby Buttonwood Canal.
After the presentation we returned to camp for the night and sat out looking at stars. The moon is almost a half-moon now so it’s too bright for good viewing until after midnight.
Labashi has been wanting to see the Southern Cross constellation and we both awoke around 0230 so we hastily dressed and went outside. The moon was down and it was very dark but we believe we could only see a small portion of it right on the southern horizon. We’re a little too far north, I believe.
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Friday, 23 February – (written at Flamingo Campground, Everglades National Park)
Last night at Wal-mart was pretty noisy but we didn’t mind… we both slept very well. This morning we picked up a few necessities (like ice) at Wal-mart then headed for Everglades National Park by 0900 and were at the welcoming visitor’s center by 0945. We took our time there and then had an early lunch in Mocha Joe in the parking lot. It was one of those perfect Florida winter days—mid-Seventies, cloudless sky, light breeze—and we were enjoying it to the max.
After passing through the park entrance gates, we drove to the Royal Palm Visitor’s Center. There we walked the Gumbo Limbo Trail and the Anhinga Trail. The former is a pleasant half-mile walk through forest canopy (formed by gumbo-limbo trees) and the latter is a three-quarter-mile boardwalk overlooking a lake and several smaller ponds, all with many tilapia fish, anhingas, white ibises, green-backed herons, great blue herons, white herons, a few pelicans, turtles, and dozens of alligators.
Then we drove to the nearby Pinelands Trail and walked it, another half-miler. This one took us among tall pines separated by beautifully waving palms and yuccas. Along the way we saw a half-dozen tree snails and, of all things, robins and cardinals.
We drove on to the Pa-hay-okee Observation tower and walked to the tower for its view across the open ‘river of grass’. Then we walked the Mahogany Hammock trail, winding among old-growth mahogany trees which escaped the cutter’s blades by being located so remotely.
By 1700 we were pretty well exhausted as we checked in to our campground at Flamingo. This one is very interesting in that it looks like open savannah if you look inland and yet it has expansive views of Florida Bay the other direction. It has a very open feel and we have a spot off to ourselves in the very back of the campground.
After supper we took a walk through the campground on this balmy, balmy night. We have a few no-see-ums around but we’ve only seen two mosquitoes all evening as we sat outside watching the sun set and the stars come out.
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Thursday, 22 February – (written in the Wal-mart parking lot, Florida City)
We had a blissfully-peaceful night at Long Key State Park. I heard the van doors opening in the very early morning and it was Labashi trying to quietly exit to check on the Southern Cross at 0330. She later said she thinks she could see part of it but we’ll have to wait until we get to a good book store to check. We have a planisphere with us but it’s designed for latitude 40 and we’re around latitude 25.
After breakfast we checked with the park office about staying another night but everything’s booked up and cancellations seem unlikely. We rented a two-person kayak, a Perception ocean model. I’ve been wanting to try one of those anyway so today’s the day! It certainly rented cheaply enough (compared to other rental prices in the Keys) -- $20 for two hours. We paddled along the mangrove swamp lining the Atlantic, ducking in here and there to look for birds. We saw a few herons and ibises here and there before finding a small brown pelican colony to sit and watch. We also saw several kingfishers and two ospreys along the way. We followed the shoreline to a remote beach and took a stretch-break and had a snack there before paddling back to our departure beach. The day was absolutely perfect— clear-sky-sunny and seventy-five degrees with a light breeze coming from the side each way.
After returning our kayak paddles and PFDs we had lunch at the picnic grounds, then returned to the campground for showers. We checked at the office right after the 1300 checkout deadline but still no luck there so we moved on.
We drove up US1 to Islamorada and checked out the Bass Pro shop where they had the sister boat to Hemingway’s fishing boat, ‘Pilar’ in the middle of the floor. We went aboard and enjoyed the 30’s-vintage wooden fishing vessel. We then visited the Wild Bird Center. This is a rehab facility which has a thirty-or-so birds which had been injured too badly to return to the wild. There were falcons, hawks, owls, and nearly any type of sea bird you can think of. The brown pelicans were gathering for their 1530 feeding but we decided to move on before that—it looked like a big fight was about to break out.
We drove on north through Key Largo and on to Florida City for the turn to Everglades National Park. We thought we’d better stock up before driving into the park so Labashi looked up the nearest Wal-mart and it was only a few blocks from the turnoff. When we pulled in the lot we saw the traditional no-overnight-camping-per-city-ordinance sign but we could also see there were already a dozen or so RVs in the far end of the lot. We checked with Customer Service and we were indeed welcome to stay. Good! We need some freebie nights to balance that $60 night in Key West and the two $30 nights in the Keys state parks.
After shopping and supper we spent the evening blogging and reading. Labashi is reading about the Everglades and I’m reading memoirs about Piper Cubs, Aeroncas, Taylorcrafts, Cessna 120’s and other wood-wire-and-cloth airplanes at a small grass strip in Minnesota. My book is one of a grocery-bag-full of small-plane books my brother Orat brought me on his latest visit.
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Wednesday, 21 February- (written at Long Key State Park)
We awoke early today but nevertheless didn’t get underway until almost 0900. We drove from Boyd’s into Key West via A1A, circling the city to the east. The roadway is under construction on that side of the city and we expected slow going. Everyone else must have avoided this construction area, though, for we had it almost to ourselves and the view beyond the construction was quite striking. Once the construction’s done the drive along the beaches will be spectacular.
We parked in a large open-field lot near the USS Mohawk and pulled out the folding bicycles for the day’s adventures. We rode down Whitehead Street and soon came to the Audubon House. We spent a pleasant half-hour in the Audubon House museum shop chatting with a very knowledgeable young lady about roseate spoonbills. Before long we were comparing notes on trips we’ve each taken in the US (she’s originally from Chicago and even knows about “Uff Da”). She highly recommends Door County, Wisconsin, one of the areas we’ve been saving for another trip. We had been through the Wisconsin Dells a few years ago and considered going into Door County but we were pressed for time on that trip. We have a family reunion coming up next summer in Michigan. Perhaps we can extend that to finally get to Door County.
After our Audubon House visit, we rode the bikes to Galleon Square and locked them to a bike stand. We were hungry and thought we’d find something close by but it took us a few blocks to find a coffee shop with sandwiches. The coffee shop was called ‘Bad Ass Coffee’, the name referring (this is a bit of a stretch) to donkeys used to carry the Kona coffee beans down the hills from their fields in Hawaii. In any case, the shop made a good, fresh Cuban sandwich for us.
We decided to leave the bikes and just walk through the area. We spent the next several hours walking along the docks and then most of the length of Duval Street and back Whitebread Street to our bikes. We pedaled back to Mocha Joe via the Harry Truman ‘Little White House’ before heading out of town by about 1500.
We continued north to Long Key State Park, arriving by 1730. The day had turned absolutely beautiful with pink skies and light winds. Our campsite is right on the Atlantic and the colors of the water and skies were incredible.
After supper we sat around in our shorts and sandals watching the sky fade as the sun set and watching the stars slowly come up. We spent the next several hours sky-watching and saw three shooting stars and four satellites even though we had a ‘smiley’ of a bright moon sliver throwing quite a lot of light. Labashi was convinced we should be able to find the Southern Cross but we couldn’t. The Big Dipper is very low in the sky—only the ‘dipper’ shows and of course it continues to point to the North Star to orient us. Orion is un-naturally high in the sky and we’re wondering if perhaps the Southern Cross is below the horizon at this time of the evening. Labashi will check later on!
(this post covers 21-27 February)
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Tuesday, 27 February-
Last night was quite humid and the low was 74 degrees. We wanted to be away from the cold weather but that’s almost too much. Fortunately, we had a light breeze and that made it okay— but that’s hot enough!
This morning we checked out of the campground and drove to the Christian Point Trail. This one is an hour-each-way walk through different habitats. The first was a very jungly-looking one with lots of overhanging vines and a narrow trail winding through it. The first quarter mile of trail had lots of scurrying little bugs, some type of beetle, I suppose. They were comical—they’d all scurry out of our way and sometimes that was practically a stampede; they were crawling over each other to get away from the giants (us!). You could almost hear their tiny, tinny little voices---“Run away! Run away!!!!”
The trail then opened up to a large open area which looked like African savannah. We wouldn’t have been surprised to see lions and hyenas and zebras (OK, we would have been surprised—but they would have looked like they were at home!). Another section took us across an open area of ‘marl’, a spongy earth deposited there by a hurricane. It supports a few small mangrove plants here and there but otherwise we saw sun-bleached stumps and tree trunks on a dusty plain—with palms in the background. Finally, the trail brought us to Florida Bay. Again we were there when the tide was out so we saw many wading birds on the tidal flats.
After returning to the van we drove back to the Flamingo area visitor’s center parking lot for lunch. The temperature was in the low Eighties and hot in the sun but under the mahogany trees at the visitor’s center we opened the van doors and enjoyed a wonderful cooling breeze while we had lunch.
We then drove north intending to leave the park. But as we passed Paurotis Pond we remembered we had only been there at night and couldn’t see across the pond. Today we could see a nesting site on the far end of the pond and there we saw woods storks and the spectacular roseate spoonbills. The latter looked like flamingoes from a distance. Their color was the exquisite pink of the flamingo but a closer look through the binoculars revealed the white head and spooned bill.
As we exited the park we stopped at the Coe visitor’s center and spoke with the ranger about primitive campsites for the night. Two of them show on the park map and we wanted to know if we’d be able to get to them and camp there in our van. The spots are at the end of the hard road and the beginning of a dirt road and we also wanted to know if that road is open and we’re allowed to cruise that dirt road looking for wildlife. He told us that’s a great place and we’re welcome to go there so that’s the plan.
Before heading that way, however, we wanted to hit a Wal-mart to stock up and then a coffee shop near Kendall which has a free wi-fi hotspot. We’ve not been online for over a week.
As we drove up US 1 we stopped at a drive-thru Starbucks and I noticed the van began missing as I sat in line. The missing became bad enough that I put the van in neutral and sped up the engine to clear it up and that seemed to work. But when I pulled back into traffic the missing started again. Within a few blocks the missing became so bad that I had to drift off into a new car dealer’s lot to get out of traffic. Mocha Joe then refused to start. We talked to the nice folks inside and they told us there’s a Ford dealer just a few blocks back—just beyond the Starbucks. But we couldn’t get the van running so once again it was time to pull out the AAA card and get a tow. While waiting for the tow I called the Ford dealer and explained our problem. They said they’d work on it as soon as we had it towed there.
An hour later Pepe from The Tow Connection showed up with his roll-back. Pepe is a Cuban and had a very strong accent. But Pepe was a great guy. He loaded the van up on the roll-back and entertained us with stories of Havana and his kids while hauling us to the Ford dealer. There Gonzalo set us up right away with a work order and asked the mechanic to work on the van right away. But it was already late—after 1600 by then—and it was not to be. The mechanic worked on the van a bit but the problem had cleared up and he could find nothing wrong—he will have to do more testing in the morning. Gonzalo made arrangements to have us dropped off at the local Quality Inn for the night. Unfortunately, when the Quality Inn’s computer was down and we couldn’t be assigned a room. The three guys behind the desk were very apologetic but could do nothing…. but the tech support guy was on the way and perhaps if we came back later, we could get a room. I explained our situation and one of them said we could store our stuff in a back room and go get some dinner and by then the machine should be back up. We agreed and had a nice dinner at Snapper’s Seafood next door. But when we returned the computer was still down. We said we’d take a walk and the three guys gave us suggestions and directions to an upscale mall some nine blocks away. We walked there and toured the fancy mall called ‘The Falls’. When we came back, they again apologized for the delay and gave us a 10 per cent discount for all the trouble. But that was still $116!
But we do have a wi-fi connection and Labashi enjoyed a nice bath so it’s not so bad to be in a motel for a change. Hopefully we can move on tomorrow.
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Monday, 26 February –
This morning we arose early and prepared for our boat rental. We drove to the marina and loaded our gear onto a Sundance FL17, a nice little fiberglass skiff with a 40-horse Evinrude four-stroke and (thankfully) a nice bimini for shade. It was named ‘Snook’. After our operations and safety briefing we motored up the canal to Whitewater Bay. We turned off the Wilderness Waterway course into the lower reaches of the Joe River. Once out of the no-wake zones of the canal, we zoomed along quite nicely, topping out at 24 mph according to my little Etrex Legend GPS. In fact we zoomed along a little too easily. We were looking for a turnoff to the South Joe River chickee (a chickee is a roofed wooden platform on the water where backcountry canoeists and kayakers stay the night) but we had already passed the turnoff when we started looking. We had the GPS along so we had no concerns about getting lost but we didn’t have the coordinates for the chickee. And we wanted the chickee because it had the only bathroom around. It took us the better part of an hour to find the chickee after we realized we had missed it--- but at least we found it! This chickee consisted of two largish roofed platforms (they looked like wooden docks) on stilts about four feet above the water level and about thirty yards out from the nearest land. The two docks were joined by a walkway and halfway between them was a porta-john. That’s about it. No tables, no lights, no walls. But it would nonetheless be a nice place to spend a night in the backcountry.
After our stop at the chickee we motored back down the Joe River to Tarpon Creek and then on across into the southeast portion of Whitewater Bay. We diddled around out there and then headed back, just making it to the dock on our contracted half-day time. This little adventure cost $100 for the four-hour (half-day) trip but it was well worth it. We were a little disappointed in that we didn’t see much wildlife and didn’t see any manatees in the canal but we nevertheless loved the remote backcountry feel of the far reaches of the Joe River. We saw only two kayakers back in there and recognized them as two guys from Baltimore who had stayed in our campground the day before. They were carrying QCC kayaks (QCC is a brand name) atop their car in the campground and I had stopped to chat with them about their boats.
After returning the skiff we drove back to the campground for the afternoon. We had lunch and listened to several podcasts from ‘This Week in Alberta” and “This American Life”. Labashi then hit the showers and I went for a jog back the Coastal Prairie Trail. This trail was damaged by a hurricane and is closed but you can get back in a mile or so and see some nice country. I met some birders back there who said they had seen three bald eagles there today. I was jogging in 86-degree heat and high humidity that moved in overnight so I only lasted about 50 minutes, then had a beer (one has to balance, you know) before taking my shower.
We spent the evening blogging and reading.
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Sunday, 25 February –
Today was a few degrees warmer than yesterday but nice and airy so we didn’t mind at all. We picked up the keys and paddles and PFDs for our rental canoe at 0800 and drove to Nine Mile Lake where the canoes are locked to a rack. We were warned that some people have been feeding the alligators there so be careful if they approach you for a handout. We launched without incident and paddled across the windy lake, passing a wood stork. These large birds have been on the Endangered Species List since 1984 so we felt lucky to see one in the wild. Then we entered a marked path through the mangroves. In places the mangroves were overhanging and the water-trail was only wide enough for the canoe—we even had to pull our paddles in to pass through. We met an oncoming group of three canoes in that area and had to find a pull-off to let them pass. But it wasn’t long until the pathway opened up to a more comfortable twenty feet as it snaked back and forth among the mangroves. By lunch time we needed a rest so we tied to a mangrove and munched our granola bars. After another half-hour we crossed a large open area and that was the toughest part of the trail. It was only about three inches deep and we were barely able to maintain headway by pushing against the spongy bottom. The wind was blowing off the port beam and tended to push the canoe sideways and at times it seemed we were making way to leeward faster than forward. But after twenty minutes of that, the water deepened again and re-entered the mangroves and our only challenge was to find the trail markers. These were numbered poles of white PVC pipe and most were easy to see but a few hid from us. Finally we entered the two ponds marking the end of the trail. There we rested and looked for gators. As we eased along the lee shore, a gator passed under the canoe- I saw his side as he dove for deeper water--- very cool! As we approached our take-out point we saw splashing and soon saw its source- an eight-footer. But he soon moved on and we landed without difficulty. We had no problems stowing the canoe and returning the gear. Cost for our half-day rental was a very reasonable $22.
We spent the late afternoon lounging about and were hoping to see another program but then learned the programs are only done on Friday and Saturday night. So we decided we’d do a little night hike here in the darkest-of-the-dark, fiercest-of-the-fierce Everglades. At dusk we drove north from the campground and soon noticed something new--- a crackling sound on windshield. It was caused by bugs hovering over the roadway. We had been up this same road the night before to look for wildlife and had seen no bugs at all yet a night later we apparently had thousands of them. They were collecting on the underside of the windshield wipers and we could see them in the headlights. But the crackling let up after twenty minutes or so as we continued north past Nine Mile Lake and on another 15 miles to the Pa-hok-ee Observation Tower. There we put on our long pants and long-sleeved shirts and loaded up the pack with Maxi-DEET and extra flashlights. We have mosquito headnets stored away for times like this but we decided if the bugs are bad, we’ll just run back to the van and call it a night. Surprisingly, the bugs weren’t bad. Since we had a half-moon we could see well enough to walk out the Pa-hok-ee boardwalk without turning on our flashlights. Once out to the Observation Tower overlook, we turned on our largest flashlight, a three-cell Maglight, and looked for reflecting eyes. Surprisingly, we saw only two little green reflections nearby, probably a frog. The light seemed to draw mosquitoes so we turned it off and walked the boardwalk listening to the night-sounds. Then we drove south to the Mahogany Hammock trailhead, were we did the same thing—and again no surprises. We drove each of the side roads leading to a hammock or pond and only one gave us a good result. Good ol’ Nine Mile Lake sounded different right away—we could hear a lot of night-noise, from roosting birds off in the distance (they had that dinosaur-sounding croak of great blue herons), to water swishing both to the left and right, and then a very large splash, then we could see the firey-red reflection of alligator eyes. What a great place!
The other thing we had tonight was low-lying fog—lots of it. We first saw a little of it – just a bit of rising mist--- along the road into Pa-hok-ee. But later we had enough fog that we were thankful for the reflectors on the centerline of the road. The fog was patchy and would condense on the windshield—I had the wipers on delay but had to keep them on. As we came back toward the campground, we noticed that the bugs were gone now—no more crackling sound, no more of them in the headlights. We have no idea what they were or why they were there and then gone a couple of hours later. And though it was only nine at night, we were completely alone out there on the park roads. There were no lights anywhere in sight – just us little innocent bugs wandering around in the Everglades in the dark.
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Saturday, 24 February –
Today we awoke to a spectacular Everglades day. The temperature overnight was a very comfortable 59 degrees and today is in the low 80’s and sunny. We rode the bicycles to nearby Eco Pond for a morning bird walk. A ranger-led walk had started there about an hour earlier and we caught up and tagged along for the last part of it. Afterwards we rode another mile to the marina and checked on boat rentals. We couldn’t get a skiff for the weekend but reserved one for Monday. We also found out how the canoe rentals worked and reserved one for tomorrow. We rode our bikes back to the campground and then drove Mocha Joe seven miles or so up the main road to Snake Bight trailhead. The word ‘bight’ here refers to a bay within a bay. Snake Bight is a small bay within the much larger curve of Florida Bay. The Snake Bight Trail follows an old straight-as-an-arrow canal to the small bay where a small boardwalk juts into the bight and gave us a nice view. The tide was out and by standing on the resting bench we could scan the tidal flats with our binoculars. There were hundreds of great blue herons out there, each claiming a territory of several acres. With the binoculars, we could see them lined up for several miles each direction, each slowly walking its territory, just the right distance from his/her neighbors on both sides.
The four-mile walk in the heat on Snake Bight Trail was plenty of exercise for today. We returned to the campground and took our cold showers (there’s no hot water in the campground)—a refreshing experience to say the least!
That evening we rode the bikes to Eco Pond and circled it just before dark but we timed it badly—it was a little too dark to see anything. We then rode on to the visitor’s center where ranger Tim gave an excellent presentation titled “The Most Dangerous Reptile in the Park?” It gave us an intro to the park’s more dangerous reptiles (eastern diamondback rattlers, dusky pygmy rattlers, water moccasins, coral snakes, brackish-water crocodiles, and alligators) but then told us why each is not really a threat. Then he introduced the Burmese python and showed us a chart showing python removal rates. In the late 90’s the numbers were single digits. In 2006, rangers removed 154 pythons from the park. The question of whether or not the python is a dangerous reptile has not been answered. Tim showed us photos of seven encounters between gators and pythons and the score is five wins for the gators and two ties (both gator and python died in those). But Tim points out those were encounters between big gators and pythons. It is likely pythons are eating many of the gator young. I asked Tim about recent sightings and he says there have been two in the last ten days… one near Eco Pond and one on the nearby Buttonwood Canal.
After the presentation we returned to camp for the night and sat out looking at stars. The moon is almost a half-moon now so it’s too bright for good viewing until after midnight.
Labashi has been wanting to see the Southern Cross constellation and we both awoke around 0230 so we hastily dressed and went outside. The moon was down and it was very dark but we believe we could only see a small portion of it right on the southern horizon. We’re a little too far north, I believe.
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Friday, 23 February – (written at Flamingo Campground, Everglades National Park)
Last night at Wal-mart was pretty noisy but we didn’t mind… we both slept very well. This morning we picked up a few necessities (like ice) at Wal-mart then headed for Everglades National Park by 0900 and were at the welcoming visitor’s center by 0945. We took our time there and then had an early lunch in Mocha Joe in the parking lot. It was one of those perfect Florida winter days—mid-Seventies, cloudless sky, light breeze—and we were enjoying it to the max.
After passing through the park entrance gates, we drove to the Royal Palm Visitor’s Center. There we walked the Gumbo Limbo Trail and the Anhinga Trail. The former is a pleasant half-mile walk through forest canopy (formed by gumbo-limbo trees) and the latter is a three-quarter-mile boardwalk overlooking a lake and several smaller ponds, all with many tilapia fish, anhingas, white ibises, green-backed herons, great blue herons, white herons, a few pelicans, turtles, and dozens of alligators.
Then we drove to the nearby Pinelands Trail and walked it, another half-miler. This one took us among tall pines separated by beautifully waving palms and yuccas. Along the way we saw a half-dozen tree snails and, of all things, robins and cardinals.
We drove on to the Pa-hay-okee Observation tower and walked to the tower for its view across the open ‘river of grass’. Then we walked the Mahogany Hammock trail, winding among old-growth mahogany trees which escaped the cutter’s blades by being located so remotely.
By 1700 we were pretty well exhausted as we checked in to our campground at Flamingo. This one is very interesting in that it looks like open savannah if you look inland and yet it has expansive views of Florida Bay the other direction. It has a very open feel and we have a spot off to ourselves in the very back of the campground.
After supper we took a walk through the campground on this balmy, balmy night. We have a few no-see-ums around but we’ve only seen two mosquitoes all evening as we sat outside watching the sun set and the stars come out.
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Thursday, 22 February – (written in the Wal-mart parking lot, Florida City)
We had a blissfully-peaceful night at Long Key State Park. I heard the van doors opening in the very early morning and it was Labashi trying to quietly exit to check on the Southern Cross at 0330. She later said she thinks she could see part of it but we’ll have to wait until we get to a good book store to check. We have a planisphere with us but it’s designed for latitude 40 and we’re around latitude 25.
After breakfast we checked with the park office about staying another night but everything’s booked up and cancellations seem unlikely. We rented a two-person kayak, a Perception ocean model. I’ve been wanting to try one of those anyway so today’s the day! It certainly rented cheaply enough (compared to other rental prices in the Keys) -- $20 for two hours. We paddled along the mangrove swamp lining the Atlantic, ducking in here and there to look for birds. We saw a few herons and ibises here and there before finding a small brown pelican colony to sit and watch. We also saw several kingfishers and two ospreys along the way. We followed the shoreline to a remote beach and took a stretch-break and had a snack there before paddling back to our departure beach. The day was absolutely perfect— clear-sky-sunny and seventy-five degrees with a light breeze coming from the side each way.
After returning our kayak paddles and PFDs we had lunch at the picnic grounds, then returned to the campground for showers. We checked at the office right after the 1300 checkout deadline but still no luck there so we moved on.
We drove up US1 to Islamorada and checked out the Bass Pro shop where they had the sister boat to Hemingway’s fishing boat, ‘Pilar’ in the middle of the floor. We went aboard and enjoyed the 30’s-vintage wooden fishing vessel. We then visited the Wild Bird Center. This is a rehab facility which has a thirty-or-so birds which had been injured too badly to return to the wild. There were falcons, hawks, owls, and nearly any type of sea bird you can think of. The brown pelicans were gathering for their 1530 feeding but we decided to move on before that—it looked like a big fight was about to break out.
We drove on north through Key Largo and on to Florida City for the turn to Everglades National Park. We thought we’d better stock up before driving into the park so Labashi looked up the nearest Wal-mart and it was only a few blocks from the turnoff. When we pulled in the lot we saw the traditional no-overnight-camping-per-city-ordinance sign but we could also see there were already a dozen or so RVs in the far end of the lot. We checked with Customer Service and we were indeed welcome to stay. Good! We need some freebie nights to balance that $60 night in Key West and the two $30 nights in the Keys state parks.
After shopping and supper we spent the evening blogging and reading. Labashi is reading about the Everglades and I’m reading memoirs about Piper Cubs, Aeroncas, Taylorcrafts, Cessna 120’s and other wood-wire-and-cloth airplanes at a small grass strip in Minnesota. My book is one of a grocery-bag-full of small-plane books my brother Orat brought me on his latest visit.
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Wednesday, 21 February- (written at Long Key State Park)
We awoke early today but nevertheless didn’t get underway until almost 0900. We drove from Boyd’s into Key West via A1A, circling the city to the east. The roadway is under construction on that side of the city and we expected slow going. Everyone else must have avoided this construction area, though, for we had it almost to ourselves and the view beyond the construction was quite striking. Once the construction’s done the drive along the beaches will be spectacular.
We parked in a large open-field lot near the USS Mohawk and pulled out the folding bicycles for the day’s adventures. We rode down Whitehead Street and soon came to the Audubon House. We spent a pleasant half-hour in the Audubon House museum shop chatting with a very knowledgeable young lady about roseate spoonbills. Before long we were comparing notes on trips we’ve each taken in the US (she’s originally from Chicago and even knows about “Uff Da”). She highly recommends Door County, Wisconsin, one of the areas we’ve been saving for another trip. We had been through the Wisconsin Dells a few years ago and considered going into Door County but we were pressed for time on that trip. We have a family reunion coming up next summer in Michigan. Perhaps we can extend that to finally get to Door County.
After our Audubon House visit, we rode the bikes to Galleon Square and locked them to a bike stand. We were hungry and thought we’d find something close by but it took us a few blocks to find a coffee shop with sandwiches. The coffee shop was called ‘Bad Ass Coffee’, the name referring (this is a bit of a stretch) to donkeys used to carry the Kona coffee beans down the hills from their fields in Hawaii. In any case, the shop made a good, fresh Cuban sandwich for us.
We decided to leave the bikes and just walk through the area. We spent the next several hours walking along the docks and then most of the length of Duval Street and back Whitebread Street to our bikes. We pedaled back to Mocha Joe via the Harry Truman ‘Little White House’ before heading out of town by about 1500.
We continued north to Long Key State Park, arriving by 1730. The day had turned absolutely beautiful with pink skies and light winds. Our campsite is right on the Atlantic and the colors of the water and skies were incredible.
After supper we sat around in our shorts and sandals watching the sky fade as the sun set and watching the stars slowly come up. We spent the next several hours sky-watching and saw three shooting stars and four satellites even though we had a ‘smiley’ of a bright moon sliver throwing quite a lot of light. Labashi was convinced we should be able to find the Southern Cross but we couldn’t. The Big Dipper is very low in the sky—only the ‘dipper’ shows and of course it continues to point to the North Star to orient us. Orion is un-naturally high in the sky and we’re wondering if perhaps the Southern Cross is below the horizon at this time of the evening. Labashi will check later on!
posted by Bezabor&Labashi | 21:42
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