Bob and I could not leave FL without finding an alligator, so for Valentine’s Day, we headed off to the Shark Valley entrance to Everglades National Park. I admit that valentines and gators are not your usual pairing but it is memorable and no shopping is required. I did wonder though when Bob increased my life insurance policy and asked me to move closer to one gator to get a “really incredible picture.”
We thought that we would see gators along the Tenn-Tom Rivers but they were hiding in the mud, and at our anchorage in the Shark River, they were probably watching us with their beady little eyes but we could not see them. Today, we brought our camera and were not going to leave without a picture. We were not disappointed.
The Everglades are 60 miles wide and 100 miles long and is actually a shallow river that moves ¼ mile a day and is not a swamp. It is an intricate ecological system that supplies the water collection for the Miami area as the base is limestone and it is filled with aquifers. It provides fresh water habitat for hundreds of migratory birds as well as hardwoods, grasses, small and large animals and fish. It has 2 seasons—wet and dry; hot and hotter; or mosquito and non-mosquito. We were there luckily during the non-mosquito.
We recommend taking the 2 hour tram ride through the park on a 15 mile loop. We had considered walking but look at the alligator that was lying across our path. That was too close and personal for us! Our tram ride narrator assured us that Everglades gators are not Hollywood ones that thrash around and want to eat people but he did note that bikers have been described as “Meals on Wheels” for gators.
The skies are filled with cormorants, egrets, ibis and herons but the star of the show is the gator. There are 50,000 in the park and 2,000,000 in FL although we haven’t seen any and maybe they are shy. Alligators have an extended courtship period of 2 weeks in the spring when the air is filled with full-throated bellows to locate each other which leads to an extended nesting period leading to the depositing of 20-40 eggs. However, although most hatch, only 1 in 20 survive to age 5 when they are 5 feet long and are then the “king of the glades” for their 40 year life span.
This is such a special place.
We thought that we would see gators along the Tenn-Tom Rivers but they were hiding in the mud, and at our anchorage in the Shark River, they were probably watching us with their beady little eyes but we could not see them. Today, we brought our camera and were not going to leave without a picture. We were not disappointed.
The Everglades are 60 miles wide and 100 miles long and is actually a shallow river that moves ¼ mile a day and is not a swamp. It is an intricate ecological system that supplies the water collection for the Miami area as the base is limestone and it is filled with aquifers. It provides fresh water habitat for hundreds of migratory birds as well as hardwoods, grasses, small and large animals and fish. It has 2 seasons—wet and dry; hot and hotter; or mosquito and non-mosquito. We were there luckily during the non-mosquito.
We recommend taking the 2 hour tram ride through the park on a 15 mile loop. We had considered walking but look at the alligator that was lying across our path. That was too close and personal for us! Our tram ride narrator assured us that Everglades gators are not Hollywood ones that thrash around and want to eat people but he did note that bikers have been described as “Meals on Wheels” for gators.
The skies are filled with cormorants, egrets, ibis and herons but the star of the show is the gator. There are 50,000 in the park and 2,000,000 in FL although we haven’t seen any and maybe they are shy. Alligators have an extended courtship period of 2 weeks in the spring when the air is filled with full-throated bellows to locate each other which leads to an extended nesting period leading to the depositing of 20-40 eggs. However, although most hatch, only 1 in 20 survive to age 5 when they are 5 feet long and are then the “king of the glades” for their 40 year life span.
This is such a special place.
