Since the marina was only a ten minute bike ride from the campground, petting manatees was a daily must for our kids.įor more pictures of alligators, manatees and birds, visit my Random|Pix blog.Īnother attraction at the Flamingo marina is a narrated boat cruise either into the backcountry or around the Florida Bay. The birds were also a lot of fun to watch as were the manatees down by the Flamingo marina. Coming across an alligator during our canoe trip or riding past a gator family on our bikes felt more authentic, probably because there was no boardwalk to separate us from the animals. It was exciting to see these prehistoric looking creatures but because of the sheer number of these reptiles and most importantly people the whole experience felt almost staged. From the safety of a boardwalk, you can see crocs and gators everywhere, sunning, swimming, sleeping or maybe just pretending to be sleeping while constantly watching you from under their half-closed lids. Anhinga Trail is a prime location for watching famous crocodiles and alligators as well as numerous species of birds. Most of those people come during the day and they usually stick to the Anhinga Trail and boat cruises. And that proximity to the ocean that made me book this site in the first place? It gave us a front-row view of incredible sunsets and sunrises.įor more pictures of sunsets and sunrises, check out my Random|Pix blog.Įverglades National Park is the largest tropical wilderness in the United States, the largest wilderness area east of the Mississippi River and is visited on average by one million people each year. The tree provided shade, particularly useful in the morning if you want to sleep a little longer, but it also gave an illusion of privacy and was excellent for climbing, too. Our neighbours moved out that same night and we managed to occupy a site with a tree, a luxury at the walk-in campground. After they told us to come back later for the third time, we gave up. I will not go into details but apparently the park uses a very ‘sophisticated’ manual site registration system and the staff don’t really know how many sites will be available until ‘the lady’ comes around midday to check all the sites and put up ‘reserved’ notes. The next morning after an unsuccessful attempt to move to the drive-in area, which looked more shaded and cozy, we finally picked a walk-in site and moved all our gear there. ![]() I am glad I decided to stay because we all ended up loving the park, bugs and all. I must confess that for the first time in our camping history, I was contemplating leaving and looking for alternative arrangements. Yet, even in the morning I had my doubts. I kept repeating, more to myself than others, that things would be better the next day. So we ended up setting camp right by the side of the road next to our car. Plus carrying all the gear from the car would take a while and all we wanted at that point was to get inside our tent. We quickly realized that we would not be able to choose a proper site in the dark. But I’ll get to the bugs later, now back to our campsite. Well, I was wrong because there are mosquitoes and then there are mosquitoes at Everglades or rather, as we later found out, in the Flamingo area. I did read other people’s accounts of practically ‘being eaten alive’ but I thought: how bad can it be, we’ve been camping a lot, we are not afraid of some mosquitoes. Another thing we weren’t prepared for were the mosquitoes. What I couldn’t know from the pictures was the fact that the area was pretty swampy with about a quarter of the sites covered ankle deep in water, something we discovered pretty quickly as we tried to pick a site by the flashlight. I knew that the walk-in area was a big open field with an occasional palm tree. Drive-in and trailer campsites are not too far away but you can’t really see the water from there. When I was booking a site, I was seduced by the walk-in’s proximity to the ocean. The registration booth was empty so it took us a while to figure out how to get to the walk-in area where we had a site reserved. ![]() We packed our car with fresh produce, exotic dragon and star fruit, and locally grown mangoes and avocados and set out on the last leg of our journey.īy the time we reached Flamingo Campground, it was already dark. Our last stop before entering Everglades was Robert Is Here Fruit Market, a feast of colours and tastes. So finally the best part of our trip – Everglades.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |