FLORIDA
Everglades Day 2
We had breakfast at a cafe in Homestead called Island Cafe. For both convenience and comfort of easy diner food, I’d recommend this spot.
First stop after breakfast was the Big Cypress Oasis. This is also the southern terminus of the Florida Trail. More importantly there are a TON of gators here. Along the road is a long river with a boardwalk and the gators and other wildlife are plentiful. The visitor center here was also really informative.
We had another boat tour scheduled for today with Tigertail Boat Tours. I wasn’t sure what to expect with two back to back boat tours but this one blew me out of the water! While the previous day wowed me in speed and daring amongst the mangroves, this tour was through the sawgrass river prairie that had two stops on “hammocks” in the water.
Our tourguide was incredibly cool and we were introduced to a bunch of cool reptiles. I don’t think I’ll ever get over holding baby gators!
He also showed us a bunch of different kinds of turtles, including snapping turtles. If you see a turtle in the road in Florida, check if it has a long tail before trying to pick it up. A snapping turtle can easily take your finger off. He was also describing walking through the swamp water barefoot and making sure he doesn’t lose a toe by sweeping the ground with a stick first. Here’s one who’s pretty pissed about being held:
We boated over to the other hammock that is owned by the Miccosukee tribe. Here is where the big mama gator hangs out. The guide saw me taking pictures and got some AWESOME shots of her up close. According to the guide the gators get used to each person. She was tolerant of him being near her.
Initially we had planned on hitting up the Shark Valley Tram tour but our airboat ride went long and we had to miss it. But Shark Valley is another entrance into the Everglades. It was kind of fine though, we were hungry for dinner.
We headed over to Homestead and had dinner at Havana Spice. They were a bit understaffed but the food and the sangria were delicious.