Everglades & the Keys

25 April –

Back on the busy roads of Fort Myers. This is retirement country with many apartment complexes and gated communities either on the beaches or close. It is also a series of islands with bridges connecting them. At Lovers Key State Park we paid our admission and set off on a boardwalk to the beach. It was a lovely beach with white sand and clear warm water. We sunbathed and swam for a couple of hours before returning to “Ernie” for lunch under the shade of some trees. Unfortunately we cannot camp here so headed on thru Naples (more retirement country). The next State Park was closed so we drove on for ½ hour to a private camping ground. On the way the skies opened and it poured. The guy was reluctant to go out in the rain to show us our site. It was muggy so we put up the awning. No chance to dry the towels and bathing suits however.

26 April – We are heading east and south across the bottom of Florida to the Everglades National Park where we plan to spend 2 or 3 nights. Before entering the park we went thru Florida City where we managed to find a panel shop to fix our break-in damage. Spanish seems to be the main language here so it took some explaining what we wanted. We will return to the panel shop on Friday and hopefully all will be fixed. The Everglades National Park is the largest area of everglades in the world consisting mainly of swamp, waterways and lakes. We stopped at the first visitors centre to find out what there is to see and do. We are right at the end of the season as it virtually closes in the summer

because it is too hot, wet and sticky for anyone to visit. One of the camps we planned to stay in was closed due to a fire about 2 weeks ago. Not having much luck with these camps! We drove to an area where there were a couple of walks and heard a ranger talk on crocodiles and alligators.  On a short walk we spied several alligators but they were a long way away. We drove 40 miles down into the everglades to the only camp that was open at Flamingo. The camp was huge but there was only about 10 of us camping. This camp is on Florida Bay, a shallow bay with many islands. The mosquitos were supposed to be bad but we hardly saw one as we watched the sun set. We felt that it must be a bit like Africa.

27 April –

We rode our bikes back to the visitors centre at Flamingo. Not much there! We have decided to take a boat trip up the inland waterways so we made some inquiries and will go in the afternoon. On the way back to the camp we walked a track around a lake with many beautiful water birds. Back to the marina and off on our boat trip. It was a flat bottomed boat with about 25 people from a variety of countries on board. The captain was very informative as we cruised thru the mangrove swamps. We saw quite a few American

Crocodiles of various sizes. The crocs inhabit the salty water where as the alligators prefer fresh water. The everglades have been decimated by some of man’s activities including draining the swamps, harvesting the Flamingos for food and the egrets of their feathers, and latterly introducing (accidentally) the Burmese Python which have decimated the wildlife. The National Park Service is doing their best to storing the Everglades back to their original state.

28 April –

A nice breakfast outside in the warm breeze before heading out of Flamingo and a real break thru. Val is at the wheel and I am in the passenger’s seat for the first time in 4 years! Val did really well and drove us back out of the National Park. We stopped at a boardwalk to the largest mahogany tree in Florida, and another walk before lunch and exiting the N.P. and back into Florida City for a shop at Walmart and a RV Park close to the place doing our panel work tomorrow.

29 April –

Off to our Mexican panel shop for our 10:00am appointment to get the panel damage fixed when we were robbed. This is a family business with Dad, Daniel, (speaks very little English) and his three sons. The job is meant to take 2 hours so we walked up the road to a place to buy some decal to go over the repair. Did not want to spend the time or the expense to get the whole door repainted! Sorted out the right stuff and continued on in the increasing heat to walk to some shops and cafes. We filled in time at a doughnut place sitting in the air-conditioning. After 1 ½ hours we walked back to Daniel and Sons to find that there was very little progress on our job. Daniel was very apologetic (I think) and got on with the job stopping every 5 minutes to have another chat with us. (very hard work with his English). He had discovered that our air con in the cab was not working and offered the services of a son to have a look at it. He discovered that there was a faulty relay and I walked next door and bought a replacement. The aircon is now going great again. Good thing as it is now around 35C in the middle of the day. The work progressed slowly, by now we are Daniel’s best friend (must come and meet the wife when next we pass thru Florida City.) All the sons gathered around as we showed them our trip on the maps and sketched a map of the world explaining where NZ was. End result, they did a good job for not a bad price considering it included solving the aircon problem. Much waving and goodbyes and we eventually were on the road after 4 hours. What a laugh! It was a short drive down the “1” into the Florida Keys. These are a series of islands stretching 130 miles south to Key West. Each island is joined to the next by long bridges. We booked 5 nights at 2 State Parks last year before we came home. This area is very popular! Our camp for 3 nights is John Pennekamp Coral State Park very close to Key Largo. After a very late lunch we walked to the main beach for a swim and a snorkel. The swim was great but we think the snorkelling could be a bit limited. South Pacific islands may have spoiled us!

30 April –

After breakfast we installed the new decal on the passenger’s door to cover the robbery damage. It looks really good. There are 3 beaches in this park so we tried another one. The snorkelling was not any better but the swimming was great. We had to shift sites as even 6 months ago we could not book 3 nights on one site. After lunch we tried the 3^rd beach. The snorkelling was a little better but we fail to see why many people spend hours looking at the odd fish and a bit of weed! A nice relaxing time however. The temperature is perfect with the trade winds just making it cool enough.

1 May –

Another relaxing day. Down to the main beach for a swim and sunbathe before lunch. Back to “Ernie” for the hottest part of the day and then more swimming and sunbathing (in the shade) in the afternoon. We have discovered there is a mock Spanish wreck off the main beach so we snorkelled out to it. We saw some canons and an anchor and a few parrot fish. Lots of families on the beach as it is Sunday.

2 May –

It rained in the night and we had to close all the roof vents and windows. This makes the inside very hot so we turned on our fan for the first time. We find the aircon noisy to sleep with but may need to use it as it gets hotter. We went to the visitor’s centre where there was an aquarium with many reef fish. Back on the road south over the various bridges linking the islands of the Florida Keys for 30 miles to a pre-booked State Park at Long Key. Our site is backed right onto the water. The beach is very shallow and we had a couple of swims in the very hot water. We reckoned the water at the edge is

around 35C!! but slightly cooler further out. The trade winds blow in all day and keep the temperature pleasant. Val has discovered that we are booked here for 3 nights and not the 2 we originally thought. It is a nice place, so that is great.

3 May –

We walked along the beach to an old boat we thought had been used by kids but were told to our amazement that 3 nights ago at 3:00 in the morning the campers were woken by laughter and shouts of joy. This old boat had 13 Cuban refugees aboard and had sailed from Cuba in 3 days. The sail was made of rice sacks and the sides were galvanized iron. Cuba is about 80 miles away and this is the nearest landing in the USA. Spent the day in the shade and enjoying the water. We even did some snorkelling and saw some colourful fish and a lobster.

4 May –

A pleasant morning but cloudy and not a great weather forecast. We have another night at this State Park but decided to drive 30 miles south down the Keys to another State Park at Bahia Honda Key. This the only key that has a sandy beach and deep water. On our way we passed thru Marathon (the only town on the Keys apart from Key West and across more long bridges. The longest was 7 miles! The day was cloudy but still hot and we had a couple of swims either side of lunch in the waves of Sandspur in the State Park. It was like swimming on an NZ surf beach but with 26C water.

As we drove back to our camp at Long Key the skies darkened and we just beat the rain. In and out of “Ernie” for a couple of hours until the rain eventually settled in around 5:00pm. The wind got really strong and we spent a wet half hour trying to save the young couple next doors tent and gazebo. They had ignored the weather warnings gone out for dinner! Not much luck however so they came home to carnage!

5 May –

The storm cleared in the night to a beautiful clear day. The young couple next door slept in the car and were gone in the morning. There must be a skip somewhere with the remains of a tent and a gazebo. Back on the only road out of the Keys over the bridges and islands and into Florida City for the 3^rd time. We continued north with the traffic and the population steadily increasing as we approached Miami. We bypassed the main parts of the city and are camped at an RV Park near Miami Beach. Val did a laundry and I pumped gallons of sand out of “Ernie”. The Internet worked earlier but as the office is closed it has now stopped. If it comes back tomorrow morning we will publish this blog. There is a nice pool at this camp so we had a couple of swims after our work. The temperature is much cooler here and not as humid.