Irish Rovers - Off on a cloud of heifer dust : Florida

Beginning on March 18, we zipped through the northwest of Florida, stopping here and there for a night, doing our best to avoid spending time in the bigger cities. We spent two nights in Homosassa in an effort to see some manatees and after paddling 2 hours in a rented canoe, we did manage to see one. We stayed in the lovely Oscar Scheier state park, outside of Sarasota and stopped at Casperson Beach on our way through Venice. Since the dogs were not allowed on the beach, it was a short visit. We spent two nights on the outskirts of Fort Myers in order to accommodate an oil change on the RV - so essentially all we saw of that city was strip malls (i.e. "anywhere USA). While there, we tried to visit Sanibel Island, but the traffic was terrible, so we turned around and headed back to the RV park.

We drove through Naples before heading east where I was able to get my first hair cut in 5 months, giving up on my plan to let my hair grow long. We then headed east on Highway 41, Florida's southernmost highway across the state. We stayed 2 nights at a federal campground in the Big Cypress National Preserve. We got to see lots of 'gators, turtles, osprey, and a variety of fish. There was at least one alligator that lived in the pond in the middle of our campground, so we kept the dogs on short leashes and away from the pond. The weather was hot and humid and we were grateful for the RV's air-conditioning. The mosquitoes were a challenge, too.

We spent one night in Homestead before venturing into the Everglades National Park where stayed at the Flamingo campground in the southernmost part of the park. We stopped at three visitor centers and enjoyed learning about the flora and fauna and history of the area and park. We enjoyed our two full days in the Everglades and learned that the smell of DEET (insect repellent) is considered "Florida's perfume". It was a necessity, and despite our frequent use of it, we both still managed to get multiple mosquito bites.

We took a boat cruise through the mangroves, which was informative and saw several American crocodiles of varying sizes. We even learned about the manchinilla tree - one of the deadliest trees on earth. The campground was quite nice and it provided us a distant view of Florida Bay. On our way out of the park, we stopped at another pond and were rewarded with a sighting of two roseate spoonbill birds. Granted, they were at a long distance, but because of their pink color, easy to spot.

And from the Everglades, we drove down Highway 1 to Key West - the next post.

Paddling on Halls River - Homosassa, FL