Why is Florida so cold??

Well after leaving the illustrious Skunk Ape headquarters we headed back to "normal" at a state park.  After calling around we found that it is probably best to have reservations at campgrounds in south Florida in the winter.  We found a spot in a nearby park and raced off.  We checked in and found our spot.  Our spot also had this awesome caution tape and steel pipe contraptions that turned out to be a bear trap.  We were really glad that no one told us anything....  About 9 at night we heard the trap go off and the bear thrashing around.  Needless to say everyone at the campground was pretty excited, we had flashbulbs and flashlights for a half hour or so until the bear was hauled off. 

The State park also had and old walking dredge that was used to build a highway across the Everglades in the 1920s.  It was pretty interesting engineering.  They averaged around 100 feet in a day, not the best but hey the whole things operated on 20 or so horsepower.

We went for a great hike the following day and Alexis again thought that she was wildlife chow.  After making fun of how everyone at the campground thought the bear in the trap was big, I saw what I thought was a deer or possibly large dog thrashing around in the bush.  It was neither of these, it was in fact a rather  large black bear that poked its head out of the brush and looked our way from about 30 feet up the trail.  Alexis was pretty excited so we don't have a photo, we did capture the below less threatening critter.

 

We then headed up to Rainbow Springs State Park, which turned out to be really nice.  Went for a paddle on the Rainbow River and hunkered down for yet another cold snap.  It got down to 26 at our camper, not quite what when thought when we decided to head to Florida for the winter.  Visited with Alexis great aunt in Tampa then headed back to Orlando for our flight to San Jose tomorrow morning.  We lucked out in that the whole area is now under a tornado watch, hopefully it clears out before the AM.

Everglades Part II

Not having enough of mangroves and alligators we headed back out for another six days of canoeing in the Everglades.  This time we left from the northern town of Everglades city and headed south along the coast and then back in along the wilderness waterway.  After postponing our trip a day because of the weather we launched with a stiff breeze to our backs and headed out to the gulf coast.  The northern section of the Everglades is remarkably different than the south, here there are tons of islands (thus the name of the area "Ten Thousand Islands" - not sure it seems more like just a thousand), sand beaches around most islands, and very shallow water.  We picked our way out to Rabbit Key for our first night and enjoyed walking around our little isle.  For the next two days we paddled south along the Gulf camping enjoying the weather as it warmed back up into the 80s.  On our last day on the Gulf I caught a bunch of fish and we had some really fresh seafood for dinner.  We then headed inland to the Plate Creek Chickee.  We managed to time the tides just right so the paddling was minimal (especially for me, as I fished while Alexis paddled).  I caught a ridiculous number and variety of fish including a monster that, of course, got away with my lure. 



The next day was by far our most exciting day, we had 16 miles to go so we got up early and headed out before 8.  We again lucked out with the tides and wind and were making really good time towards our next camp.  Then it really started to rain and blow, then as we exited a small creek we saw a big wave moving fast towards us, this big wave also had a large fin sticking out of the top.  Alexis thought for a split second that she was shark kibbles but at the last second the fin swerved and a dolphin - not a shark - went whizzing by us.  The dolphin was so close that, much like the gator on Turner River, she could have poked its nose.  We soon saw a couple of dolphins chasing fish in the bay and doing their best sea-world impression jumps out of the water.  We had so much rain that I had to keep bailing out the back of the canoe so that I wouldn't have my feet in ankle deep water.  We however were the lucky ones with the wind to our backs, we passed a canoe going the other way.  In the 15 minutes we saw them it didn't look like they moved a foot.  We managed to find our chickee for the night and get on some dry clothes.  It took quite a while longer for our feet and hands to dry.  I don't think I have every had hands that pruned in my life.  We woke up the following day to a beautiful sunrise that soon surrendered to a thick fog.  As we headed back to Everglades City to stumbled upon a group of boaters that had driven into the shallows and gotten stuck because of the fog.  They seemed to be in good spirits, perhaps because it seemed that they had already gotten into the beer cooler, and we could hear them through the fog for several minutes heckling each other and laughing about the lack of water under their boats.  I got to dust off my map and compass skills as we crossed the bay with no land in sight, only fog; a bit disconcerting but we found land again after half hour of paddling.  We decided that we absolutely had to camp again at the Skunk Ape facilities.  We are now headed up the western coast of Florida.  We have a week to get to Orlando for our trip to Costa Rica.  You know life is hard when you need a vacation from your vacation.

Big Cypress National Preserve

After restocking our supplies, we headed west to Big Cypress National Preserve where we have spent the last three nights.  Craving some time on land we took a 16.5 mile hike on the Florida Trail through the Cypress and Pines.  One vacant gator hole was identified along the way.  We also did a short canoe trip down the Turner River Canoe Trail.  The trail turned out to be shallow (1 to 2 feet) and extremely narrow in some areas which made our gator encounters a whole new level of exciting.  At one of these narrow areas, we were headed straight for a gator who slid beneath the water, which was clear and about a foot and a half deep.  We didn't have anywhere to detour to so we had to go over him.  I could see his eyeball watching me from just below the water and was so close that I could have poked his nose.  Needless to say, it was super exciting and scared me to death.  Ron giggled and wanted to poke his tail with a paddle.  We also ventured into an area filled with some sort of aquatic weed.  It turned out to be a gator nursery filled with gators less than a couple feet long and could only be described as unbelievably cute. 

  


We had planned a 5 night canoe trip launching from Everglades City this morning, but awoke to high winds and a frigid 55 degrees.  We postponed our launch until tomorrow and huddled inside our house until the temperature reaches a more agreeable 70 to 80 degrees.  We decided to wait out the storm at a privately owned campground called the Skunk Ape Headquarters and Trail Lakes Campground.  This is by far the most entertaining campground we have stayed at yet.  Please check out the link (especially the quotes by Dave-who we met in person).  Please.  Included in the price of the campground was a tour through the freelance zoo on the premises.  Our guide was colorful - kissing a baby alligator and feeding the birds cashews directly out of his mouth.  There were pythons in pens everywhere - one that was 18 feet long and weighed 170 pounds, a rose haired tarantula, baby turtles, snapping turtles - one with a missing tail, and a variety of birds - one of which I cuddled with.


 

Everglades Part I

Everglades Trip Stats:
-Total Miles = ~120
-Days = 10
-American Crocodiles = 19
-American Gators = Too many to count
-Manatees = 1 and maybe a second one
-Birds = A plethora plus three Spoonbills (VERY pink)
-Mangroves = Our fill of mangrove

We left Flamingo with a canoe full of 10 days worth of water, two dry bags, and two action packers stuffed with supplies.  Another sea faring fellow asked us if we had a sea canoe due to the fact that it was weighted down so heavily but still managed to give us a fair amount of free board (we were both quite surprised as well).  Luckily the wind and tide gave us a lot of help and we reached our designated camp in no time.  We were signed up to camp at Clubhouse Beach but after a quick inspection we decided to head for East Cape Beach.  We found a fabulous beach camp protected from the wind and ate steaks.


In the morning, after noticing raccoon footprints through camp, all over our canoe, the action packers, and the water, the culprit slowly sauntered through camp paying us no mind.  Continuing around Cape Sabol (we thought you Sabol family!) we headed for the northwest cape.  Once again the wind was at our backs and we had a fairly easy but interesting paddle.  The wind created some pretty decent waves that we surfed into camp.  This was our buggiest encounter and we spent New Years Eve in our tent eating Oreo Cookies and playing cards.  It was a raging party.  Upon awaking we noticed that a Bobcat had been checking out our tent during the night.

In order to get to our next camp we headed north up the coast and tucked into the Shark River to reach the more protected interior of Ponce de Leon Bay.  The wind had picked up and even though it was to our back, we didn't feel like surfing waves all the way across the bay.  The camp was set up with a picnic table and after setting up camp we paddled up the creek where Ron did some fishing where we caught some mangrove.  Raccoon sighting #2. 



When we awoke, we could not hear any waves.  The tide had gone out during the wee morning hours and we were left marooned so we made a huge breakfast and poked the tidal flats.  Our goal was Highland Beach Camp and along the way we spotted numerous dolphins fishing along the coast.  Upon arriving we ran into an Outward Bound group that was taking their final exam that night.  They had to build their own shelter and spend the night alone.  We headed up beach and found our favorite campsite which we named Palm Point.  We went in search of Big Creek and found the point just past Highland Point instead.  The return was brutal into the wind and waves.  Another group pulled up next to our camp on the beach and decided to camp right next to us.  We thought they had a rough time in the wind but after talking to them, they had just been dropped off two miles up and had not been paddling very long.  They provided great entertainment.  Bucket boy to our left pondering life's important questions and the three stooges to the right trying to put up a tent on a wicked slant.


Our next day was a layover day so we left all our stuff and headed up the Rogers River where almost all our crocodiles were spotted and our possible second manatee.  This was our first encounter with the croc/gator scene.  It was super exciting to see them swim out in front of you and then very troubling when the slowly disappeared below the surface right in front of our canoe without so much as a ripple.  It makes you consider how close your paddling arm is to the water.  All limbs intact, we then took the Cutoff to Broad River and back to camp.

From Highland Beach we abandoned the coast for the interior.  Our route took us up Broad River, down the Nightmare (Name understood.  The pictures posted show the actual route which the park service seems to kind of clear about once a year.  At one point a shallow log forced both of us off the canoe and onto the log in order to float/push the canoe over the log.  This was just after we saw 3 crocs.  EEK.), up Broad Creek and onto the Harney River to the Harney River Chickee.  The chickees consisted of either one or two 10' by 12' platforms with a walkway to a porto-john.  This one was a double chickee where our neighbor had a motorboat, no tent, and a lot of mosquito bites.


After waiting for the tide to change, we headed up the Harney River to Tarpon Bay where we began our battle against wind and tide down the Shark River to the Shark River Chickee.  That evening we spotted a handful of crab and one firefly. 

In the morning we headed down the Shark River headed for Joe River Chickee.  The day ETA was continuously 1 hour.  Sometimes it increased.  The boat guy had said some wind and weather was moving in so we tied the tent to our chickee anticipating hurricane force winds.  Our 5 chickee neighbors showed up around dinner time in ghetto kayaks and no spray skirts.  There was a lot of cheering and thanking god (no really, these guys were a Christian group).  They had a rough time with their tent set up, managed to fit all five of them in a 3 person tent, sang some songs together, and prayed for good winds.  We appreciated the wind prayers due to the fact that they were heading the same direction as we were the next day. 

We had an easy day of paddling to the South Joe Chickee where we arrived early, ate grilled cheese sandwiches, and headed our for some easy paddling and fishing in a nearby lake.  It turns out that the mangrove islands in the lake were too small for the map and really easy to get lost in.  By the time we turned around, we were a little lost and once again heading into the wind and tide.  We learned the hard way that our canoe as an awful lot of sail area when it is empty.

Our paddle back to Flamingo was relaxing, filled with mangrove, and finally some plant and wildlife diversity once we reached fresher waters near the dock.  The manatee and crocodile planted by the parks service even made an appearance together.