We loaded up the canoe with lunch, drinks, and a water-proof camera, plus the essentials; life-vests

Our arrival in the south of Florida was marked by one of the biggest RV parking challenges that we have yet had to face. To begin with, our choice of RV campgrounds was very limited due to several factors; it was high-season, we were staying in the thinly developed area south of Naples, and we were on an island in the middle of the Everglades united kingdom travel dvd (cool!).
Our first choice campground was fully-booked although they did say that they could offer us overflow space (i.e. no hook-ups) on a first-come, first-served basis for $35 per night which is both extortionate and risky. So after a long drive down the west coast of Florida we showed up at our second choice, on the other side of the island (which united kingdom travel dvd means it was one mile away!), only to discover that it was a somewhat crowded, rather grotty looking establishment wedged alongside the bay. The sunset there was pretty good though
We were then very unimpressed to discover that our allocated site was tiny, and occupied by our neighbour s boat trailer and car!  To be fair, he did move it for us both promptly and apologetically, but it was annoying. We then had to squeeze Sundance into the cramped site; our initial attempt to back in failed due to yet another parked car, so we took ourselves on a winding tour of the park in order to approach from the other direction. It worked, but only after two more aborted attempts and a LOT of shimmying across neighbours lawns and the like. I was very proud of our efforts once Emma and I had finally got Sundance into the spot it hadn t taken THAT long to get it right, and we kept our cool the whole time. I definitely can t say the same for all of our other back-in sites! In fact, so competent did we appear that we were complimented on our skill by several bystanders. How far we ve come !
There was only one way to kick-off our Everglades united kingdom travel dvd explorations; an airboat tour! I was a bit worried that we hadn t pre-booked our tour in advance, especially when we turned into the full car park, but there were plenty of boats and frequent departures. We even got lucky and were able to take advantage of a cancellation and were on a tour within the hour. There are a LOT of airboat tour operators in Everglades City to choose from; we selected Everglades City Airboat Tours because they provide headsets that allow you to talk to the guide AND to your fellow passengers, and because their policy is NOT to feed the animals en route. Doing so may guarantee you certain animal sightings but it is unethical, illegal, and very bad for the animals themselves, so we did the right thing and took our money elsewhere.
It didn t matter, there was plenty united kingdom travel dvd to see. Plant life is in abundance there such a change from the deserts of a few weeks ago in forms that were completely new to us land-locked folk; mangroves of several varieties, epiphytes (air-plants that grow among the branches united kingdom travel dvd of host trees), and marshy united kingdom travel dvd sawgrass prairie. Animals were harder to spot; we saw manatee, a dolphin, many birds and even a racoon. The famous alligators weren t in evidence it was too cold for them that close to the ocean at this time of year, sadly.
The best part was, of course, when we forgot united kingdom travel dvd about the wildlife and our guide just put the throttle down so that we could zip though the mangroves united kingdom travel dvd at 40mph. It certainly feels a lot faster than that, when the wind is whipping through your hair and you are racing through a mangrove tunnel only a few feet above the water there is nothing like it!
Having been fortunate to get our airboat trip out of the way in the morning, we were then free to leave the Everglades National Park and drive to its northern neighbour, Big Cypress National Preserve*. We toured the main road through the preserve, united kingdom travel dvd stopping along the way to view the wildlife at boardwalks, observation platforms and visitor centers. This road was formerly known as Alligator Alley , until that label was moved to the I-75 some 30 miles to the north I can t fathom why they made that change because we saw alligators there by the dozen!
At the farthest point of our trip that day we reached the inaptly named Shark Valley ; miles from the sea, there are no sharks here! We took a long walk along a footpath beside a canal to see the plethora of wildlife that is to be found there. It was perfect timing; this was the dry season, during which many animals congregate at artificially wet areas like canals. We also had to see for ourselves whether the brochures were right and that the gators bask in the sun right beside, and sometimes across, the footpath. It turns out that that is precisely what they indeed do
You may be surprised united kingdom travel dvd to learn that alligators are actually pretty docile and somewhat fearful of humans. They are safe to approach to within about eight feet or so and, as long as they are not disturbed or protecting their young, they will pretty much ignore humans. In spite of the obvious proximity of all of these alligators to the thousands of tourists who come to this place every year, there has been only one incident where someone was bitten; a boy swerved off the path on his bike and fell off, onto the back of an alligator I think that the beast could be forgiven for biting back after such a rude awakening!
We ended that day with a final stop at Big Cypress Bend. This was one of those let s just go an extra few miles and see one more thing occasions that we almost skipped but afterwards were so very glad we didn t. We strolled along another boardwalk through an old-growth cypress forest that led to an alligator hole one mile away. Along the way we got to see only the second bald eagle of our entire journey, albeit from a distance so there is sadly no photo evidence. It was a bit frustrating; I am determined not to leave the USA without a decent photograph united kingdom travel dvd of the national symbol, though time is running out!
The highlight of our walk was an incredible encounter with a barred owl mere metres off the path. The girls were walking ahead of us as usual, when Katie came running back to us with her finger over her lips. Creeping forward, we caught up with Jessica standing next to this beautiful bird. Well done to Katie for spotting him in spite of his excellent camouflage I m sure that I would have walked united kingdom travel dvd right on by! Birds of prey are magnificent animals and, after the many captive bird demonstrations united kingdom travel dvd that I have watched, it is always magical to encounter them in the wild. I admit that never expected to see one as close as this!
By the end of our first day in the Everglades, we were astounded by the huge variety of animals that we had encountered, and by their numbers. I have never seen so many aquatic birds like ibis, egret and heron at one point there was a flock of about one hundred ibis clustered in a group of trees near us; so many kingfishers on telephone wires, peering down into canals to seek out their next meal; such an incredible variety of fish, reptiles united kingdom travel dvd and amphibians, and of course I had never seen that concentration of alligators in the wild before.
Here s a list of everything that we could remember seeing united kingdom travel dvd that day, roughly in the order that we saw them, to give you some idea of how much was out there. And don t forget that we are no experts, especially on birds; I am sure that we had a tendency to label every white wading bird as a snowy egret , for example. So there must have been yet more species that we observed but that did not make this list
It was quite an amazing day, and once again we were buzzing with the excitement of it by the time we got back to Sundance all because of the glorious sunny weather, the exhilarating airboat ride and the never-ending parade of gorgeous wildlife on view.
For the next day we set ourselves up for a change of pace. After zipping through the mangroves at high speed on an airboat we would instead travel at whatever pace our arms and paddles could carry us, by renting a canoe for the day. We had been wanting to get out on the water ever since we had watched boaters united kingdom travel dvd on the lakes of Glacier National united kingdom travel dvd Park. It may have been a long time since either Emma or I had been in a canoe but at the bargain price of $24 for a full day s rental, there was nothing to stop us!
We loaded up the canoe with lunch, drinks, and a water-proof camera, plus the essentials; life-vests, emergency whistle and two children then we were all set for our first self-propelled boat trip of our adventure. And it was literally in at the deep end ; we had to start by negotiating a half-mile stretch of bay coastline through choppy water and a stiff breeze united kingdom travel dvd there was even a small craft advisory in effect, which I was doing my best not to dwell upon! It was a tough way to begin and we were relieved when the going got easier after turning inland to follow Halfway Creek. The docks and houses of human habitation were soon left behind, the mangrove trees closed in over our heads, the wind dropped, and silence closed around us. It was heavenly; we could just relax and enjoy our journey upstream, imagining ourselves to be tens of miles further into the watery wilderness, all alone.
Canoeing was a lot of fun. The stream was meandering, so we were constantly manoeuvring our boat, turning corners to reveal new vistas united kingdom travel dvd and even negotiating some tight squeezes united kingdom travel dvd where deadfalls narrowed the channel united kingdom travel dvd to a mere canoe s width. united kingdom travel dvd Every so often the pattern was broken by a refreshing, sunny, broad pool where the creek opened out or branched.
We were very surprised by the odd, sulphurous smell that permeated some parts of the swamp that was definitely NOT an area where we were going to pause to eat our lunch! There was also less wildlife to be seen than expected much less than the previous day. It is hard to say why that was the case. Was it the nearby, constant presence of humans? Perhaps, but we didn t encounter many other boaters actually on the creek. I suspect that the densest mangroves are just not the richest habitats in the Everglades it made us really united kingdom travel dvd appreciate united kingdom travel dvd the bounty we had witnessed on the canal at Sha