After morning exercise, we took the Jeep and drove to the Islamorada Farmers Market. We found chicken tamales, Greek goat yogurt balls marinated in olive oil or labneh, pita, and zaatar seasoning and a fresh loaf of multi grain bread.
This afternoon Tim watched the NASCAR Final Four race. I was able to use the rec hall WiFi to post the blog and backup our phones. I did some laps on my bike through the campground and I read and cleaned.
We took our tamales and some fresh mango to the beach area and enjoyed our dinner by the water.
We biked more laps and then took time to watch the sunset.
I took a shorter than usual walk this morning. My legs were tired and I felt like I was just trudging along!
I took my yogurt and a book across the way to a hammock. I sat in the shade of a palm tree enjoying the balmy ocean breeze…life of Riley indeed!
We packed plenty of water and hopped on our bikes. We cycled the three miles to Long Key State Park. The park is currently not charging admission because the area has been so decimated. In 2017, Hurricane Irma completely wiped out all the campsites that used to sit along the water. The park had made a lot of progress and then just weeks ago, Hurricane Ian happened. Much of the park is closed. We walked through the devastated mangrove trees. Scientists estimate that these mangrove swamps will take 40 years to recover.
We walked to the left and after a very short distance the trail was closed.
We walked to the right and soon that trail was also closed.
We saw a boat on the beach.
We had hoped to spend the afternoon here but there really was not much left.
We had some quiet time and then dressed up for dinner. We drove to Lazy Days in Islamorada. We sat out on the deck. We watched tarpon and rays and sharks out in the Florida Straits. I had a key lime colada and a Key West salad topped with coconut shrimp and Tim had tuna.
After our meal, we sat on the beach.
We walked to the pier. There were more than a dozen tarpons there in the water waiting to be fed. We could also see two nurse sharks sitting on the bottom.
The pelican posed for us.
The sun was setting as we headed back home.
We took a walk in the RV park enjoying the light wind and the slightly cooler evening temperature.
We had some early morning excitement. We had two small frogs in the RV! Tim was able to get both of them outside.
I did my morning walk while simultaneously washing clothes in the campground laundromat.
We took the Jeep with our bikes to Marathon Key. We parked at MM 53 and parked. We cycled seven miles to the Old Seven Mile Bridge. This old bridge segment was recently converted into a beautiful walking and biking path. It is 2 miles long and a lovely ride.
The path ends at Pigeon Key. This was the site of a work camp for the men building the original Overseas Railroad from 1908-1912. It is a National Historic Site and there are tours available there.
We biked the 9 miles back to the Jeep with a headwind. It was hard work, especially on the bridge where the breeze was stronger.
Lots of iguanas along the way.
This iguana was in a staring contest with a raccoon when I passed by. The raccoon ran away.
We were about a mile away from the Jeep when Tim pulled into this parking lot.
I was puzzled until he pointed at this sign.
We went inside and purchased two very decadent key lime pie ice cream bars which we enjoyed on the front porch.
We got back to the RV at 4:30 after biking for 18,5 miles and we were tired!
We just made omelets for our dinner.
Tim went out to watch the end of the day while I worked on the blog.
We got our morning exercises done and got the RV ready to roll. We stopped at the dump station and then drove through 43 miles of Everglades, saying goodbye.
As we drove Tim noticed a bigger frog. He had crawled out from behind the mirror and was suctioned to the surface of the mirror for miles. All at once at 55 mph…he couldn’t hold on any longer and he was gone. A second, smaller frog crawled out. He tried making a leap to the window of the RV and he was grabbed by the wind.
We stopped at the Ernest Coe Visitor Center for breakfast. I had gone around the RV looking for the frogs in the unlikely event that they had caught the side of the RV. Moments later, Tim was walking around with his breakfast when he saw a snake beneath the RV. Had he come from our basement or was he interested in hitching a ride? Tim used a shovel to move him away from our rig and into the grass. He was rather unhappy with his handling and writhed around frantically, finally finding the tree and climbing and then settling.
We stopped at Robert’s and bought more papaya, mangoes, mamey, and avocadoes.
We stopped to gather some groceries at the Winn Dixie in Key Largo.
We stopped at Holiday RV and Marina where Carlos helped us to replace some breakers in our breaker box.
Finally, at 3:30 this afternoon, we arrived at Fiesta Key. I was a little disappointed when I realized we were in a giant parking lot but then we got to our site.
This is our view for the next month.
There is a restaurant, Oceans 305, right here in the resort. We walked across the street and enjoyed a really good meal. I may have also enjoyed margaritas! After 3 weeks in the outback, it was nice to have dinner out!
We are looking forward to spending some time here in the Keys!
Later in the morning, we biked around, our usual path from the campground to the bay and marina. It is breezier today and it feels less humid.
We stopped in at the visitor center. We talked with the ranger about our panther sighting. She has only seen a panther on one occasion in the seven years that she has been serving here; they are so elusive and clever. She confirmed that there are bears, panthers, bobcats, and coyotes all living here in Flamingo.
We both biked to Mrzak Pond. On the way, we passed great flocks of mostly white birds; ibises and egrets.
We also saw a few spoonbills. But they were further away and it was harder to get good pictures because of the distance.
This osprey sat in a branch right over our heads.
We went out again this evening just to see what we could see. We saw this poor diamondback rattlesnake. It had been hit by a car. We had ridden our bikes right by this bridge today!
It was very still and quiet at west Lake. Even the croc was hiding.
There was a new moon. The alignment of the sun, the moon, and the earth is causing the extraordinarily high tide or a “king” tide.
We saw this ribbon snake in the road on our way back.
Of course we drove through that abandoned camping loop. We saw a rather large rat-like creature…this is a bad place to live if you are a small rodent! No other sightings this evening!
We have loved spending time here in the Everglades but we are also ready to move on. Fiesta Key tomorrow!
Happy Birthday Kyle! You make us proud every day and we love you!
Overnight I heard coyotes howling.
This morning after my walk, I saw a pair of roseate spoonbills flying overhead. It is such a shock to see big bright neon pink birds in the sky.
We took short bike rides but mostly we were quiet today. It was hot and still and the mosquitos were out. We rode around the campground loops, to the bay, and around the marina. Tim kept going but I went back to the RV.
By evening, it had cooled off a little and we ate our salmon and beet salad outside.
We went for a drive to watch the sun go down. There were no clouds and so the sun slipped beyond the horizon with little fanfare.
We went to West Lake to see the stars come out but the mosquitoes were just too voracious and they chased us into the Jeep. Notice the mosquito protective clothes! Long sleeves and long pants!
We made the loop where we saw the panther last night, hoping to see him again but no panthers out and about tonight!
I took my walk while catching up with family this morning.
This bird was very interested in our mirror!
We took our bikes out to ride around the campground and then to Florida Bay.
We also checked on the manatees, enjoying the only bench in the shade of this sea grape tree.
There was a couple who had tried the visitor center but it was closed today. The woman showed me her Everglades map. She wanted to know where to find the flamingos and the other animals in the picture.
Flamingos are extremely rare to see here and the truth is that the other animals are here but it requires a lot of patience to see cool things. Most people rent convertible Mustangs at the airport and breeze through. It is probably often a disappointment, especially during the wet season. The first time we ever came it was the most magical. It was January and there were tons of gators and birds. That first amazing visit captured us. This place will always be one of our very favorite places.
I worked on the blog this afternoon and Tim took another bike ride. He saw that the water in Florida Bay was very high. The nearby grassy areas were flooded. We were thinking we might take dinner there but made a new plan.
I made Caesar salads with shrimp and fresh mango for dessert. We packed the car and headed out. We saw this rainbow. It hadn’t rained here at all.
We continued to West Lake. We saw two fishermen trying to catch fish and a crocodile lurking in the water. Each time they cast their lines, the croc would make its way to the float. At one point there was a fish on the line and the guy was trying to reel in the fish and the crocodile was on the prowl, coming in quick. The fisherman caught his line on a tree in his haste to get to the dock and the fish, a snook, got away.
As soon as Tim got the cooler out of the Jeep, we were surrounded by a team of 5 crows.
We ate our meal, watching the man vs. crocodile show. The men were aggravated and were hoping that the crocodile would get bored and leave but the croc was still there in the water when we left.
We went to Nine Mile Pond and were there all by ourselves tonight. No UFO like things. There was a pleasant breeze and once we sprayed with OFF, we were happy there watching the sun go down and watching the stars pop out.
We headed back to the campground. There are 3 loops here. We are in T Loop. B Loop has no hookups and is mostly for tent campers. C Loop has been abandoned for years. It is overgrown and gradually being reclaimed by the vegetation. We rode bikes on C Loop earlier in the day. There was a fair amount of scat around. I wanted to drive through this evening in the dark. We saw a panther cross the path in front of us! It was amazing!! My heart was pounding. We couldn’t believe what we had seen. We talked it through together. It was definitely NOT a bear. It was definitely NOT a coyote. It was definitely NOT a bobcat. It was sleek and brown and had a long cat tail…it was definitely a panther!!!
We rode out to Florida Bay one more time. Tim had taken the roof off the Jeep and so we stood and looked at the multitude of stars and the Milky Way.
I had some unusual cheerleaders as I took my morning walk.
A ranger stopped to help this turtle across the road.
This is the first flock of white pelicans that we have seen. They are migratory birds that come here for the winter. The soared on large loopy circles overhead.
Today was the Dixie Vodka 400 at the Homestead-Miami Speedway. This was a NASCAR playoff race. When we knew that we were going to be in Florida and there was a race, it was a no brainer!
I do love the pageantry of a live race; the driver introductions, the invocation, the national anthem, the patriotism, the fireworks, the military jet flyby. Then, there is the thrill as the racecars come around the corner at the beginning of the competition; the thrum of the engines, the smell of racing fuel, the excitement of the crowd.
It was hot. That beautiful Florida sunshine was intense. I went to get us frozen lemonade before the end of stage 1. Every line was ridiculously long. I was in the shade and it was cooler there under the grandstands so I elected to wait behind 50 other people! It took almost an hour and by that time, Tim had joined me. We decided to get hotdogs as well. It was $63.75 for two lemonades and for our sandwiches…WOW! I will say that the hotdogs were exceptionally delicious and that the frozen lemonade saved the day!
Neither of our drivers had a stellar race but we had fun being a part of it!
We didn’t leave the track until almost 7. We decided to stop at the Cracker Barrel in Homestead where we knew that we could get salads for dinner.
We reentered Everglades National Park well after dark. We didn’t stop to look at the first snake we saw but we did stop for the second. Tim thought it might have been a python, but rangers on Monday identified it as a water moccasin or cottonmouth.
We stopped at Nine Mile Pond and got out to look at the stars. There was no moon and the sky was glorious! We could see the milky way as it reached out over the Everglades. At the other end of the white swath, sat Miami with its bright city lights. The stars at that end were obliterated by those lights.
As we went to leave, we saw what looked like a pair of eyes gliding across the lake. As we watched and the “eyes” got closer, we noticed that they looked more like lights. In fact, it looked like a ring of lights around a dome of some sort. What in the world had we seen? I though it looked like a UFO on the lake or more accurately like our dish satellite with a string of lights. Maybe, it was a kayaker with light on his boat. Weirdly, it came to rest in the high grass along the edge of the lake so that it was almost invisible…like it was trying to hide. We drove away then after wondering if it might be someone who did not want to be seen. Maybe it was some kind of research equipment?
By the time we got back to the RV, we were tired but it took me a long time to settle. It was a busy and stimulating day.
Another good three mile walk in the cool morning air. There was a very fresh pile of what we believe is bear scat right on the campground loop. We read that animals like to mark their territory with scat and that they often use paths and trails. That makes sense!
We packed a picnic and took the Jeep with the bikes to the Nike Site Road. We parked at one end and biked to the other. Our round trip was 8.5 miles. It was a nice easy ride on a straight, flat, and newly paved road with gorgeous scenery. It was 78 degrees and we had a pleasant breeze…perfect riding! It doesn’t get much better than that!
We saw lots of egg shells by the road. We are not sure if there is an animal robbing bird nests or maybe someone used chicken eggs as bait to draw animals out. It is a riddle! There were more than half a dozen empty eggs. We are always reminded; the more we see…the more we realize how much we do not know!
A small snake hit by a car in the road.
Did you know that a single dragonfly eats hundreds of mosquitos every day? we like having these guys around.
We drove to Royal Palm and walked the Anhinga Trail. This area was crowded with international tourists. We saw a mama gator and her babies and not much else. Later in the year, during the dry season, there will be lots of gators and birds here.
We drove to Long Pine Key and found a table in the shade.
After lunch, we drove to Mahogany Hammock and walked that trail.
On the way back we stopped at West Lake and sat watching the water…no wildlife there either.
We grilled bison burgers and brussel sprouts and enjoyed a delicious papaya from Robert’s.
We drove to Florida Bay to watch the sunset. We are warm and outside and active and eating mostly healthy foods. We are trying to take care in our retirement.
What a wonderful place to take a walk! All the way to Florida Bay and back. A good three-mile circuit!
These yurts are brand new and sit right on the water.
Some critters.
Home for this week.
We have seen lots of very large scat in and around the campground. It has probably been left behind since the hurricane. What is lurking out in these woods? We asked the ranger and he thinks either coyotes, bears, panthers, or bobcats…that narrows it down! We are thinking that it might be a good sign. For a long time, mammals were not here in this part of the Everglades. Burmese pythons had eliminated all the smaller mammals like raccoons and rabbits and some of the larger animals as well. We read that bobcats eat python eggs. Maybe nature is taking care of these invasive snakes in its own way.
We took our bikes and cycled to the bay. We heard excited yelling and then we watched these fishermen pull in this shark.
We biked to the marina and watched manatees. These three were all about getting fresh water from this large pipe.
Some gulls were every interested until they discovered that we were not going to feed them.
Ibises hunting.
A crocodile was sunning himself on the boat ramp. He looks positively prehistoric!
Later, we packed dinner and road about thirty miles on the park road to a pond. We saw this sixteen-inch snake on the way in.
We ate our evening meal and watched the sunset.
At one point there were ten crows waiting to be fed.
The end of another good day.
As we headed back toward home, we watched for wildlife. Tim spotted another small snake. We saw some beady red eyes and we think they were night herons standing along the road.
