Shark Valley Take 2

1206 February 10, 2025 Shark Valley Take 2

We got up early this morning despite having stayed up to watch the whole Super Bowl. What a surprise to see the Eagles dominate the Chiefs. I know two very happy little boys…Oliver and Austin are over the moon!

We packed some water and breakfast and poured a second cup of coffee and off we went. We drove the twenty miles to Shark Valley. We arrived at 8am and parked outside the gate. It was a beautiful morning to be out and pedaling. The sky was clear and the air was balmy and warm. The sun shone.

I biked for a while, I had a good rhythm and I was moving at a good pace. I realized that I was in my own head and that I hadn’t been paying attention to my surroundings. I pulled back and started to notice…of course this meant that I was slowed down by the need to stop and take pictures!

Anhinga out to dry!

Red-shouldered hawk.

Blue thistle.

I noticed a wet trail across the road and we doubled back to look and see what had crossed. We spotted a small gator along the path.

Bright yellow lilies on emerald green lily pads.

Brilliant purple gallinule.

Pickerelweed.

We climbed the observation tower at mile 7.

Today, the alligators were very loud. We could hear a deep throated thrum coming from the swamp. There were at least two males bellowing. Tim tried to get video/audio but the sound quality was too poor. That’s a shame because it was really quite something to hear and witness.

We saw a couple of huge aquatic turtles.

Common American crows…always right there at snack time!

Once again, when we came down from the tower, there was a crocodile sunning herself at the edge of the parking area. Tim rode back to check and see if it was a gator or a croc…definitely a croc! We didn’t know that there were crocs this far north and inland!

The best oatmeal I have ever had…the ambience!

Starrush whitetop. These were tiny dainty flowers.

Lots of dragonflies flying in tandem. This one waiting to find a mate.

Tim and I almost had a wreck. I saw this big dark snake and I wanted to go back to look. Tim turned his head to look and almost ploughed into me. I had stopped to go back! We are not positive but we think this might be a python. It is too heavy and thick to be a black racer. If we zoom in, we can see a pattern on his skin…not positive. This is as close as I was willing to get!

Soon after, we saw this pretty smaller snake. He had been injured either by a tram or bike or perhaps by a predator. We can’t find any picture of any snake that is supposed to look like this one.

I am glad that we had an extra day to do the 15-mile loop at Shark Valley a second time. This is absolutely a highlight for us.

We were tired this afternoon and we rested. I listened to a book most of the day. After his nap, Tim went to sit outside and ended up visiting with our neighbors for a long time.

We took our dinner, butter chicken, garlic naan, greens with orange olive oil and orange white balsamic and we drove the Jeep to Kirby Sorter Park. We walked the boardwalk. About ¼ mile in, the walk stopped abruptly. The boardwalk caught fire, perhaps due to a lightning strike and the walk has yet to be repaired.