Paddling Through the Everglades

Did you know that there are crocodiles in America? Well I didn't either. I thought that they were all alligators, but nope there are some crocodiles in very southern areas too, and we saw one today. We went on a half day paddling tour through the Everglades amongst the birds, alligators and one largish crocodile. 'Hit them with your paddle if they bite the boat' was the instruction.

We were picked up at the hostel around 8am after a pancake breakfast, and taken by mini bus half an hour or so into the park where we got into individual canoes and went for a two hour paddle. When the going got narrow, we broke down our double paddles into two single paddles, and used just one of them.

Across the lake and into the mangroves we paddled, along marked trails, and into a couple of secret ones known to our guide. It's the transition season between the wet and the dry, so the water level is receding, the animals are congregating into deeper water holes, and starting to fight over their territory. Saw lots of fish, some turtles, and lots of birds, though I'd be lying if I said that I could remember many of their names. It's a freshwater system here so the water was fairly clear.

Managed not to capsize and get the camera wet, though it stayed in a zip lock bag most of the time. Mandy managed the paddling well, and being a tour of only two we managed to get a lot further than most tours. Had sufficient time on the way back to visit one of the board walks and see a lot of fish, birds and turtles that we couldn't see from the canoe.

Got a minor scare when I received a message from Brendan at the airport saying that he couldn't check in for his honeymoon flight to Honolulu which I'd booked for them, just as we were heading into the park and out of reception range. With just one bar of coverage, I managed to message him the confirmation number and itinerary number, and could only hope that this was sufficient to sort him out. Another message waiting for me when we got back into range told me that it was all good and sorted. A great relief.

Got back to the hostel at lunch time. Went for a walk to visit Cracker Barrel, and then Hungry Jacks for lunch and Starbucks next door for coffee. A snooze during the afternoon, then another visit to Home Depot to repair Mandy's dead shoe, a look through Wal Mart for the experience, then tea at a Chinese take away where we witnessed a loud and obnoxious guy who loudly proclaimed that he had 6.3 million dollars, get refused service for being rude to staff - 'Hey, do you speak English here?'.

Evening in the hostel garden by the waterfall.