Alligators, Everglades, Alligators, Miami, Alligators and the Keys. Oh, did we mention Alligators?

Hi! You know the drill. Most recent pictures at the top, oldest at the bottom, captions below the picture. Hope you enjoy!

December 31 - Key Biscayne. We spent the last day of the year on the beach watching the windsurfers and enjoying the sun and sand. A great way to end the year! Happy New Year, everyone! One of the beaches on the northern end of Miami Beach.

Miami Beach - the architecture was contemporary and colourful. Another view of downtown Miami. Miami is just as beautiful as it looks on CSI Miami, but we often felt like we were in a different country. Almost everywhere we went the predominant language was Spanish and many advertisements and store signs were in Spanish and English or often in Spanish only. We also had a great view of the beach. We climbed 95 feet to the top of the lighthouse and got a great view of Ted, the Atlantic Ocean and Miami.

We tried to tour Coconut Grove, but all the streets were blocked off for a parade so we made our way to Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Recreation Area on Key Biscayne. This is the Cape Florida Lighthouse built in 1825, the oldest structure in Dade County. This is the beautiful golf course located behind the hotel. If we had our clubs, we could have played a round. I doubt if we could afford the green fees and once they saw our skill level, they probably would have politely asked us to leave. We can tell where we don't belong! One of the sitting rooms in the lobby of the Biltmore. December 30 - Miami. Our first stop was the famous Biltmore Hotel (with the Giralda Tower) in Coral Gables built in 1926 by George Merrick. Guests included Judy Garland, Bing Crosby, Al Capone, the Vanderbilts and Roosevelts. During WWII it was converted into a military hospital and later a veteran's hospital before becoming part of the U of Miami's medical school. In 1987 it reopened as a hotel and has been designated a National Historic Landmark. It was beautiful inside and out! Portions of the Keys are so narrow there is only room for the highway.

The Keys were beautiful, but since it was a 300 mile round trip from our campground, we didn't get a chance to spend much time checking out everything the Keys had to offer. In the state parks you could do anything from riding on a glass-bottom boat to checking out an archaelogical site. If you are into swimming, snorkeling, scuba diving, fishing, boating or any type of water sport at all, this is the ideal place for you. The picture above is of a remnant of "Flagler's Folly", a railroad built by Henry Flagler in 1912 to connect Miami to Key West. It was destroyed by a hurricane in 1935 and was refurbished as the original Seven Mile highway Bridge. In 1982 the new Seven Mile Bridge was completed and sections of the the old one are currently used as fishing piers.

Since we were so close to Cuba, we thought we would have Cuban food for lunch. It was definitely a local hangout and the language of choice was Spanish. Great food! December 29 - Florida Keys. We took a drive down the Florida Keys from Key Largo to Key West, a distance of 106 miles. Our destination: the southernmost point on the continental U.S. At this point we were only 90 miles from Cuba. At the end of the Everglades Park highway is the town of Flamingo. It was hit hard by Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma in 2005 and is still in the process of rebuilding. This is a view of Florida Bay at the very southern end of Florida.

We went on 7 different hikes in the Park. One of the shortest was to the Pahayokee Overlook. It gave us an amazing view of the "river of grass" that makes up the Everglades. Water builds up in shallow Lake Okeechobee and then flows south through the 50 mile wide River of Grass. One to six feet deep in sloughs, but 6 inches deep elsewhere, it flows toward the Gulf of Mexico. Plants and animals adapt to the wet and dry seasons, but unfortunately developers in the 1960s drained a great deal of the water from the Everglades and diverted it into canals which seriously damaged the ecosystem. Our airboat guide stated that the Department of Water Mismanagement (as he referred to it) often let too much water in during the dry season which destroyed nests and eggs or else stopped the water flow completely. Fortunately efforts are being made to restore the remaining Everglades. The white twigs you can see in the grass are cypress trees, conifers which actually lose their needle-like leaves and go dormant in the winter. The river of grass is made up of sawgrass which has spiny, sharp leaf blades. If you run your finger over it from the bottom to the top, you could probably draw blood. I know that from experience!

Another highlight - an anhinga eating a fish that it had just caught. They eat them head first so the tail does not get stuck in their throat on the way down. We also learned that if a bird catches a catfish, it must smash it against a hard surface several times to break all its bones and make it easier to swallow. This was what we called an alligator sleep-over. There were at least 8 or 9 alligators in this grassy area. Some were lying on top of each other. It was an amazing sight. I think this is an anhinga. I just liked the picture!! The water here is so clear. One of our guides told us that you can drink the freshwater anywhere in the Everglades with no fear of getting sick. Guess there's no beaver fever in Florida. This beautiful bird is an egret. The birds often stood within a few feet of the alligators showing absolutely no fear of them. Our first stop after entering the Park was Royal Palm. We hiked the Anhinga Trail through Taylor Slough and it was definitely the highlight of the day. It was a beautiful walk through the trees, grasses and ponds of the Everglades and we saw so many bird species and alligators in their natural habitat. Here is a great blue heron.

This, too, was an unusual sight for us. Hundreds of workers moved from field to field picking the crops as they ripen. This is how most Floridians irrigate their fields. After living in Lethbridge for so many years, it seemed rather archaic to us. December 28 - We decided to visit the southern end of the Everglades. To get there we travelled down Hwy 997 through Homestead to the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Centre. This part of Florida is mainly agricultural. We saw many different crops all in various stages of growth. The highway was also lined with dozens of greenhouses selling all types of palm trees, flowers, plants and shrubs. The field above was being prepared for planting. Plants grow up through the tiny holes in the long sheets of plastic that you can see in the back of the picture. I guess it helps with weed control.

If you look closely, you can see 4-5 baby alligators in the grass. Here's some alligator trivia in case you're interested. Momma alligators lay approximately 30 eggs at a time. The sex of the babies is determined by the temperature inside the nest during the first 3 weeks of incubation. Eggs at temperatures greater than +34 develop into males. Eggs at less than +30 develop into females. Eggs in between these temperatures develop into either males or females. Most of the babies are easy prey for other animals (including adult alligators), but those that do survive usually stay with their mom for 2-3 years.

December 27 - After spending a lonely Christmas Day (next year we'll be with family; Ted promised), we moved to Gator Park on Boxing Day. Gator Park campground is only about 15 miles from Shark Valley Visitor Centre, so we returned there on the 27th to hike its two trails and spend more time with the alligators. This gator hissed at Ted, but did allow him to get quite close. It's a good thing he didn't get too mad as they can run as fast as 37 kph for short distances. I don't think Ted can run that fast!

These are our friends, Bruce and Joyce Stoddard. Ted & Bruce grew up together in Vulcan. We really enjoyed our visit with them and their great hospitality - the first roast beef dinner we've had in months!! Mmmm good! The Everglades are a bird-watcher's paradise. This is an anhinga, often called a snakebird. Unlike most waterbirds, it does not have oil glands in its feathers to make them waterproof, so when it is finished diving for fish, it will perch on a tree branch and spread its wings to dry. If it becomes too waterlogged, it can drown and its wet feathers also make it difficult to fly. The males are shiny black while the females have brown feathers on their neck making it look like they are wearing a beige turtleneck. We also saw egrets, bald eagles, wood storks (an endangered species) and ibis, to name just a few.

We saw several turtles as well - red-bellied, orange-bellied and soft shell. This is a view of the Everglades from the top of the Observation Tower at Shark Valley Visitor Centre. You can see several "granddaddy" gators sunning themselves in the clearing. Most of these are males. Smaller gators avoid the larger ones as they are cannibalistic. Alligators require heat to digest their food which is why they lie in the sun during the day. Their body must reach a temperature of +32 for digestion to take place; otherwise the food rots in their stomach and they die. One day when the temperatures dipped to almost freezing, the weatherman referred to it as gator-killing weather. In the distance you can see outcrops of trees and plants such as mahogany, mangrove, gumbo limbo and strangler figs which are called hammocks. These provide a home to deer, bobcats, hawks, rabbits, etc.

This is one of the largest alligators that we saw. You can judge an alligator's age by its length (up to a point). For the first 5-6 years they grow about a foot a year. After the age of 6, they only grow a few inches a year. The average length is about 13 feet and they live to be 30 to 50 years of age. . . . took sole possession of the sunny spot! Note the smile on its face! Joyce has been to Shark Valley many times since they moved here in 2001 and said it was the first time she had seen one gator attack another. Were we lucky or what??? Once the second gator swam away, the first gator circled around and . . .

. . . the gator facing us hissed and lunged towards the other gator. Several of us were standing on the road watching and I don't know who moved more quickly to get out of the way - the second gator or the bystanders! December 23 - Our "love affair" with alligators began when we visited our friends, Bruce and Joyce Stoddard (originally from Calgary, AB) at Pembroke Pines near Fort Lauderdale. We drove south to the Everglades National Park Shark Valley Visitor Centre on the Tamiami Trail and within 5 minutes of parking, we were up close and personal with alligators. These two alligators were sunning themselves when all of a sudden . . .