Everglades

We can check one more thing off our "Bucket List" . . . an airboat ride through the Everglades. It reminded us of the jungle ride in the dinghy in Tenecatita, Mexico. We rode through tunnels of mangrove swamps, then broke out into the grass covered swamp. We were issued hearing protection because these boats are soooooo noisy! But fast, too. The name of the company we used was "Speedy Johnson's".

The Everglades used to be a 50-mile wide, slow moving river. The elevation drops only one or two inches a mile all the way from Lake Okachobee to the Gulf of Mexico. Today, that river is interrupted by dikes and diversion canals. There are lots of herons, egrets, osprey, ducks, turtle and alligators. Alligators are protected. They were down to about 100,000 but are now over 1,000,000. Gene says, "Why would you want to protect alligators? Have you ever seen one up close?" We've seen quite a few already. Some too close.

There were signs along the road saying : Panther Crossing Next 5 Miles. We never saw any of those. They are similar to Arizona's mountain lions. Light in color, but smaller.



One fun stop was the Smallwood Store south of Everglades City. It was built in the 1890's before there were roads into this swampy, 10,000 islands area. You had to come by boat to get your supplies. It was built up on stilts and operated until 1974 and had a US Post Office. Today it is a museum, complete with porch overlooking the water. We watched schools of fish swim by chased by a shark . . . or so said the clerk.