18-26JAN14 - Everglades National Park, FL

Saturday morning, 18JAN, after maneuvering out of our tight RV spot we hit the road south to the Everglades National Park on I-95S.  From Palm Beach south to Miami the traffic & drivers got worse & worse; just north of Miami all the lanes except one were closed!  Luckily Dan had written down an alternative route the night before & we bypassed the traffic jam.

 

We had planned on staying at one of the RV spots at Flamingo Campground in the National Park.  We called ahead & found out that only dry camping was available & decided to stay in a commercial RV park for three nights in Homestead, FL.  Upon arrival we discovered half the campers were Quebecers & half were Latino - do you speak French or Spanish?

 

After setting up camp, Dan did internet research & we headed to Marios Family Restaurant for Cuban food.  We had Spanish bean soup, croquette, fried green plantains w/garlic sauce, congris, yuca, filletillo churrasco, & pan con bistec; highly recommended!  From there we tried to shop at Walmart - the store was way too busy.  So we just fueled the Toad & headed back to the RV thru more bad traffic.

 

www.marioscubancuisine.com

 

Sunday morning it was off to Everglades National Park to arrive at the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center right as it opened.  As at all National Parks there were displays on the Park & an informational video about the park (this one award winning).  Next stop was Royal Palm center to catch the 1030 AM Ranger led Anhinga Amble.  First thing we noticed several parked cars with blue tarps (think FEMA tarp) covering them?  We soon discovered that the numerous vultures/buzzards are known to "attack" any black rubber trim on vehicles!  The Anhinga Amble was fantastic.  Dan knew it would be great when he learned the docent was a retired Coast Guard officer (Leon Howell) with a ponytail & had been stationed in Grand Isle!!!

 

 

http://www.nps.gov/ever/index.htm

 

After the Amble we left the park for lunch at the Gator Grill where you can get gator burgers, gator tacos, gator wraps, etc.  We stuck to some excellent soup.  On the way back to the park we almost collided w/three ATVs traveling at high speed coming at us in our lane.  Turns out illegal use of ATVs is a big problem on this side of the park because the open area & minimal law enforcement.  In fact, in the afternoon we saw dozens of ATVs being unloaded from trailers & pick-ups - many already being raced up & down the road & beside the road.

 

Back at Royal Palm we walked the Gumbo Limbo Trail before joining the docent led tour of the Nike Missile Battery located in the middle of the park.  Another excellent event.  Half the tour is a "history lesson" starting w/the Yalta Conference, progressing thru Berlin blockade, Russia getting the A-bomb, U-2 incident, Bay of Pigs, & ending w/the Cuban Missile Crisis.  Turns out until the Crisis there were no plans for Nike missile defensive except for northern states & Alaska.  Within weeks after the Crisis temporary batteries were deployed to southern Florida, until permanent installations could be built.  Since this battery was located within a National Park, it still is basically intact after it was decommissioned in 1979.

 

Monday, 20JAN, morning we headed to the Shark Valley Visitor Center located in the northeast corner of the Everglades National Park.  We had wanted to reserve seats for the two hour tram ride with a naturalist docent but they were all booked & only walk-up seats were available.  Luckily the 10AM Tram was not full & we got seats.

 Note - if you ever go to the Everglades National Park make sure you go on earliest tours available if you want to see wildlife!!!  This is because it is cooler in the morning & most animals will seek shade as it heats up; & cause of the "coolness" they move slower as they warm up.  Birds may even be stationary w/their wings outstretched to heat up.  Most importantly many tourists start showing up after 10AM or later.  When we left the center at noon the place was mobbed w/no parking left & people hiking in from the main road.  Many people were very upset that there were no walk-up seats available on any of the trams.  The situation was made worse because it was a long weekend w/free admission to all National Parks.

 

Lunch was at Miccosuccee Cafe, then it was back to the RV.  The Miccosuccee say they are one of two remaining Native Americans in the Everglades (the other being Seminoles).  But we were told on occasion that the Miccosuccee are Seminoles, but with some sort of political difference?  In our RV'ing we have tried several Native American eating establishments & we have always been disappointed.  We never get "native" cuisine.  Note - fry bread is not true Native American cuisine!  It was what they created when they were forced to reservations & provided with surplus food by the government (ie wheat, flour, butter, etc).  The Miccosuccee was also a disappointment.  In fact their menu pride fully announces their favorite foods as burgers, fries, grits & soft drinks?

 

Tuesday morning we (ie Dan) decided to head to the Flamingo Campground.  This campground is one of the few in the National Park Service that has dedicated RV spots, some with electricity.  There is a reservation system for these spots, but it is booked months in advance.  However the Park Service sets aside some for first come/first served so we were keeping our fingers crossed for electricity.  Driving there was in the rain & our dash defroster didn't work even though most of the AC was replaced last month in Houma, LA.  Every time we drive lately it seems to be in the rain & we need the system to work.  So Dan called Lazy Days in Tampa & made an appointment to trouble shoot the system next week.

 

Unfortunately we could only get dry camping in Flamingo: but since a cold front was forecasted for next few days electricity for AC wouldn't be an issue.  We can use propane if necessary for heat.  After setting up camp we were very surprised to discover our house batteries were almost "dead".  In fact they wouldn't even start the generator!  We restarted the RV so we could start the generator & charge batteries.

 

Then we headed to the Flaming Visitor Center for lunch & to sign up for Ranger led activities.  The first activity was a nature walk at 1:30PM.  The rain was supposed to clear; unfortunately the rain returned & the four of us on the walk gave up after a half an hour:(  We then returned to the RV hoping the rain would stop, it did not!  Even though we ran the generator for over two hours, the house batteries were once again dead by the morning.

 

Wednesday morning we drove to Nine Mile Pond for the 8AM canoe paddle led by a Ranger.  This is another great free activity in the National Park Service - in fact they provide canoes, paddles, seat cushions & life jackets!  We assumed the canoeing would be on open water but most it was through mangrove clusters.  Which meant many hard turns in very tight quarters(you actually had to duck to get through some of the mangrove tunnels).  As a result there many collisions with mangrove roots & other canoeists.  Tempers warmed-up every now & then, but it was an enjoyable three hours on the water.  One of the other canoeists mentioned that at another National Park the couples were encouraged to paddle w/someone other than their partner & it was less stressful?

We wanted to participate in other Ranger led activities but Dan needed to address our house battery issue.  He spent a couple of hours disconnecting the four batteries & cleaning each terminal & each cable connection.  You would think with four batteries there would only be eight cables (two for each battery).  But because there are multiple electric loads & the generator, there were fourteen different connecting cables.  Dan did find signs of corrosion & cable wastage, he cleaned the terminals & connections the best he could trying not to damage/break the wasted cable connections.

 

Meanwhile Corrie went to take a shower but discovered no hot water.  Turns out all the other camp grounds have solar heated water but not the RV section?  After successfully taking hot showers it was off to the shoreline for a walkabout with Gumbo.  No one felt like cooking dinner so we got take-out from the cafe at the Flamingo Visitor Center.

 

Thursday morning, 23JAN, we awoke to find the house batteries dead once again, looks like we will be buying four new house batteries soon.  After breaking camp we hit the road for the last visitor center in the Everglades National Park - Gulf Coast Visitor Center located in Everglades City, FL.  During the drive we discovered that the now dash heating system doesn't work!

 

Most of our drive was due west on state road 41 (aka Tamiami Trail).  This is a very beautiful drive but unfortunately the road is one of the biggest problems for the National Park.  When it was built no one realized they were building a "dam" basically extending across Florida from the Gulf of Mexico to Miami depriving the Everglades of vital water from Lake Okeechobee.

 

Trivia - what does Tamiami mean?

 

During our drive we stopped at the Oasis Visitor Center & the Big Cypress Swamp Visitor Center, both part of the Big Cypress National Preserve.  At the Big Cypress Swamp Visitor Center we saw several manatees, unfortunately Dan couldn't capture on film as they surfaced to breath.

 

http://www.nps.gov/bicy/index.htm

 

Our RV park was located on Cokoloskee Island definitely at the end of the road, & a small coastal town Florida.  As we often find in small towns at the end of the road, they often have unique personalities; & Cokoloskee Island does.  Then it was off to the Gulf Coast Visitor Center for Everglades National Park.  Returning to the RV we stopped at City Seafood Market & Restaurant for a snack of stone crab claws.  Back at the RV we walked down to the RV park's to watch the sunset.

 

Friday morning, 24JAN, we discovered that our major credit card was now wrapped-up in the Target problem.  So now we have a block on our card & await the arrival of our new card.  Since it was a little windy we decided rather than go on a boat tour we would use the Toad to drive some of the dirt roads in the Big Cypress National Preserve.

 

We were driving on Birdon Road for about twenty minutes when lo-and-behold we had a full grown Florida Panther walk across the road about a quarter mile in front of us!!! Although we were not terribly close we could tell from the profile that it was a definitely a rare Florida Panther.  We slowly drove up to the spot on the road that we thought it had traveled but it had already disappeared into the underbrush.  While it was not an up close & personal look, we were more excited at having glimpsed it in the wild than any animal we ever saw in a zoo:)

 

After driving the Birdon & Turner River Roads we then went to the Loop Road.  Which we drove half of before heading to the Big Cypress Swamp Welcome Center to report the panther.  The Ranger was glad we reported it & had us feel out a wildlife sighting card for their database.  While there we finally purchased some souvenirs to support the National Park Association.  PS - a week later we got a follow-up e-mail about our panther sighting.

 

When we got back to Everglades City we stopped by the Havana Cafe for lunch.  This small cafe is only open for breakfast & lunch (except for dinner on Friday & Saturday), but apparently people come from Naples & Fort Myers, FL, to eat here.  We don't know about breakfast, but lunch was outstanding!

 

http://myhavanacafe.com/

 

Saturday morning, 25JAN, we drove to the Kirby Storter Roadside Park in the Big Cypress National Preserve to catch the 10AM Ranger led nature walk.  As we waited for the group to arrive we were having second thoughts about the "walk".  The walk is on a half mile long boardwalk that dead ends.  The start of the walk surrounded by saw grass "prairie" & although the saw grass prairie is vital to the everglades & the wildlife's survival, its not that scenic after you have seen it everyday for over a week.  But we went on the tour & we are glad we did!

 

 

Turns out the elevation of the ground drops a little over a foot by the end of the boardwalk.  This apparently small change in elevation results in varying lengths of "wetness" & four distinct environments.  The front of the boardwalk is dry eight months of year & is saw grass prairie; by the end of boardwalk is wet all year & is a cypress swamp.

 

After the tour we headed to the town Marco Island for a walk about & lunch.  Apparently Marco Island was a sleepy little coastal Florida fishing town not too long ago.  Unfortunately very little of it can be found among the high rise condos, boutiques, & golf courses.  On the way back to the RV we stopped at the Fakahatchee Indian Gift Shop.  They had some very nice items but took cash only & there was no ATM available?

 

Upon return to the RV Dan visited the Smallwood Store & Museum located at the very end of Chokoloskee Island.  Established in 1906, as their website states:  "On the western edge of the Everglades and deep in the heart of the 10,000 Islands, Chokoloskee Island has been called one of Florida's last frontiers. Here at Historic Smallwood Store you will learn the story of the pioneers and settlers who tamed this vast wilderness."

 

 

 

http://www.smallwoodstore.com/

 

Sunday morning we headed to the Everglades National Park "Gulf Coast Visitor Center" to take a boat tour.  There are two tours available from the concessionaire; a small boat into the mangroves, or a large catamaran into the area of the Park called the Ten Thousand Islands.  We opted for the large boat having canoed thru the mangroves at Flamingo.  Our tour was not the one to take if you want to lots of wildlife up close; you won't see any mammals or gators, & most birds will be in the distance.  But we did see one mammal (dolphins) & a large flock of white pelicans; for us the catamaran tour was the best choice.   

 

After returning to the RV Corrie decided to take a break, while Dan & Gumbo headed to Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park to see one of the few remaining old growth Cypress trees.  Finding the park was easy, unfortunately there were no clear directions on finding the Cypress trees.  Dan & Gumbo ended up doing some serious dirt (& sand) road driving for two hours without a map (thank goodness for GPS).  After successfully returning to the RV, it was time to start preparing the RV for tomorrow's departure.