In the Everglades South
About two hours drive to the South West end of the Everglades park is Flamingo visitors center. We planned that the canoe tour of this road trip would be today. But as soon as we get out of the van we get attacked by agressive mosquitoes. We emptied my Bushman can but got advised that a boat ride would be better to avoid the bugs. The guy tells us to go on Florida bay instead of the mangroves, and when we ask about wildlife viewing he says “it’s all good because it’s low tide”. But guess what, we got in the boat and the captain said “it’s really high tide now and super windy so we won’t see anything”. And we didn’t see much, one dolphin, one pelican and a few ospreys. The bird life here descreased dramatically a century ago when woman were wearing hats with feather. Birds wear their beautiful plumage during breading season, that’s when they would be hunted, the result was dramatic. The Flamingo area wears its name because there used to be flamingos, now there’s none.
We do the drive back from Flamingo to Miami by stopping to various swamps along the way. I have to constantly shake my body as soon as I get outside to avoid being bit my the mosquitoes! But we’re lucky to see some Roseate spoonbills on the way. Our last stop later in the afternoon is at the must-do Anhinga trail. The place is gorgeous and filled with wildlife.
