Turtles, Fish, Gators, and Birds in Florida

Began our adventures in the Keys with a failed attempt to get into the highly desirable John Pennekamp State Park, but we were brave enough to go on the snorkel trip from there, despite the rain and a bit of chop.  Pretty good coral and lots of great parrot fish plus a cowfish and many ccf's   (cute colored fish).  Not too bad considering the weather and Dixie did not even get seasick, although looking at the pale sickly Uraguaian woman on board was almost enough to make one sick!

Weather improved for our days in Key West, Marathon, and the Dry Tortugas.  Here is the Operation Room at the Marathon Turtle hospital.  Majority of surgeries are to remove tumors presumably caused by pollution and to remove foreign objects from Green and Loggerhead turtles.

This recovering patient had a propeller injury and an impaction from swallowing human garbage.  Impaction is the other major cause of admission.  It is treated like constipation in humans and the turtle stays til there are no longer plastic bags and other such nonsense coming out its backside.

Turns out that sick turtles float, which is bad.  This permanently disabled turtle is equipped with weights glued onto its shell to help it swim and dive better.  It lives permanently at the hospital, but most of the turtles are rehab-ed and released.

This turtle is named Bubble Butt and was hit by a boat and is a long time resident of the hospital (25 plus years).  Weight is glued onto his back as well.

From there rode bikes to a beach and it was actually warm enough to go for a dip!

We lapsed from cute to rowdy in not much time!

Ended this day with a ride on the old railroad bridge turned highway that is now a bike and pedestrian thoroughfare.  And a great place to catch the sunset. Everyone here is really into watching the sun set over some part of some body of water.

Our day in Key West was a pleasant surprise!  #1.  We were able to find good parking for a mere $30 for the entire day.   #2.  We were able to ride our bikes all about without much trouble from cars.  Had to wait in a line for 10 minutes to have this picture taken, but it was all quite civilized.

#3.  Got to eat yummy fish tacos on the waterfront and then devour assorted Key Lime goodies.

#4.  The town was filled with fun surprises like beautiful Victorian homes and all sorts of statues and monuments.  Get a groove on the scale of this piece!

#5.  We were able to catch the sunset watching festivities at this oceanside square, complete with performing pigs and many other performers.  And #6, we were able to figure out where to park our RV so that we could cross another National Park off of our list, The Dry Tortugas

Had to be at the dock by 7:15 am for the 2.5 hour boat ride to the island that is the park, 70 miles off shore.

After a tour of the immense fort (in background) and a good lunch on board ship, we had time for snorkeling off shore and among the pilings of the old coal loading docks. Here Dirk holds a small conch we found crawling on the bottom.

The pilings were rich in corals and fish.

And most importantly for Dirk, we made it back in time for the Superbowl.  He sheepishly displayed his spirit balloon amidst all the Denver Broncos fans at the RV park until he was connected to a lone Seahawks fan who was actually from Orcas Island!

After wasting a day getting the rattling noise in our tires diagnosed (it was rattling hub caps that were put on poorly after tires were rotated) we treated ourselves to a day at Coral Gables, a designed elegant community in the heart of Miami with this 1920's swimming pool, complete with water falls, ferns, caves, and very fresh clean water!

Then had to spend one more day in the Glades before heading north.  Could not leave without an Airboat ride through the River of Grass.  Our driver was a bit cocky and did some spins and other such nonsense.

More impressively, the driver was able to make baby alligator calls to which this 17 year old wild gator named Jumper came swimming.  Then he charmed it into opening its mouth and assuming a jumping position without actually lunging and killing anything.

In addition to watching a Miccasukee Indian demonstration of alligator wrangling (presented by a guy from upstate New York!), we got to try our own hands at gator wrangling.  We started with a 2 footer and Dirk graduated to holding this 4 foot baby.  He still has all body parts and no scratches!  His iguana handling prepared him well for this!

And finally, we took a 15 mile ride through the sawgrass marshes and intermittent ponds, at Shark Valley,  all filled with gators and birds of all kinds. Had to do a maneuver to avoid this guy along the trail.

From this observation tower we could see huge gators, Florida gar, and herons, egrets, anhingas, The Works!

On our ride back we passed several large flocks of the rare and endangered Wood Stork.  Sadly, they are apparently slow fliers.  On the drive out of the Glades, a Wood Stork took off from a canal with a big nesting stick in its beak and could not get enough lift above our car and we hit is with a big "thunk."  We did not see a dead bird tumbling off behind us and are hopeful that the sound was worse than the injury, but feel sick nevertheless.