Naples & Ft. Myers

From Miami, we drove to the Gulf side of Florida along the Tamiami Trail through the Northern Everglades.

Most of the problems in the Everglades are due to the relentless encroachment of Miami and other residential communities. While inappropriate, often obsolete, agricultural techniques contribute to environmental issues here, the crops in this part of the world are, nevertheless fascinating. Here, a field of banana trees is being cultured.

Here is a field of royal palms ready for transplant.

The first night we were in Naples, we went downtown for dinner. We ate at a Spanish and Mexican restaurant named Meson Ole. While that may be a rather unusual combination in many places, due to the strong Spanish and Mexican influences in Naples, it is not surprising here. This small suit of armor that we called Don Quixote guarded the entrance. There were a lot of great little shops here too, and Penny found some nice clothes in one of them.
The next day, Penny went to find some craft supplies. While she was looking, I hung out next door at perhaps the best Home Depot I have ever seen. I've never seen so many colorful bromeliads as those on this table.
This table was all orchids. Gardening would be such a kick in this part of the world.

A few miles east of Naples is the Big Cypress National Preserve. This big guy was at the entrance.

The clear waters were full of these Florida gar. You can use the lighter colored fins to spot this one.

Here's a male anhinga swimming. Its alternate name is snakebird due to the way it swims with only it's head out of the water, much like a snake.

This mossy backed turtle hung about near the surface. It's head is to the left beneath the straw running from the upper left toward the lower center.

Walking catfish are an invasive species in the area. Here a double-crested cormorant does his part to help remove them.

A black-crowned night heron tries to get a little sleep before night comes and it's time to hunt again.

We felt fortunate to see a wood stork at a distance in the southern Everglades. Here we found two more only a few feet off the road.

Near Ft. Myers is the Sanibel Island Wildlife Preserve. This sign warns drivers to beware of crossing gopher turtles. There were several signs for the endangered Florida panther. Last year, twenty of the eighty known cats were killed on highways.While most of us think of cacti as limited to the dry desert southwest, this epiphytic cactus is dependent on lots of water and very high humidity. An epiphyte is a plant that grows upon another one, but does not parasitize it in any way. Epiphytes of all types including orchids, Spanish moss, and bromeliads are plentiful in this area.

Much of this preserve is red mangrove thickets, but there are also white and black mangrove present here.

We saw groups of dunlins like these along the banks of the many estuaries.

This little blue heron was on the bank, and seemed to be quite comfortable with our presence.

As did this beautiful yellow-crowned night heron.

Leaving the island, we saw this osprey standing guard on his nest over the causeway. We couldn't decide if this was a double-decker nest, or the bottom pile was pieces of the upper nest that had fallen through. Penny's parents, who must be in birder's heaven, are clapping with delight over our interest in winged creatures.

That night, we arrived home to see this beautiful full moon shining through the palms. Thus ended another great day on the road. Time to retire for the night and start thinking about our next adventure.