This plant, periphyton, collapses into a thick matt and holds water to sustain all manner of wildlife through the long dry months. That is a very cool thing. Right now, in the low water levels of Nine Mile Pond, it creates a spongy matt that drags on the bottom of the canoe making portions of today’s paddle very hard work.  Generally it is not a real exciting trip but there are some high points.

Before we even get into the canoes a woodstork swoops down on huge wings and gracefully settles onto the bank for all to watch. White capped pigeons (a rare bird found only in Florida) perch openly for all to see…until a Northern Harrier glides in and sends them aflutter.  During pre-paddle instructions the alligators begin to bellow.  At least three gators are involved in this cross-pond conversation.  Wonder what they are saying?  Even at a distance it sets off a tingle in the spine.

We are now afloat. The nearest gator slips silently below the water surface.  We paddle on with the sharp “thwack” of paddle on kayak now and again to let the local residents know we are entering their space.  There is a huge croc out here, but he’s not to be found today.  Gators are just as illusive.  They are seen and not heard for the next hour or so as we wind our way through twisted paths and the aforementioned floating mats.  It is quiet and impressive in the shear amount of plant life in this eco-system.

We emerge into the open ponds near the end of our paddle. Found the gators!  They are floating like sentries on watch at the portals into their space.  Every good adventure needs a little adrenaline rush, right?  We give them a wide berth and paddle on.  Everyone manages to avoid the one gator keeping watch along the bank as we take out.  We load up and head back toward camp.

Buttonwood canal; a narrow, mangrove lined waterway is the route toward Whitewater Bay in the backwaters of Everglades Park.  Today we launch the powerboat and go exploring.  Fresh and sea water comingle here and islands of mangrove and poisonwood dot the shallow brackish water.  It is a quiet relaxing place…..occasionally there is a bit of tension when the depth finder flashes to less than 3 feet deep while we are flying across the lake.  Birding is very slow, I would say even disappointing.  We decide to try fishing.  It is equally slow for me.  I catch absolutely nothing but Kent drags in some weird looking stuff.

One expands like a balloon when he tries to get it off the hook. a Puffer fish(Poisonous)

Feisty little triangular headed guys take on a spoon bigger than they are.

This is one odd looking catfish.

All are returned to their salty home to live another day.

Canoe trails wind through these backwaters. I would want to have a very good map and GPS.  Once you leave the main channel and slip behind any of the islands everything looks the same.  I’d be nervous the whole time but I think it could be a fun trip if properly prepared.  We still haven’t spent the night in one of the raised platform chickees.  Maybe one day; but not when the mosquitoes are at horrible+.

We hit all the birding hot spots plus a few stops as we made our way around the park. We found all of the usual wetland suspects plus one new find, the Mangrove Cuckoo.  It is pretty cool looking and lives only here in southern-most Florida.

We spotted a little (3 foot long) crocodile in one of the ponds.   He made a move on a Great Egret as we watched.  Not a chance!  With one flap of his wings the Egret just lifted out of reach.  They both moved on like nothing happened.

We stopped to check out a portage along a paddling trail we hope to try. Oh, my gosh.  Even with head nets and spray we are just black with mosquitoes.  It is indeed enough to make you go crazy swatting and jumping around to get away from them.  Yuck.  There was no escape.  Hundreds came into the car with us.  We swatted wildly for a long time just to get back to HORRIBLE.

Trails are too buggy and the Bay is pretty rough from the wind so we set out to explore some of the near-road ponds where lots of birds are nesting. The gangly yet graceful wood storks entertained us quite a while at Paurotas Pond.  They are building nests and pairing up which seems to lead them to make some pretty weird sounds.  There are Ibis and herons of various types.  What make it the best?  It was a breezy open viewing area with nearly no mosquitoes so we could actually hang out a while and watch.

A cormorant managed a catch a fish almost too big to swallow. He flipped it and turned it every which way, all the while paddling across the lake and even had to spit it out and start over a couple times before he actually managed to swallow it. He worked hard for his lunch today.

If we missed a spot with our bug spray it is now a welt. I am digging out the head nets and long sleeve shirts.  We are in for the evening planning our first full day here.  These voracious little critters are going to make exploring quite the challenge.

Don’t fear, it can get worse than that. The scale has one more level, HYSTERICAL

Sites here at Everglades Flamingo campground are pretty small so we have to drop the trailer in overflow.  No biggie.  We jump out of the motor home to unhook and are immediately swarmed by mosquitoes.  We swat madly and rush to finish so we can retreat back inside.  What is the first action once we reach our site?  A thorough dosing of DEET and it seems to do the trick.  We are emboldened to go explore.

Here is something new, a ranger led Ethno botany walk. She identifies trees in the area and their use through the years for food and shelter.  Sea grape, many types of mangrove, gumbo limbo (tourist tree with peeling red bark.  You know, like peeling sunburn)  It is really an adaptation that allows the tree to slough off vines by loosing outer skin,  mahogany, coconut palm, thatch palm, royal palm, and on the trees, Spanish moss.  We learned some new stuff.

What a splurge Valentine’s Day, dinner at the Taco Truck in front of the Bowling Supermarket and Taqueria Guerrero in downtown Belle Glade, FL. (yes we know it is a day early but we were in town today and might not be tomorrow).

The full menu included pork, beef, tongue, tripe and Chorizo. The menu is printed in English as well as Spanish but for the fellow running the place tonight English is definitely not his first language.  With a bit of pointing and considerable repetition we successfully sampled the beef and pork (surprise, surprise) and loaded them up with all of the unmarked condiments that were set out.  Delicious!