Welcome to Shark Valley

We were up early this morning to get on the road south to the Everglades National Park and a visit to Shark Valley.   Along the way we saw signs that read

  There are Florida Panthers that live in the Everglades. They are a subspecies of the cougar and they are endangered. We did not see any so I found an internet picture of one for you.


We arrived just before noon and had to wait in line to get into the parking lot.  But we didn't have to wait long after getting in and parked to get on the Tram Tour for a two hour trip into the park.   We had a naturalist give us history of the park and told us about all the animals, birds, reptiles, etc that live within the area.  He is very knowledgeable and did an excellent job.

The Everglades are not anything like I thought they would be.  Miles and miles of sawgrass prairies.  Here and there you will see a stand of trees that are on a elevated piece of land like islands in the sea of grass.  Along the trail we saw some blue herons and guess what???  alligators, alligators and more alligators.

Half way through the tour we came to an observation tower where we had about 20 minutes to see the area from a different advantage point.

 Here you can see the "islands" in the sea of grass.

Below the observation tower there were a number of very large gators resting in the sunshine.

After the tower we were back into the tram for the return trip.  More gators and more birds  Lots of American Crows (which are very large), wood storks, ibis, great white herons and more.  We saw this nest with the father on the right and the mother on the nest.  Can you see the baby in the nest?

This big gator was having lunch of a large loggerhead turtle.  Before I could get a good shot he started backing into the water.  I just got his head and the unfortunate turtle.

When we were finished with the tour we headed back west and took The Loop Road that headed south off highway 41 for about 25 miles.  The trees here were mostly cypress standing up to their knees in the water.

 And of course more alligators.

 We didn't try this hiking trail.  We didn't have our water boots with us!!

Here is my gang enjoying another day in paradise.

Back home to a great pizza dinner.  Life is good.
Until next time - safe travels.