Airing it out in The Everglades

(Please read our Covid 19 Statement first - Ed) It's been almost exactly a year since the last time we were in the Sunshine State. If you recall, some of our activities were washed out because of the weather. There was the accessible snorkeling trip we had scheduled and the air boat tour we tried to take also. But if there's one thing that never changes about Florida is that the weather is sketchy at anytime. We'll see how we do this year.

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While accessible snorkeling is not in the cards this time, I see no reason we can't do an air boat ride. Googling shows up some very expensive private options so I head down to the hotel lobby to see if they have better options. I see a brochure for Everglades Holiday Park and take a look. A 60 minute air boat ride is offered here for about thirty bucks each.

This is much less than the offers I've seen online. The only problem is that it's a little less than an hour away, there's no transportation, and we don't have a car.

To solve this, I rent a cheap car for the day and we head out to the Everglades. With our phone's GPS, it's not a problem to find. After parking, we head into the ticket office and I ask about the wheelchair. I'm told they'll help us out so I buy the tickets and we wait for our number to be called.

In just a few minutes it is, so we head to the dock. I find a spot near the rear of the boat where we can board without the other passengers crowding around us, take Tim out of his chair, and..with a little effort...transfer him down to the bench on the boat. Do note, however, that Letty and I had to do this by ourselves. No help was forthcoming from any of the staff.

We pop  in some earplugs for Tim, the giant propellers start to buzz loudly and we pull slowly out of the dock. It's a gentle float around a bend in the channel, near a little dam. As our captain maneuvers into the main channel, he's giving us the information on the Everglades, the ecosystem, the weather, and what kinds of animals live here and what we might see.

Once we've cleared far enough away, the command comes over the speaker, "secure your belongings, we're about to go on a speed run."

The engines whine up to a deafening road. The loaded boat lifts a bit out of the water and soon, according to our captain, we're whizzing along the swampy, grass-filled water at 65 miles per hour. 

It is quite a thrill and, honestly, he could have just done this for the hour and I'd have been happy. But, that's not what we're here to do. After a few minutes, the engines die down and speed quickly dissipates and the local flora and fauna are pointed out.

At this point, it's mostly flora. After a couple of more short bursts of speed, we drift in close to an island while the captain points out vultures lounging on the shore.

Gallinules, a flowery plant growing in the water, litter the landscape.

As we're drifting through a patch, I notice a dark blob in the middle. It moves. It has eyes. I soon realize I've seen my first alligator of the day. The lady sitting in front of me notices too but the captain misses it and soon it dives under the surface.

Another speed run takes us to another pond in the swamp and the captain points out another gator. This one is curious and swims straight toward the boat, almost posing.

About 10 feet away, it turns back. Soon, there's another on the other side of the boat and then a couple more. This is not water I'd want to be swimming in but it's fascinating from the boat.

After our close reptilian encounters, the gators seem to have had their curiosity satisfied and we see no more. Now, the biggest thing we see are other air boats.

A few more speed runs and we make it back to the dock just as the rain starts to fall. Somehow, we got Tim out and back in the chair while getting soaked.

Our admission includes a live gator show, so we crowd with about a hundred other people under a tarp until they let us into the arena.

A young woman comes out, surrounded by a dozen, large and lethargic gators where she explains trivia about the animals. No they don't like you but, no, they're not interested in hurting you or interacting with you...especially on land.  In the water, they might attack but usually just spit you out and move on after taking a taste.

She demonstrates some moves on how to handle alligators when you're hunting them

She explains how people like here are licensed by the state to capture 'nuisance' gators (i.e., the one you find on your back porch) but they are not paid, nor to the charge the homeowner. For compensation, they get to keep the gator...either killing it and selling the meat and hide, or putting it in a sanctuary like this one.

Mercifully, the show is short. Not because it's not interesting but because the rain is now coming down pretty hard and there is no roof on this arena.

Wet, soggy, tired but glad for the fun we had, we make our way back to Miami to dry off at our hotel.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

Photos by Letty Musick
Copyright 2018 - All Rights Reserved

The Fates Are Angry in South Florida

When I booked this trip, the highlight was meant to be snorkeling at the coral reef located off of Key Largo. Tranquil Adventures charters a boat with a pool lift built into it to lower disabled passengers into the water.

Upon arrival a couple of days ago, I called Captain Mick...owner of Tranquil Adventures...to let him know we were here and when we should go. We settled upon today.

Today dawns windy and cloudy. It's still warm to hot. I call the captain and he says we're still on. I ask him a few questions...does he provide towels, what kind of sandwich he'd like us to bring him, etc...and then he asks if we plan to go in the water.

"Well, yes...that's the whole reason we booked so we could go snorkeling," I tell him.

He tells me the weather and water is way to choppy to do that. All we'd be able to do, basically, is to take a boat ride.  We agree to forgo the trip. Accessible snorkeling will not be on the menu for our Keys trip as we'd hoped (we'll try to make up for it somewhat in the next post).

Now we've suddenly got a free day with absolutely no plans. I jump on the computer Googling "things to do in Southern Florida" and find the Everglades Alligator Farm about an hour's drive away near Homestead.

I see that they also have airboat rides through the Everglades. Sounds like fun so we load up the car and go.

It's still cloudy and starting to sprinkle when we arrive.  Letty heads inside while a gentleman  sitting in a rocking chair on the porch warns me "they don't let handicapped people ride the boats."

"Really?" I ask him.

"Yeah, I'm a amputee from the knee down and they won't let me on."

I go inside to get more information. The lady at the ticket counter tells me that's not true and that they have an accessible dock and the staff will help lift and transfer the rider into the boat. She offers to let me inside for free to inspect the dock and boats to make sure.

Yep, everything is as she says it is so I head back in to make our arrangements except when I do I see a video monitor above her head with what looks like a weather map.  It shows a system full of yellow and orange spiraling into an area of red and a blue dot. I ask the lady what the blue dot is.

"That's us," she tells me.

"So you mean that red, orange, and yellow system is heading right towards us?"

"Yep!"

(Not the actual map we saw but similar)

This does not look even remotely good, thankfully we found that out before buying tickets.

We start to head back towards the Keys when we spot a produce shack called Robert is Here. Yes, that is a strange name for a fruit stand but Florida...

Letty wants to stop and buy some fresh fruit for later (check out the size of the guava she found). I pull in but while she's inside, I figure out this corner spot will be very hard to get out of so when I get a lucky break in traffic, I move to another parking spot about fifty feet away.

Oh, the hands of fate dealt with us then...that red and orange spot? It arrived while my wife was inside.  A deluge of Biblical proportions hit and hit hard. Visibility dropped down to about 100 feet.  The awning over the entrance funneled the rain into a water wall rivaling the majesty of Niagara.

Tim and I were waiting in the car. My options were to leave him alone and go find Letty to tell her we moved or to wait inside and try to spot her when she came out. I went for plan B.

A few minutes later, I see here come out, getting absolutely soaked, looking the other way.  I honk. Nothing. I honk again, a little more intensely. She walks the other way.

Only one thing left to do..."I'm sorry Tim, you'll just have to wait it out here for a minute while I get your mom."

I dash through the rain and find Letty knocking on the window of a similar looking van.  I grab her arm..."that's not our car," and run her back to ours trying futilely to get inside ours before we get too wet.

It's not happening, we're both soaked to the bone. The driver's seat of our rental van is mildly flooded but at least Tim's still dry and happy in the passenger seat.

When we hit Key Largo, the rain has gone. It was more focused on the Everglades than the Keys.

We call the day a wash and spend some time at the Happy Hour at our hotel's beachside Tiki bar before retiring to the room for the night.

Darryl Musick
Copyright 2017 - All Rights Reserved

Photos by Letty Musick
Copyright 2017 - All Rights Reserved