Florida Everglades & Miami

12/12/24

On our first day in the Everglades we took a short drive to the Everglades National Park where we collected the Junior Ranger booklet and we set off on our first walk called The Pinelands Trail.

On the trail we saw a red-headed woodpecker and a variety of plants. 45 minutes into our National Park day we had already seen 105 birds including great white herons, turkey vultures and egrets and were already on our second walk through the grasslands, but it was quite windy so we moved on. On our third and last walk before heading to the Flamingo portion of the park, we did a walk though a mahogany forest where the trees seemed to stretch into the sky endlessly.

At Flamingo we were greeted with a pleasant surprise in the form of a manatee feasting on algae by the marina. For the final walk of the day we went to the Royal Palm board walk over wetlands where we saw loads of fish, hundreds of turkey vultures, two red-bellied turtles, two great blue herons, 30ish egrets, an anhinga, a handful of great white herons, purple gallinules, four adult alligators, and one 30cm baby alligator all amongst the lily pad covered lakes.

13/12/24

It’s second day in the Everglades and this time we’re doing a 24 kilometre bike ride next to a river filled with alligators! While my parents were hiring the bikes I went a turned in my Junior Ranger booklet and collected my Everglades National Park badge.

After starting our bike ride, and not even two minutes in, we saw a gator lazing by the river and then another and another. By the time we reached the half way observation tower we had seen 58 alligators! Coming back we biked into extremely strong winds and while I was slowly biking I noticed a shape in the grass – a snake which I later learned was a cottonmouth snake, one of four venomous snakes in Florida.

Closing up our bike ride, our total amount of gators spotted was 79. Finally when we exited the National Park, we took a relaxing airboat trip around the Everglades adding a couple extra alligators to the amount we spotted.

16/12/24

Not in the Everglades but for our second day in Miami we took a hop-on hop-off bus around to a outdoor art museum called Wynwood Walls with a baby hulk, a decorated train carriage, and a picture of Gotham 2.

On the next stop of our journey we went to Little Havana where there were chickens, owls, and even a bat in the street . For lunch we went to Sala’o Cuban Restaurant and I had braised beef that was then grilled and marinated with Cuban mojo ( basically citrus, herbs, and salt).

Miami Nights ( and day )