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smittenbyu) wrote2010-01-14 04:26 pm
smittenbyu) wrote2010-01-14 04:26 pm
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Everglades National Park - Day 3
December 27, 2009
We drove north to the other entrance of the Everglades, towards Everglades City. This side of the park is more commercialized. We first stopped at the Shark Valley Visitor Center. We caught the tram that goes in a loop for 2.5 hours. One could also walk the loop or bike the loop. We chose the lazy way and took the tram. There were a lot more people on this side of the park than at Homestead side of the park. And almost all activities here were charged.
It was a nice ride with a guide on board sharing all about this side of the park. We saw more birds here than we did at the other side. Mostly because it's the wetter part of the park.
Half way through the ride, we stopped at the observation tower that gave us a full view of the park from above! This was very different type of habitat than what we had seen the day before!
We saw a bunch of alligators swimming about and just basking on the banks. (I took the one picture below with N's Nikon!
We also saw a bunch of baby alligators! Oh they were actually cute looking. Our tram had to stop once as we saw a handful of alligators crossing the road! Oh my do they walk slowly!
We weren't lucky enough to spot any crocodiles though. There are very few in the Everglades - an endangered species.
And no shortage of birds. We did learn though that the best time to see migratory birds would be in late January and February!
We had packed lunch in our car and then we drove all the way down to the Gulf Coast Visitor Center. We wanted to catch the boat ride there. MIL really wanted to see dolphins - something she has never seen in her life. So, we couldn't stop on the way at the Big Cypress national preserve, which is supposed to be beautiful place to go!
But the boat ride was fun! Continued in next post....
We drove north to the other entrance of the Everglades, towards Everglades City. This side of the park is more commercialized. We first stopped at the Shark Valley Visitor Center. We caught the tram that goes in a loop for 2.5 hours. One could also walk the loop or bike the loop. We chose the lazy way and took the tram. There were a lot more people on this side of the park than at Homestead side of the park. And almost all activities here were charged.
It was a nice ride with a guide on board sharing all about this side of the park. We saw more birds here than we did at the other side. Mostly because it's the wetter part of the park.
Half way through the ride, we stopped at the observation tower that gave us a full view of the park from above! This was very different type of habitat than what we had seen the day before!
We saw a bunch of alligators swimming about and just basking on the banks. (I took the one picture below with N's Nikon!
We also saw a bunch of baby alligators! Oh they were actually cute looking. Our tram had to stop once as we saw a handful of alligators crossing the road! Oh my do they walk slowly!
We weren't lucky enough to spot any crocodiles though. There are very few in the Everglades - an endangered species.
And no shortage of birds. We did learn though that the best time to see migratory birds would be in late January and February!
We had packed lunch in our car and then we drove all the way down to the Gulf Coast Visitor Center. We wanted to catch the boat ride there. MIL really wanted to see dolphins - something she has never seen in her life. So, we couldn't stop on the way at the Big Cypress national preserve, which is supposed to be beautiful place to go!
But the boat ride was fun! Continued in next post....
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