So this will be a two part post because there was a good and a bad during this adventure. When I went to Florida I was excited to see what birds I might find there. I was currently taking my Ornithology class, and was able count the birds I had seen on the trip for a bird list that we had to keep for class. Besides, I'm a pretty big bird nerd and bird wherever I go anyway.
I didn't know what to expect when I got to Florida. I had seen pictures and heard stories, but never did I think about what it was actually like. When arriving at the top of Florida we didn't realize that it was bike week at Daytona so we couldn't find a hotel that night. We had already driven ten hours from Ohio, and had to sleep at a rest stop. I laid there but couldn't sleep. Finally about five thirty in the morning I told my travel partner at the time (an exboyfriend now) to let me drive, and I drove the rest of the way.
Once you hit the middle of Florida palm trees start to spring up, and you start to get a tropical feel. The bottom of Florida was where we stayed in Big Cypress Nature Preserve. Please, always read whether or not your campground has a shower because my travel partner did not. We stayed at that place all week. I hadn't showered in five days before we found a campground down the road that had a shower, and was using baby wipes as a temporary alternative. I would at least wash my hair in the sink every day, but not showering for five days caused me to start having an allergic reaction from the bug spray/sunscreen I brought with me.
The keys were the first thing we went to see with stopping in Key Largo and heading down to Key West. The Keys reminded me so much of the Cayes down in Belize with clear blue waters and white beaches. Snorkeling was the main thing I wanted to do at the Keys because my travel partner had never been. Snorkeling off Key West I was a little disappointed with the reef, but that's just because I was spoiled the year before with seeing the Mesoamerican Reef (the second largest reef in the world). I did get to see a barracuda and I did see the sunset from the boat so there was a plus side to the snorkeling we had done.
The Everglades is an excited swamp like paradise, and has some incredible wildlife. This is where I was able to see the White Ibis, Common Gallinule, Swallow Tailed Shrike, and Anhinga. The mosquitos, however, will pick you up and carry you away if you don't watch so please wear bug spray. We went through the whole park ending up at Flamingo that day and kayaked the canal. At first my travel partner thought it would be wise to travel through the bay to enter the canal (bad idea in those kayaks), but I steered him toward the other entrance to the canal. We were fortunate enough to be able to follow two manatees grazing along the edge of the canal. The ferry that takes people on tours of the canal said that the manatees happened to show up the day before. This was one creature I was hoping to see and that I'm glad that we did.
Now I'm not going to talk about Rabbit Island in this post because that was the ugly part of this trip. That story deserves it's own post, and I will give you that at a later time. So I'm going to skip around to Corkscrew Audubon Swamp Sanctuary. This was an AMAZING birding spot. We were probably the youngest people on the boardwalk, but I didn't care. Birding is a big part of my life, and I just wanted to see the birds. I met two older women on the boardwalk who were asking me to be their guide by the middle of the walk. I met an older Canadian gentleman, who told me all about what he had seen since he had come to Florida. This fellow told us about the next sanctuary we went to.
I can't remember the name of the sanctuary, but all I remember is that the Canadian gentleman told us it was near an old railroad. This place too was a boardwalk, but didn't have as many bird species as Corkscrew to goggle over. Still a great place to stop just to see the swamp. Also got to see a random raccoon hanging out off the boardwalk.
After that there is not much to say about Florida. I feel that once you've seen one part of Florida you've seen it all. The beginning of Florida is beaches, the middle amusement parks, and the end of Florida is nothing, but swamps. I never went to Disney while I was down or Universal, but that was not why I was down there. I was down there for the nature, and exploration of what is left of the American Wilderness. Also to cross one more national park off my list. I'll be putting up an album of more of the Florida pictures.
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