Gators Galore

Oh yea! I forgot: white birds.

 

We set out by about 9 am, and traveled mostly south on two lane country roads, down to Big Cypres National Preserve. Or you could call it Big Cypress Swamp! All the way down through the preserve, there were signs on the road to drive carefully because of panthers crossing the road. Of course, it's just like signs up home to watch out for Elk; you never see one. On the way in, we stopped at a visitor center, and there we saw our fill of alligators. They are in a canal that runs along side of the road, US41.

 

And they all just sit there and do nothing. It gets boring after a few minutes. It would be nice to see some action.

 

As you can see, there are teams of fish which are swimming all around the alligators. The gators look quite plump; I think they have all the fish they can stomach, so the fish can swim right up to them and nibble on their thick skin.

 

We stopped to camp at Midway Campground (N25 50 59.8, W80 59 21.1), which oddly enough is about midway across the preserve. We had a couple of trees to sit under, as the sun was beginning to peak out from the mostly cloudy skies, and the temperature is again in the high 80s F. (about 30 or 32 C for all you young folk). It threatens to thundershower every day, but so far that hasn't materialized. I expected the mosquitoes and horseflies etc. to be terrible, but there was no sign of them in the afternoon. Then in the evening, at the first sign of bugs, I put out a mosquito repellant gadget we bought the other day, and that seemed to work completely.

 

There is a pond in the middle of the campground but, unfortunately they don't allow swimming for some reason.

 

We were thinking of spending a second night here, but the park rangers say they only allow you to camp without a reservation for one night. If you want to stay a second night, you have to get a reservation by phone or on the internet. But there is no way to get a reservation, because there is no cell coverage in the area. Stupid! The place is less than 1/4 full.