´gator spotting!

After our action packed days at KSC and Universal Studios we decided that it was time to take a reality check and see what natural wonders the state of Florida has to offer. The reality check was definitely needed for Adam who actually thought he might get spotted at KSC and asked to be an astronaut on their next mission! I do worry about him. So, we set off south (on a road that had way more toll booths per mile than it´s fair share) towards the Everglades.

Talking about the Everglades used to conjure up images of murky, swampy waters and those river boats with the fans on the back for me. The picture couldn´t be more wrong. For a start those crazy little boats aren´t allowed in the National Park and the scenery instead of being swampy and grimy is pretty spectacular. Beautiful clear water, giant insects and birds of all varieties (including one that could dive and swim underwater to catch it´s fish! pretty cool!). However, there was one preconception that I´d got spot on and that was the reason we were visiting the Everglades in the first place. The alligators!

Now, bearing in mind that these creatures are kind of dangerous, can be hard to spot and that there are thousands of them in the park I was surprised that you could get out of your car and just wander around on your own. It seemed like asking for trouble but never ones to shy away from danger we set off on a short walk. I was kind of nervous (these animals can kill after all!) as we set off, eyes peeled ready to ´gator spot. We didn´t have to wait long, there was movement in the water and an enormous ´gator was swimming our way! Pretty exciting. We saw loads of alligators, all within about 10m of us which was absolutely amazing but quite scary! Ad reassured me with some of his ´Discovery Channel´ knowledge that alligators can´t run very fast on land so I was perfectly safe as long as I didn´t stand too close to the waters edge!

After an awesome day getting very close to nature we headed even further South, past Miami to Florida´s famous Keys. The journey was even more spectacular than the destination, driving along huge bridges with clear blue water stretching out as far as we could see in both directions was phenomenal. So, it was back to the tent, camp fires, marshmallow toasting and relaxing in the sunshine for a couple of days before we set off on the final leg of our journey, South America!