Escape From Rochester - Homestead

After we lefty Key West, we stayed three nights in Homestead which is on the eastern and southern edge of the Everglades.  Staying provided us with easy access to the Everglades National park and many other attractions.  We spent our first day the Everglades National Park.

Paul Marsh, our guide

Our first stop was at the Anhinga Trail where we went on an hour guided walk by Paul Beach, a National Park Volunteer.  We had met his wife at the visitor's center and she had advised us that Anhinga should be our first stop and that Paul's walk was starting in about 20 minutes.

We learned a lot in that hour not only about this specific location but about the Everglades in total.  We first learned about the Anhinga bird, which is diving bird about which this trail is named.  Unlike most aquatic birds, the anhinga does not secret any oil for its feathers and thus has to stand

Anhinga drying its wing feathers.

motionless to allow the air to dry them enough for flight and thus the next hunt for food.  When the early photographers visited the Everglades they were not able to take photos of any of the birds because their process required a subject to stay still for minutes at a time.  Since the anhinga was required to do this, they were the birds the photographers captured and their characteristic pose became iconic.

Juvenile tilapia with their blue markings

We saw and learned about other bird species:  Great Blue Heron, double crested cormorant, and egrets.  We saw various fish species including tilapia which is an invasive species that entered this ecosystem when a hurricane destroyed a nearby tilapia farm.  At least the tilapia provide additional food for the alligators.  The Burmese Pythons that were released by the same hurricane have become a danger to some of the endangered species in the Everglades.

The highlight of this nature walk was the waterhole where the alligators congregate.  One photo would not do it justice so just view this video.

After this, we decided to drive the 32 miles to the Flamingo Visitor Center, the point in the park where the fresh water from the Everglades mixes with the salt water of the Gulf of Mexico.  We rested beside the beautiful water with a lunch of gator tail bites which were yummy.  We then had our first piece of Key Lime pie and wondered why we had waited so long.

After lunch we joined a park ranger talk on the manatees, also called sea cows.  This remarkable full aquatic mammal is a reminder of the diversity of life and of the necessity of protecting that diversity even and perhaps particularly when there is no apparent utilitarian reason for doing so.  After the talk, we walked with the ranger over to a marina to see if we could find any of these animals.  To our surprise and delight, we found several of these animals gathering a round a dock for the fresh water coming off of it.  This was all the more unusual because these are solitary animals and do not live in groups.  Again a video is the best way to see what we saw.

White Morph Blue Heron

While we were going down to the dock, we saw a White Morph Blue Heron, an unusual treat for us since we see so many great blue heron back home.

As we drove back to the park entrance we stopped at various locations along the way and saw or experienced mosquitoes--we were well armed with deet and long sleeved shirts and pants--mohogany hummocks, dwarf cypress forests, and the saw grass that stretches for miles.  It reminded us of photos we have seen of the African plains except that this is not grass but a sedge with serrated edges.  It provides cover for various animals but is not a food source as far as I know.

The river of saw grass with dwarf cypress in the foreground and hammocks like islands in the distance

To see more of the photos and videos of our visit to Everglades National Park, click here.

Marilyn with her new BFF Robert and one of his sons.

On the way back to our motel, we stopped at Robert Is Here, a fresh fruit paradise.  Marilyn became one of Robert's best customers that day and we have been back for their fruit shakes.  That box is filled with mangoes, pineapple, coconut, guanabana, caimito, and a large avocado cut in halves as a avocado salad.

When we got back to the motel, we were ready to just relax by the pool, read our books, and sample these delicious fruits.  Oh, yes, and I stopped by the next day to get a papaya and banana milk shake for lunch, also by the pool.

Liz the farm's animal wrangler showing
off a king snake.

The next day we visited the Everglades Alligator Farm.
 This is South Florida's oldest alligator farm.  There are more than 2,000 alligators on the property as well as crocodiles, snakes, parrots, reptiles and a great air boat tour.  We saw them all.

Liz was the animal wrangle for both the snakes and alligators.  She even got me to hold a spotted python, the first time I have ever physically touched a snake.  There was the incident in California but a garden rake was the intervening implement.

We also went on an air boat ride.  Unfortunately the speed and the flying water made it impossible to use my camera.  However on the way out, I was able to get some video as a gator was swimming along side us.

I was able to get some interesting shots of these creatures but perhaps the most exciting thing was coming upon three workers struggling to return an eight foot male to his proper enclosure.  He had gotten right up against the last fence along the nature trail and that was not good.  Here is some video of that unexpected adventure.

Click here to view more photos and videos of our morning at the alligator farm.

Ed is the tiny figure
in the foreground of this
photo

The next day we left Homestead and headed to Naples to visit Ralph and Buffie Richarson.  Before we left we made a final stop in Homestead at the Coral Castle.  This is the life work of Ed Leedskalnin, a dminutive--5 foot, 100 pounds--immigrant from Latvia.  He singlehandedly quarried the stone for this unusual site.  He then sculpted and erected the structures by himself.  The obelisk weighs 28,000 pounds and he hoisted into place with three manual, tripod pulleys.

He not only built this attraction but lived here is primitive conditions at least to us but it was the life he wanted to live.  He made money by charging admission--first 10 cents and then a quarter.  He got by without any electricity or plumbing until his death in 1951.  It is now on the list of historic places.

Click here to view more photos of the Coral Castle