Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve- Fort Myers, Florida

Today we went for a walk in a nature preserve. It was a lot of fun. There were birds, gators, and wild pigs. This particular place has elevated walkways and they go into the preserve for a mile or so. The walk was extremely pleasant. We got there too late for the guided tour, they end at 1:30 during this season, but we did have a paper guide that matched up with numbers through out the trail. The numbers gave explanations to the things we saw through out the persevere. The park is open from dawn until dusk.

The one thing I really wish is I would have brought some binoculars, but I did use my phone to zoom in and see interesting things. The path is great for walking, but there are several spots to just stop and listen to the forest and several benches throughout.

It's a very unusual kind of forest, especially for people that are used to seeing northern forests full of pine trees and maples. I found it strange to see palm trees mixed in with the cypress, but that's probably because I'm not used to seeing them. There were also bright pink spots on some of the trees. It looked unnatural, but it's not, it's actually part of the bark, it's a lichen that lives off the tree.


There was a lot of wild life to see. We saw wild pigs, a gator, and tons of birds. In fact because we got there before dusk we saw the birds fly into the island to roost. There were a ton of white birds that hang out in the trees.  On any given day you can see all sorts of animals in their native place, sometimes there are river otters, bob cats, deer, or even bear.  Due to the fact that it is a nature preserve, and a little like taking a walk in the woods, you get what you get. The animals don't just show up like a zoo.

                                                                                                                                 It's kind of nice viewing wild life like this, because you never really know what you get to see. We heard the pigs before we saw them. We could hear them breaking sticks, snorting, and the splash of their hooves in the puddles. The gator was getting some last minute sun in by the edge of the lake, he or she was sitting peacefully half way in the water.  The animals enjoy this preserve and so did I.

This is where we went:

http://www.leeparks.org/sixmile/

Manatee Park: Kayaking with Sea Cows

Manatees are extremely peaceful beautiful creatures. They are sea mammals and they are a relative of the elephant. Looking at them closely you can see the resemblance. At my Mother-In-Laws home in Florida Manatees are regular visitors to the dock and in the river. Her place is on the Orange River in Lee County Florida. Near her is a place called Manatee Park. At this park you can rent a Kayak and take it out on the Orange River and get up close and personal with the Manatee.



Manatee are a protected species. They love the brackish water, it is where they spawn and it is considerably warmer than the sea. Manatees do spend a lot of time in the sea as well. They are very calm animals and spend a lot of their time eating and resting. Their diets consist mainly of algae and seaweed, basically the ones here in Florida are vegans.  When the weather is cold they like to "hang out" in the river even more, because it's warmer. The State of Florida is a Manatee safe haven.  The state has many laws protecting wild life, in fact Dwight explained to us yesterday on our Dolphin tour that Florida has more laws protecting wild life than any other state.







Never feed wild life. They get to comfortable with people and they have a tendency to get a false sense of security from people. Manatees are already running into issues with motor boats and people feeding and watering them creates more issues. They are mammals and they do like to drink fresh water, so running a hose or other source of fresh water does attract them. This is also against the law in Florida and can incur a large fine if you are caught.  I think our kayaks must have had algae built up on them because they attracted some of the manatees and several of them appeared to be licking the boat. I was afraid for a minute that they would tip us, they probably could have because they weigh about 1000 pounds at least, but then they were so calm and friendly. They seemed to like it when we talked to them. Also, I got to see one of them turn and dive and I could see it's belly button.

When they die they have to be towed out of the river by the DNR or police. They are extremely large and their bodies become a source for predators in the river. They also ship their bodies off for autopsies to determine the cause of death. The only reason I know this is because we saw one being towed. It's a huge research opportunity for marine life. In fact some of them have transmitters placed on them and you can see them on the manatee when they swim.  

The Manatee Park also has many lovely little walking trails and a river walk where you can see the manatees by land. We walked the paths after our Kayaking and discovered uses of indigenous plants and saw many small animals wandering around.  It was a great adventure taking the kayak out and the only complaint we had was too much sun shine. (I think back home in Michigan, where it is currently negative 10 degrees Fahrenheit,  I hear people saying, "Boo-Hoo" sarcastically. Seriously though, I did get sunburned. lol)

Here's where we went:

http://www.leeparks.org/facility-info/facility-details.cfm?Project_Num=0088

And of course a video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJVC5HN2BGM

Chubby's Tropical Adventure: Dolphin Tours in South Florida

Nervous Nellie's

Today I was lucky enough to go on a dolphin tour. It was pretty exciting. Our faithful tour guide, Dwight, once again took us on an exciting tour, this time on a boat through part of the Gulf of Mexico, to see Dolphins.  We started the day with shopping on Fort Myers beach and a delicious lunch at Nervous Nellie's.  There are so many things to see on Ft. Myers beach and it was such a beautiful day to walk around. The performance artists were out and they were painted gold and silver, and the fisherman on the pier were feeding the pelicans. After walking and shopping it was time to go see dolphins!

Dwight 

Dwight's tours are always informational and he understands more about Florida's natural history than any person I've ever met. Dwight was our tour guide in the Everglades a year ago and he was just as wonderful as our Captain on our Dolphin Tour.  He told us about the many laws in Florida that prohibit people from touching or swimming with dolphins. He also explained that they travel in really large pods and they are serious carnivores. In fact they bite people more than sharks do, so these happy laughing dolphin image isn't 100% accurate, but they are still delightful to watch them jump out of the water and play in the boat's wake.

Mangroves

Dolphin next to the boat 

As we took the boat out Dwight showed us the Mangroves. He explained to us the importance of Mangroves and how they protect the land against hurricanes. Mangroves look like islands but they are not, all they are is a lot of little trees and root systems. Many animals are housed by these ecosystems, especially birds.  There was a lot of birds on our tour. We saw Cormorants, gulls, pelicans, and Sandpipers. They were everywhere.  Diving for fish and landing like bombs on the water near our boat. How they can see those little tiny fish from so high up in the air is truly amazing.

We not only saw Mangroves but he explained the importance of the estuary and the brackish water. Estuaries are a mixture of saltwater and fresh water and they are breeding grounds for many types of animals. Brackish water is what is called when saltwater and fresh water mix.  Dolphins, sharks, and all sorts of baby sea animals are born in the estuaries each year. The salt concentration in the water is less and it's warmer because it's more shallow, this make ideal conditions for breeding.

Pelicans on the sand bar

On our way back the tide had gone out and there were many exposed sand bars. This is what happens in the evening and many birds, like pelicans like to stand on them.

Dwight mentioned on many of his tours he has seen tortoises and sharks. There are a lot of things to see on the sea I suppose, I truly enjoyed my time watching those dolphins. I hope you can enjoy some pictures of them as well.

This is where we went: 

They look menacing like sharks, but these are dolphins... 

http://www.chubbystropicaladventures.com/

http://nervousnellies.net/

They love to jump in the waves 

And the video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CHbeAsgkaY&feature=youtu.be

They jump very high out of the water 

The nest of a Cormorant 

Disney in One Day

On the plane and ready to go! 

My husband. God bless him. He loves Disney. Really, really loves Disney. Our vacations haven't been lining up right and he wanted to go to Disney with some of our friends. We talked about it. I said, "ok, have a good time." He booked the flight, on our one year anniversary. Yes, our one year anniversary. Needless to say, I was angry, I had approved the trip, not him leaving me for Disney, on our anniversary.  Finally, we came to the conclusion that I would have to come with him for a day to celebrate our anniversary.

I've never really liked Disney. Since I was a kid. It seemed fake and cheap.  I was five years old when I went to the magic kingdom the first time. I was disappointed, at the age of five, when Cinderella's Castle seemed small. I expected a real castle, like the ones in England.  I guess my perception of Disney was pretty well cemented at that point. The second time I went was just with my mom. She's great and all but when you are 10 or 12, you don't really want to hang out with your mom but she gets props for  trying. The last time I went I was in High School. It was not the trip of a lifetime. I was with my choir class and I was miserable. Probably for no reason but none the less, it was not a good experience.

Magic Kingdom streets, empty after rain 

Going to Disney was not something I wanted to do, but  Randy was ridiculously excited. I reworked my work schedule to have two days off in a row and we went. We left Grand Rapids on a Sunday morning and I returned on Monday night. Randy continued to stay for 5 more days.

I rode a lot of rides in the short time that we were there. It rained, a lot of people left and the park was pretty slow soon after we arrived. We took refuge in the hall of presidents during one of the storms. This was a place I remembered and liked.  We didn't stay for the show, although now they have Barack Obama and it's way more updated than the last time I was here.  When the rain came down it was like a ghost town. Luckily it stopped pretty quickly, but the crowds didn't come back. I think people didn't trust the weather so they all went to dinner.

Some of the rides we went on were, The Haunted Mansion, Space Mountain (my favorite), It's a Small World (still has creepy puppets), Aerial's Grotto, Pooh's Honey pot, Thunder Mountain, we walked around the Swiss Family Robinson Tree house, Pirate's of the Caribbean, Jungle Cruise, the TomorrowLand Speedway (I was terrible at driving), Buzz Lightyear Laser Blast, and finally I was fascinated by the mosaic in the Magic Castle.  I did not remember that at all.

Our anniversary menu 

Amazingly manicured topiaries 

We stayed at the Disney Resort, Saratoga Springs. It's amazingly easy to find transportation to and from the resort. It has buses to and from the monorail, and the monorail goes to some of the parks Magic Kingdom, Epcot and through some hotels. There is lots of transportation all around Disney. Buses go to all the parks, Animal Kingdom and Hollywood studios.

 We took a boat to get to our restaurant for dinner. We went to Narcoossee's and it was delicious.  Outside on the water around the restaurant there was a light parade.  It was pretty awesome. Then we went back to the park to ride some more rides because we stayed at a resort the park didn't close for us until 2am.

When we returned after dinner we saw another light parade on land. It was amazing to see their costumes. We also caught the end of the fireworks. Every night they have extraordinary fireworks, a tinker-bell that zip-lines down the magic castle (who wouldn't want that job?), and the light parades on the water and around the kingdom. It is an amazing place. The people that work there are amazing too. We got our picture taken with Aerial from the little mermaid and I was so amazed by how the cast members stay in character. It's really and truly amazing how everyone that works there seems to love their job.

The best time to go seems to be in the middle or end of April and probably after spring break and before summer break. The lines seemed to be pretty short. Overall, it was a great trip and I wished I had more than a day to stay (shocker).  It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be and the topiaries were amazing. I can see why Randy loves it so much and it's part of why I love him so much.  I want to go back and see the Animal Kingdom and Epcot for sure and spend more than a few hours.

Florida Everglades: Gators, Skunk Ape, Air Boats

Dwight our tour guide 

My mother in law and I went out to the Florida Everglades to experience the land. First of all I learned the Everglades are not swamps or marshes, they are rivers and slowly moving water. A swamp is stagnant water and the Everglades are anything but stagnant. Everything, is always moving. The water, the animals, and even to some extent the plants. There are air plants that grow on the trees, they are not parasites, there are Fig Elk, which are giant tree parasites that kill their host trees. Gators, snakes, and green everywhere. I don't even know where to start.

I'll start with Dwight. He was our tour guide on the Everglades Adventure Tour, he was awesome.  He had a wealth of knowledge of the Everglades and the tours he set us up on were beyond amazing. Swamp tours, Air boat rides, interactive animal parks (petting zoos with unusual animals), and some stops to see wild birds.

First, we took a tour of the Everglades Via Air Boat. It was exhilarating.  We flew through the Everglades, went pass Mangroves, Snowy Egrets flew past us, and of course the gators bobbed their heads up and down in the murky water. The water in the Everglades is brackish, which means it is part saltwater, part fresh water, so different creatures live throughout.

We went on the Gator tour and saw a lot of Gators inside of Wooten's Airboat tours. The air boat ride was cool, but afterwards we went on a swamp tour across the street. There was a giant swamp buggy.  The woman driving it took us through the grasslands and then through what looked like a jungle. She explained the sable palms, wax myrtle, air plants, and Strangler Fig (which is a tree parasite but it is protected by law and it looks really cool).  We saw Raccoons and deer. She said sometimes there are bears.

After the swamp tour we met a guy who let us hold baby alligators.  I got to hold the big baby alligator. His name was Fred. He was a bit bigger than the other alligator because he was five. That's still a baby for Alligators, they really don't know how long they live, probably around 100 years.  There were also venomous snakes, tigers, and other gators all over the place.


The last place we went was the Skunk Ape Research Headquarters. It was the coolest place I've ever been. They have no Venomous snakes. There were birds, giant snakes, a baby alligator, peacocks, snapping turtles, and a tortoise. I'm told there were tarantulas and Scorpions, but I did not see them.

To wrap up our tour Dwight took us to see some of the native birds by the riverside. We did not get out of the van because there are gators that hang out near the edge of the river. They run really fast and we saw them swimming around in the river. It is illegal in the state of Florida to feed alligators. You will get arrested. This is because once you feed them they become dependent and see humans as people that will feed them. They are not good pets, so please do not buy baby alligators.













Where we went:

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/13341
http://wootenseverglades.com/
www.evergladesadventure.com 
http://youtu.be/lCTMUCRoBU8 <------You tube videos
http://youtu.be/edUX118xYYc <-----Youtube videos