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

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