Everglades City

We made an early start as it was a 3 hour drive to the 'City' - not quite what we expected, in fact we almost thought the whole place was closed when we got there.

There were several options for airboat rides but we went for one where all the 'Captains' were from local families and all the area that they covered was owned by the operating company, they also only ran over shallow water, just what the airboats were designed for. We think we made the right decision as it was informative and thrilling at the same time.

While we were waiting for the boat to come back from the previous run we wandered down to the dock and, in the water was this We watched it for a while and it didn't move, Chris really thought it was a plastic one just for the likes of us, until it moved! It was about 5ft in length and in about a foot of water.

Then came the ride with Captain Brian who proceeded to throw us round for a while then stopped to show us another 'gator, then off we went again
funny how an hour can seem like 5 minutes when you are having fun!

Time to take it easy

Slowing down nicely now we decided that a short trip to a couple of shops for our personal bits and pieces was the best idea so we headed into Port Charlotte and got the stuff we wanted then we headed on to Punta Gorda to book our boat trip for later in the week. The one we wanted is going on Wednesday and we have booked our places.

It was really hot by this time (about 12 noon) so we stopped or lunch at the end of the pier, with a lovely view across the harbour but it isn't very photogenic as it is basically a huge, wide expanse of water. We did get these in the marina though.




The temperature by then was 90F so we decided to get back to the villa and take advantage of the pool for the rest of the day.

It will get more interesting tomorrow as we are off to the western part of the Everglades.

Day 2 - more travelling

We made the journey from Miami up to Rotonda with a short stop to take a look at Lake Okeechobee on the way. We were a bit disappointed as the parking lot (note the American terms here and there!) was just by a canal and the lake was possibly half a mile away. The whole lake is surrounded by a very high levee so you can't see it at all from the road. We did get to spot a small heron though.













We made our way to Fort Myers where we found a wonderful bookshop - Books a Million, the range of magazines was incredible and we both managed to get what we wanted.

Then it was time to pick up the keys and find our home for the week. Once again the Satnav was really useful in finding the rental office but not so good at getting us to the villa by the best route. Still we got here and settled in quickly, had a quick swim before supper then relaxed and watched the sun go down.

The longest day...

Here we are in Miami having spent about 2 hours longer in the plane than we needed to. First we sat on the stand for just under an hour while the baggage handlers sorted out something in the hold. Then, after a pretty good flight, we were told we wouldn't be going directly into Miami as they were having a 'heavy shower', that turned into an hours holding over the Nassau area. You can just about make out our route on the flight info on the screen here


Mind you we had some spectacular views of the ocean bed in that area, like highways of sand and such a wonderful turquoise blue.



When we eventually landed the 'heavy shower' turned out to have been a big hail storm with strong winds, as it was we had a big drop on the way in, about 200 feet according to the information on the screen, just can't imagine that a landing would have been very nice in that!

We found our hotel with no problems at all, thank goodness for satnav (GPS).

We rounded of our day with a visit to the Cuban restaurant just by the hotel. Why do we always have trouble when ordering drinks. Chris wanted a glass of wine with his meal and got WATER!

Rotonda revisited

We first went to Rotonda 4 years ago and found it a peaceful and restful place to call home for a while. The plan is to spend our week on mostly nature trips with the odd bit of shopping thrown in.

On the list of things to do are 2 trips to the Everglades, 1 or 2 boat trips and anything else that takes our fancy.

We will post daily on what we have been up to and add 1 or 2 photos for each day.

First day will be Thursday 28th May which is arrival day so don't expect too much then as we will have been travelling all day.

Feel free leave comments or even ask questions, just post them as an 'Anonymous' profile and put your name on the end of the comment so we know who you are.

See you soon......