Monday, March 14th – Everglades National Park, Florida – Day 35
We were up bright and early this day. We decided to skip breakfast to get out of the house early to see the Marvelous Manatees talk. We also tried to get a spot on the free kayak tour but Florida Bay was too windy again. The Manatee talk was interesting. The ranger leading the talk stretched a 15 minute talk into an hour and ranging from Manatees to Crocodiles to Osprey with a speckling of his life and career thrown in. Still no manatees but we saw the Osprey feeding their babies again. Apparently, Osprey are successful in one out of four hunting trips so I guess you see that a lot. Males will eat part of the prey in a separate location before bringing the rest home to the female and babies.
Once the talk was sort of finished since we faded towards the back, we headed back to the campsite for breakfast.
The kids found their friends again. A family from Tallahassee with two girls. They were playing for hours. Their father Andy came over to chat and we all got an invitation to s’mores after dinner.
We decided on another hike, the eco pond, a quick 1.6km loop around a pond. Unfortunately, the eco pond looked very dead. The water was brown, trees were dead all over the place, few animals. Apparently, historic development north of the park has limited fresh water entering the park. Since there is less fresh water, more salt water is encroaching into eco systems, and the water is becoming more salty. The eco pond may have been victim to the saltier salt water pushed inland in the last hurricane. Regardless, not a great hike.
Everyone was tired and hot, so we went back to the campground to recharge. It was a very pleasant afternoon and evening. Charlotte, John and I sat down to hammer through some junior ranger activities. John was really involved. The kids played with their friends. We were chatting with their parents and hanging out. The day was lovely.
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