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The Everglades - Part 3

Tuesday, March 15th – Everglades National Park to Homestead, Florida – Day 36 

 Leafy, Barky, Toxic?, the 8:30 talk on plants was always going to be tough to get to but we were committed to see it. We woke up early and shoved the kids in the car and got to the Visitor’s Centre at 8:20am. As we met up with the ranger, he suggested that we take a number in the queue if we wanted to go to Shoreline Flamingo, the free kayak program. We got number 2. 

 We started the talk and were talking about all the different types of plants in the park – hardwoods, mangroves, palm trees. I missed most of it because I had to go back to the visitor’s centre at five minutes to nine to ensure we got on those kayaks. Apparently, there were only 4 kayaks available, and we promised we could squeeze into numbers 2 and 3 so number three in line could get a kayak as well. 

 We got back to the site, excited for the kayak on Florida bay, we found out that checkout time had already passed, they were going to start work on the campground and needed us out. We packed up as quickly as possible and went back to the Marina. We enjoyed a beautiful picnic lunch as we waited for the kayak program to start. 



 The rangers found another kayak so we didn’t need to squeeze. Mary and Aisling, Genevieve and Charlotte, and Dad and the Meatball. As we left the marina, we paddled past a baby crocodile and I’ll assume its mother but who knows. We paddled about 1.5 km in total with the ranger stopping us for some talks about Osprey, the importance of the Florida Bay and more. The Everglades National Park is as much on water as on land. The Everglades stretches almost all the way to the Florida Keys and there are many scientists working to keep the aquatic ecosystem healthy as the terrestrial one. It was fantastic to be out on the water and both girls were good paddlers. John had a little nap sitting up in the kayak so he was less effective. 

To be continued...

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