Naples, Florida: Part 2

Because we didn't get the chance to spend as much time at the beaches in Naples as we would have liked the previous day, Mr X and I headed up there again on our last day in Florida.

We lounged on the beach for a bit, but due to the heat and the horseflies we opted to lazily paddle about in the water for a good chunk of the afternoon. It's easy to spend all day in the water when you never get cold from it. Mr X spend a good chunk of the time diving for shells on the bottom and then trying to coax the creatures from within so I could have some really fantastic shells for my collection. He wasn't successful but that might be my fault because I kept feeling sorry for the poor things and tossing them back.

That "dot" above is Mr X.

We ate at this restaurant twice while in Naples. It was incredibly delicious. Nothing was fried and everything was perfect. The second night we went there I ordered the scallops and they were absolutely the best scallops I've ever eaten.


After dinner we walked down to the pier to capture the sunset on camera. It was really lovely.

Naples, Florida: Part 1

After an overabundance fried food, bug bites and sore muscles, Mr X and I decided to head up to Naples to recover at the beach. Plus, Mr X had never been in the Gulf of Mexico before.
We got there fairly late in the day so we didn't get to enjoy the beach as much as we would have liked but we got some very relaxing time in, walking and admiring the abundant sea shells. The west coach beaches hardly ever have sea shells on them so I always enjoy "beach combing" for shells when I get the chance.

The photo above captures Mr X's first venture into the Gulf of Mexico. He was thrilled with the perfectly warm temperature of the water. Again, the west coast water is always so cold - even in Southern California. In Oregon and Washington I remember it being physically painful to actually even get in the water - and that was in the summer!

I collected and brought home a tidy pile of lovely shells from this trip. I have no idea what I'm going to do with them at home though.

An Ocean of Calamine Lotion

Practically everywhere you look in the Everglades, you will see advertisements to take an air boat ride. I wanted to take one, but on the other hand, I also wanted to get more up close and personal during a tour. Mr X agreed with me so we opted to rent kayaks instead.

Because the chances of us getting wet were pretty high during a kayak trip, we opted to NOT bring our camera. So the rest of these pictures where taken from online. They are pretty accurate so they show what we were seeing well. The Everglades are fascinatingly beautiful and creepy at the same time. We started out in open water and then kayaked through a twisting and confusing maze of mangrove tunnels. Inside those tunnels it's dark, the air is thick and muggy and teeming with life. There is a distinct smell too - a warm rotting vegetative smell. It's quite disconcerting to be inside something so thin and close to the water as a kayak. When we started off I had wild, imaginative flashes of alligators crushing through the hull of my kayak with their massive jaws. It got incredibly easy to put the man-eating gators out of my mind when the bugs honed in on Mr X and me. We were ridiculously easy targets and even though we had generously coated ourselves with repellent earlier, we were eaten alive by mosquitoes. They were relentless and Mr X and I just kept paddling faster and faster until we were frantically barrelling through those mangrove tunnels, frequently haphazardly. Many times I managed to smash my kayak into a web of mangrove roots, from which then I had to extricate myself, stirring up even more mosquitoes in the process. Mr X piped up from behind me (we were in separate kayaks with me in the lead), "I think we HAVE to go slower!" As much as I didn't want to slow down to allow bugs more time to feast on me, Mr X was right. A few times it was kind of unclear which way to go and then I started worrying that we'd get lost in the Everglades but rather than dying of thirst or being eaten by some beast, I imagined that the mosquitoes would just slowly drain me of all of my blood and that's how I would die. But of course we found our way and once we got out of the worst of the tunnels I was able to enjoy myself again, admiring the amazing birds and views and even some playful dolphins. I relaxed enough that I even dragged my fingertips in the water from time to time. Our excursion was about 4 hours long. I was exhausted and sore by the time we got back, but I had a great time. I thought it was a bit funny that when we returned our kayaks, the lady said, "I hope you didn't put your fingers in the water - It's not the alligators that'll get you, it's the snapping turtles." Nice. I could have used that advice four hours earlier.

See this photo below of the mosquitoes on this person's hat? Imagine them multiplied by 10 and all over this person's body. That's how bad it was inside those mangrove tunnels and I'm NOT kidding. Mr X says that these mosquitoes were significantly worse than what he'd experienced even in the rain forests of South America. They got through our clothes and even through our SHOES. We were wearing our running shoes, with socks, and they went right through them. We both had bites all over our feet. Well, all over our bodies, really.

The above is a sliver of my lower back. Below is just my right side. I counted until I got to over 200 bites and then I quit. I'm slightly allergic to mosquitoes so I swelled up all over the place and turned red and purple. Mr X said it looked like I'd been in a car accident. I was bumpy and swollen all over. I didn't care so much about how I look because I itched SO BAD. At night Mr X and I tossed and turned, itching incessantly. We went through an entire bottle of rubbing alcohol and two things of Calamine lotion.

This is Mr X's back. His bites appeared much smaller than mine because they didn't swell up as much but all of those little red dots, not just the big patch on the right, are bites. It was AWFUL.

That being said, I still would have done it. It was worth it - beautiful and fascinating and exhilarating.

Everglades Hike

The town of Everglades City is the closest town to the Everglades in which visitors can stay. It is TINY. This hotel is one of the very few there. In the center of the hotel is a swimming pool, all enclosed in that meshy screen door material. At first I thought this appeared strange and tacky but very quickly I learned that it was an absolute necessity due to the obscene amount of bugs and mosquitoes which were always present no matter the time of day.

After we checked into our hotel and doused ourselves in bug spray we headed out for a hike in the Everglades. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I loathe bugs. There were these grasshoppers there that were unpleasantly large and unafraid of me. Plus they just looked frightfully scary:

Of course we also saw more alligators, one of which Mr X got quite close to in order to have his photo with it taken:

This is called a Strangler Fig. It's well adapted for growing in dark, tropical forests where the competition for light is intense. It happens like this: a bird drops a seed into a crevice of an existing tree and the seed germinates and begins to send it's roots downward, wrapping around the existing host tree in the process. Occasionally the host tree dies, leaving the Strangler Fig wrapped around nothing. That would be interesting to see.

They put up 'boardwalks' on a lot of these hikes for people's safety from creatures and swamps and sink holes. I know I wouldn't have been as willing to go on this hike if I was having to make my way through dark, thick vegetation through which visibility was poor.

It really was a beautiful hike though. I've never seen anything like it anywhere else I've been.

Big Cypress National Preserve

Mr X and I stopped off to visit Big Cypress National Preserve on our way to the Everglades. It's a very unique place. I've never seen vegetation like this before.

We pulled off the road at a Ranger Station and went inside to get a map. We talked to the ranger for a bit, learning interesting tidbits about the area. We are fans of that show Dual Survival and we learned that the Everglades survival episode was filmed not too far from where we were at the time. We also learned that the part in the show where they tracked and captured a python was completely staged. Boo hoo! I know they have a disclaimer at the beginning of the show stating that they stage things from time to time, but it was such a disappointment to learn that that particular incident didn't happen to be authentic. Oh well.

We told the ranger that we wanted to do a hike in the Cypress preserve so he pointed us to a trail nearby. On our way out of the door he stopped us and gave us these big walking sticks to take with us, warning us to use them to test the ground in front of our path to ensure that we weren't about to step into a "solution hole", also known as a sink hole. He told us that he was out hiking a few days earlier with his girlfriend and she took a step and ended up thigh deep in swampy muck. Apparently it's fairly common. We thank the man for the walking sticks and the warning and off we went...

I was in the lead as we first stepped foot onto our chosen trail and wouldn't you know it, a snake slithered right in front of my foot and off into the tall grass on the side. It happened so fast that I didn't even have a chance to take it all in and freak out until Mr X started freaking out behind me when he saw the snake. A great start to a great hike, right? It wasn't so scary though. It was incredibly strange and beautiful, actually. I really enjoyed seeing this preserve. There were all sorts of bizarre bugs and eerie sounds that made us jump several times. We managed to find a 'solution hole' just as we were hoping. Mr X's walking stick went 3/4 of the way down and when we pulled it back out it was covered in thick black muck.

Unfortunately our hike was cut short once we got further into the forest as massive swarm of mosquitoes descended on us (we didn't even think about applying repellent). Off we ran, flailing our arms about and slapping wildly all over.

Our hike worked up our appetites so we headed down the road for some lunch. We pulled off when we saw this place, thinking it had to be a gem of a roadside restaurant. We asked our waiter for his recommendation and he suggested the soft-shell crab sandwich so that's what we both ordered. We hadn't had anything like that before. This is what was placed in front of us:

I didn't think it looked particularly appetizing. After a couple of bites I decided that my first impression was right. So I smothered it in ketchup because there was no tartar sauce available. The ketchup made it worse so I just munched on my fries. I probably won't order soft-shell crab again. Plus, at this point in our trip I was completely sick of fried food. Later the waiter asked me how I had liked it and I lied and told him it was good but that I stopped eating it because I'd ruined it with ketchup. He responded by telling me that oh ketchup would kind of ruin it and I should have tried tartar sauce.

Gators Galore

There are only two ways to get to The Everglades. Alligator Alley and Tamiami Trail. The first is supposed to be the fastest way with loads of gators to see along the way. The latter is supposed to be slower but with more attractions. We opted for Tamiami Trail. We stopped at several of the attractions to scope them out - they were all the same: Gift shops, air boat rides and diners serving this sort of fare:

I so badly wanted to try the frog legs and gator tail but it wasn't lunch time yet so we passed, thinking that there would be ample opportunities to dine on such grub where we were heading. Turns out that wasn't the case and I never got to try them. *sigh* Oh well. I guess I'll have to go back some day.

All along our journey we saw signs like this:

As well as several gator carcasses along the roadside which had apparently become roadkill. The vultures (yes, real vultures) were feasting on the remains. The idea of driving along the road at night and accidentally hitting an alligator kind of disturbs me.

Anyway, all along the way we stopped and got out to go check out alligators, much to Mr X's delight. And seriously? They were EVERYWHERE! You just glance out the window into the canals and swamps and they're just sitting there. Loads of them. I was stunned at how many there were. We have so many pictures of alligators now, it's weird. I only selected a few for this post.

Below, Mr X is incredibly pleased with himself for capturing the above in a photo. He should be, it's a great photo.

Homestead Florida Fruit Farm Tour

One day during our stay in Florida, Mr X and I decided to go on an excursion of a fruit farm. It probably sounds really boring and you may be thinking, "Why would she do that when she could be at the beach?" Well, because I'm weird.

At the fruit farm, you paid an entrance fee and were given a map and then allowed to roam the acreage at your leisure, using the map as your guide. I loved it. The rule was that you weren't allowed to pick anything off the tree directly but you could pick and eat any fruit that had fallen to the ground. I had all sorts of different kinds of fruit while there and unfortunately I have no idea what some of them are called - though when we were there we figured it out using our map. It was great fun. Below are oodles of photos.

(Pineapple)

(Mango)

(Lychee. My personal favorite of the park. I've had them several times before but these were just perfectly ripe and delicious. On the drive home we saw a wooden sign along the road telling us that there was a place just down the road selling Lychee for $2.50/pound. We followed the road, came to a driveway to some guy's house and he had loads of Lychee trees on his property. We gave him $5 and he gave us a two pound bag of them. We enjoyed them for the remainder of our trip, even in the Everglades.)

(Mr X enjoying a mango. Quite possibly the most delicious mango we've ever eaten.)

(I can't remember the name of this one. We didn't try it though. Only rotten ones were on the ground.)

(Whatever this is, parts of it are poisonous. There's a fenced off section of the park that houses poisonous plants. We took a stroll in there. It seemed that all of the ones that weren't good for you were very beautiful.)

(Don't remember...)

(I don't remember what this one was either, sorry).

(This was a Strawberry Tree. I've never seen nor heard of them before. The little red berries taste exactly like strawberries. I ate lots of them. See the berries up close below.)

(This one, I forget...)

(Hmmm...??)

(Avocados)

(Obviously bananas. There were dozens of different kinds of bananas at the park.)

(I don't remember this one either. Nor did I taste this fruit. They weren't ripe yet.)