Drving through the Everglades (April 2018)

The next stage of our journey was through the Everglades to Sarasota. We chose Sarasota because it broke the journey up nicely and it all worked out well.

The route was very straightforward, we pretty much stuck to US Highway 41 (the Tamiami Trail) and there were a few places we could stop along the way - including to do an "air boat" trip across the Everglades - but we chose to stop at the National Park Service (NPS) stop at Shark Valley. (BTW Tamiami = Tampa to Miami - genius!)

Here are some photo's we took:

If I'm honest I don't think I believed we'd see any alligators but boy was I wrong! We literally stepped out of the visitor centre to the start of the walking trail and there was one just sitting in the water having a doze. That was just the first of many - we saw some that were about 8 ft long and some little baby ones. There was also an abundance of other wildlife for hubby to photograph. 

The park also had information about the history of the area including how the original roads were built in the 1920s - there is so much we take for granted these days so it is humbling to remind yourself of what those early pioneers had to go through. I will never moan about poor wifi again!!

We chose to walk around the, very accessible, circular trail but you can also do a 2 hour tram tour around the same route. As always in the NPS sites there were excellent toilets, drinking water and a shop, as well as lots of information about the area and the wildlife.

It was very hot here today with very little shade so, as always, plenty of drinking water, cover up, use sun screen, take it easy and enjoy. 🐊

We spent a few hours here and then continued on our way to Sarasota.