It was another sunny day in beautiful Florida. After
brekie, we packed up, checked out, and headed back to the Everglades to hunt
for alligators.
The logical place to do so was the Anhinga Trail just
inside the park gates. We saw quite a few birds and photographed some of those
but what we really wanted to see were GATORS! With higher water levels than
last January, they have more choice of where to hang out in the park. During
the dry season, the Anhinga Trail tends to stay wetter than other areas so that’s
why that trail is considered to be a prime viewing area.
Fortunately, we ran into someone who had just seen a
couple of gators so we bustled on over before they disappeared and we lost our
chance. One guy was lounging in the water and the other was lying right beside
the path - a boardwalk above the water level. Much of that animal was in the
dark shade while some of him was in the bright sun. Photographically speaking,
this makes for a lousy photo but we didn’t care. We saw what we came to see!
The morning was zooming along and we had miles to make so
we left the park, satisfied with our Everglades expedition. We plugged in the
GPS and headed to the airport. But along the way, we made a quick stop at the
Fruit and Spice Park, an attraction Dawn had read about. We wanted to check out
their gift shop. It was rather unremarkable so we continued on. Traffic was much busier than when we came in, of course.
After driving on roads with lots of stops and limits of 45 mph we finally
reached the freeway, a toll highway. Unfortunately, due to much road construction
and the GPS not giving us enough warning when to turn, we zoomed past our
turn-off. The rental car needed filling and at the gas station, we got good
directions to the airport.
We were later than we wanted to be but not late enough to
be in trouble. Returning the car went very smoothly and we connected with my
cousins from Saskatchewan. The shuttle took us to the Port of Miami where we
checked in and boarded our Norwegian Cruise Lines ship, the Norwegian Star.
We found our rooms, dropped off our carry-ons, then went
to explore the ship. We hadn’t had lunch so we grabbed a quick bite before
attending the mandatory safety drill. By that time our luggage had arrived and
we began to unpack but soon realized the ship was underway. We headed out to
take a few pics and see the sunset.
Supper was at the Aqua Restaurant: steak, potatoes and
the delicious wild mushroom quesadillas we remembered from the last cruise.
There was chocolate on the dessert menu so that was the only choice, naturally.
Enroute back to our rooms, we stopped to watch the last part of a Welcome Show at
the Stardust Theater, then back to our rooms to call it a day!
