First canoe trip

A few months ago I was talking to Lilys art teacher and he mentioned a kayaking tour that you can take in the Everglades National Park. Kayaks are something that we have wanted for a few years so we knew we had to check it out. Today the weather was perfect for such an adventure.

Whilst Jacob checked out all the options for kayak rental the girls and I took a wander.

Something about these palm trees made them perfect for lounging

I have never seen a sign before that warned about Vulture damage.
Something odd in a palm tree
Oh dear there is another one

Jacob decided that it would be more fun if we could all go together and the only way that was going to be possible was in a boat or a canoe. We choose a canoe.

There were very few rules, adults on either end, kids in the middle, kids must wear life jackets. That was it and as you will see we totally did what we were told, with the life jacket rule. The others, not so much.

The 3 of us

Rosie takes an oar
Lily takes over
Rosie and Lily are both in charge at this point
Daddy back in charge straightening us up.

Rosie up front
Lily up front. Changing places with these 2 in a canoe is hilarious. They aren't ever so graceful.
We saw some really beautiful things scattered throughout the mangroves.

We don't see many gulls around here but today we saw plenty

Majestic Blue Heron
This is where we were
Lily spotted this little fella, I'm not sure what it is.
A heart shaped leaf.

We saw a few of these.

This is a Florida Crocodile, not a Gator. This huge chap scared the living daylights out of Rosie. She was ready to get out of the canoe and get back on land. He was pretty large and gnarly!
Another Crocodile. These are quite rare, there are gators everywhere here but not so many crocs. Jacob was born here and this was the first time he ever saw one in the wild. (I see them a couple of times a week as one of my clients lives on the water and their neighbourhood is riddled with them.)

So fabulous to be this close to such a beautiful bird

She is sitting high above her nest
This is her nest.
The white birds, that you have to squint to see, are white pelicans. One of the park ranges had a fabulous telescope set up and he let us look through it at them. Really beuatiful

More gulls
crazy kid in a tree
There were signs everywhere that warned:

Do Not Feed Or Disturb The Wildlife.

Fine Up To $5,000
We explained to them when we first go there that the land and the water belonged to the birds and creatures and that we were only visiting so they must be respectful. They were. I think we scared alot of birds and gators and crocs and fish away whilst in the canoe with our raucous laughter but it was never intentional.

As we slowly meandered back to our car Lily spotted a flock of gulls. We told her she could try and creep up to them but was not to scare them away. Jacob tagged along. It didn't work!

We had such a fantastic day. Both girls fell asleep on the way home. We can't wait to go back again. We spotted a wild life rescue station on the way home so that is next on our list.

Thank you Mr. Terry for the fabulous suggestion. Share another gem with me please.