Big Cypress National Preserve

After arriving at the Monument Lake Campground and settling in, we decided to have a couple of fairly relaxing days.  We couldn’t really walk the dogs because there were alligators everywhere, but we could do a couple of laps around the lake a few times a day which was enough to let the dogs stretch their legs and do their business, while not giving me too much time to work myself into a worried mess.  It seemed like most campers had dogs, but everybody kept them pretty close to their camper.  One of the camp volunteers told us that no dogs had been killed in at least a year or two, which made me feel better until the second day we were there when I looked out the window over the sink as I was washing the lunch dishes in the middle of the day and saw a very large alligator just strolling down the road past the dumpsters.  When I got brave enough to finally take the dogs out we saw another sunning itself in the grass on the other side of the lake, and we gave that one a wide berth and didn’t spend much time gawking.

“A” is the large Alligator basking beside the lake. “B” is the lake Bank, on either side. “C” is our Camper on the other side of the lake. This alligator wasn’t especially close to us, but was in a position that *could* have been a little too close for comfort.

​Dog worries aside, we saw a lot more wildlife during our stay at Big Cypress than we had in the Everglades.  It seemed like you couldn’t even look in any direction without seeing multiple kinds of birds, and usually an alligator or two.  Along the Tamiami Trail, they are right on the edge of the road on the canal bank which runs the entire length of the highway, just sunning themselves.  The trees are full of birds of all sorts, herons and egrets and raptors and crows and many smaller songbirds.  We took a couple of bike rides down the Loop Road, and besides seeing a lot of birds, we’d see alligators just hanging out by the side of the road.  Without the dogs, they didn’t bother me, although we still kept our distance.

The Loop Road is a well maintained dirt road through the cypress tree filled swamp. The preserve is very aptly named.

The alligators aren’t shy.

I was much less worried about them coming after us when I realized they made no effort to hide, which they would have done had they been stalking by passers.

We had spectacular sunsets from our campsite.

We found that everyone at the campground was very nice.  Our next door neighbor was a couple who had driven in their Class A from Ontario, and he and Tom spent a lot of time sharing maintenance tips.  We were surprised how much our Belize build had in common with the Class A, and how many things we actually liked better about ours.  We also met a couple who had a dog who looked a lot like Kismet, so we let the dogs play – on leashes, of course – while we talked.  It turned out Jose was from Puebla, and was missing the traditional New Year’s dinner his mother was making, so I remembered that I still had some mole powder from our friends in Queretaro, and made Jose happy by sharing some so he could tell his mother he was also going to have enchiladas for New Year’s.  Everybody seemed to be enjoying the perfectly beautiful weather, which was sunshine and low 80s during the day, and comfortable nights in the 60s.  ​

​We left the campground on New Year’s Day and headed for friends Erik and Rhea in Sarasota.  A few people had suggested we visit the Clyde Butcher Gallery, and we were disappointed to find that it was closed for the holiday.  The same friends had also suggested the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park, and that did not disappoint.

To us, this park seemed more Everglade-y than the Everglades.

We got to the park and decided to walk down the Jane’s Memorial Scenic Drive before attempting to drive it.  We found it to be clear and flat, so we did our four mile walk, went back to the camper for lunch, and then drove the six-mile dirt road through the swamp.  The road used to be a railroad bed, so it’s raised above the swamp and was easily passable for the camper.  When we passed oncoming vehicles, somebody had to pull to the shoulder, but everybody was agreeable about deciding who had the better pull-off spot and we made it to the parking lot at the end of the road without any issues.  The end of the road is the site of the largest grove of Royal Palms in the state, so we spent a little while walking down the trail and looking at the many Royal Palms.  It is indeed a very large grove, and we didn’t even walk all the way through before returning to the camper to retrace our path through the swamp and continue on our way to Sarasota.

We decided to take the backroads rather than I-75, so it was very clear when we got out of the swamp and back to civilization.  It was also very clear when we reached the area that had been damaged by Hurricane Ian in September, and we were surprised at how much damage is still evident, even though most everything is up and running at this point.  I don’t think we saw a shopping center with all of its signs intact, and there were many blue tarped roofs visible from the state highway.  We also passed timber stands where all the trees were snapped off, which we know from Belize is a sign that a hurricane passed through and did a lot of damage.  

We made it to Erik and Rhea’s shortly after dark, and found that they live in a wonderful quiet neighborhood where nobody minds if friends park their big truck camper in the yard for a few days.  Rhea had made a delicious traditional southern New Year’s dinner, although she substituted spanakopita for collard greens, which we all agreed was a good substitution.  We spent Monday touring Sarasota, and had a very yummy seafood lunch at Walt’s Fish Marketbefore heading out to Lido Beach and taking a run through downtown Sarasota. Tuesday, we took advantage of being in civilization, and walked to the local Walgreen’s for our somewhat overdue covid boosters.  Wednesday, we are headed for Punta Gorda to meet my cousins Barb and Dale for lunch before heading for Tallahassee.

What’s a meet-up with friends without a group selfie on the beach?