A boat ride out of Flamingo

Mangrove root growth

 All 6 of us went to Flamingo today, to take a 2 hr boat ride into the Mangroves. It was a pleasant ride on another great day. We saw little wildlife from the boat, but interesting with the guide narrating. 

We had some time before the boat ride to look around in the dock area:

Our tour boat

Unusually that's a crocodile over there in the sun, not a gator

Some tourists on the boat

Ken and I had a front row seat on the boat

Had to share the channel with other boaters

 

 

After the boat ride we saw some Manatees floating around the dock area. They were hard to see, but were those grey lumps you see in the water:

 We amazed at how many osprey were flying around. We eventually saw at least 6 nests right in that area. Chicks in the nest, parents bringing fish back, nice to watch:

This one had caught a fish

We had a picnic before we left the area:

Alan's truck camper and Ken's van

At a town beach area, it looked like cleanup still going on from earlier storms. Likely almost a fulltime job in this exposed location:

Looked like some low-lying fog across the way

We made several stops on the way back, and saw flocks of wood storks, roseate spoonbills, and more gators.

A snoozing gator, we didn't get too close.

Black vulture facing down a crow

Back at camp, Cathie washed her hair in the trailer shower for the first time. It worked ok, much better than nothing. We just sat around the rest of the day, enjoying the breeze and the peace and quiet. We've both stiffened up for some reason, thank goodness for Ibuprofen.

You can see on today's map just how exposed Flamingo is to open water: