Woke up early AGAIN! With Suzanne and Max still snoring away.
Breakfast included in the hotel today, so it was off to reception where it was served.
I decided to be a bit more healthy today, and had cereal. Fruit Loops. Pure sugar, so maybe not that healthy after all.
We then gathered what we needed and it was off to the visitors centre to work out exactly how we were going to achieve today’s objective. Experience the Everglades!!
After a chat with the nice lady, we opted to head off to the Alligator Farm, where we could see ‘gators close up and even go for an Airboat ride!
By this time it was about 10.30, so we paid our admission and wandered around for a bit waiting for the Alligator show to start at 11am.
This consisted of a man getting up close and personal with these creature, putting his head a little too close to the teeth of the alligator for my liking, but it is his life!
He also pulled out baby ones, about 12 inches long for people to hold. Their mouths were temporarily taped shut and in hindsight you can tell from the photo I wasn’t entirely sure I agreed with this.
At the time I wanted to give Max the opportunity to get close to see how he reacted and to see if he was scared, but felt a bit uncomfortable doing so, for the baby gators sake. You can tell they are really well looked after, but still…..
After the Alligator show it was the main event. Our Airboat ride! We wanted to make sure Max was safe, and after being reassured we all climbed board.
Not before however, a German woman pushed her way passed us and sat in the middle of the row we wanted. We climbed in behind her and she was expecting us to move so she could sit in the middle because “she didn’t want to get wet”. Sod off, you are going to get wet it says so on the warning signs. Even the pilot asked her to move and she refused.
So Suzanne, Max and I squeezed in next to her. Max’s safety being middle of the boat far more important than some woman not wanting a few splashes!!
We all had a blast, and saw plenty of wild animals, birds, lizards and alligators out in the swamp. We all got wet when the boat did a 360, and Max seemed to enjoy it once he got used to it!
After the ride we saw the Alligators being fed, then it was lunch time before we headed out into the Everglades further to do battle with the Mosquitos. When we got back to the hotel later that evening, it was clear that Max and I won our battle. Suzanne however not so lucky with at least 7 nibbles on her back!! Itchy night in store for her!!!!
We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the trails in the National Park. The only downside is we had to keep getting Max in and out of the car. We had been telling Max for a while he is going on holiday and we are convinced he is thinking to himself “Blimey, when is the holiday going to start, this journey has been going on for days!”
On arrival at the last trail of the day, the Anhinga Trail he had dozed off in the car. We thought we’d take the chance and try to get him from the car seat to the buggy. A mistake bigger than the Super Moon. 20 minutes later he had stopped crying and calmed down and we enjoyed the walk around the last trail.
We bumped into an older American couple walking, and got talking to them, who told us he had a friend who was big in the farming world over in the U.K. He must have liked a chat because every time we saw him again, he was talking to another couple or family!
Just as we were leaving, an Alligator came swimming by! It was nice to see on in the wild well as in the park earlier.
We then made our way back to the motel, before heading out for a quick dinner in a local Italian restaurant called Capri. Max first time eating in a restaurant with table cloths!
Bed time now, tomorrow we are faced with our longest drive of the holiday. 3 hours down to The Keys. Stay Tuned!!!
