From Key Biscayne we drove south to the Keys. First we just wanted to go as far as Key Largo, but one of the Uber drivers advised us to visit Islamorada instead. As it turned out, we were wise to follow his advice :D We stopped at the
Lorelei Restaurant at the mangrove beach of Islamorada. After dinner we set out for an hour of stand-up-paddling during sunset. We had good experiences from our first try in
Belize and were happy to try it again. We were told to be back shortly after sunset, as this was the time when the crocodiles came out to hunt! The start was great, but then we recognized that we would have to overcome the current we were riding on our way back... which turned out to be quite some work-out^^ but we made it in time to view the sunset and return the board before the crocodiles caught us :) We had another drink at this nice place and then drove to homestead where we stayed in a very hotel-like Airbnb.
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| sunset view from our board |
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| sunset kisses on the board^^ |
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| late sunset from the restaurant |
The next morning (08.04.) we drove to the Everglades National Park. After getting some park overview at the Ernest Coe visitor center, we went to the Royal Palm visitor center and walked the Anhinga trail - easiest access, yet best wild-life spotting... before eating our lunch outside the visitor center, we spotted the first two aligators sunbathing. Within every few meters walking his short trail, we spottet some animals. Funny birds, funny turtles and many aligators! We tried a longer close by walking trail, but the heat and the rather boring scenery made us cancel that one. Instead we visited the Pa-hay-okee outlook. It was clear that at the end of the dry season the everglades were more dry grasland than swamps. After exiting the Everglades National Park, we stopped at
Robert is here and enjoyed refreshing cool watermelon and awesome shakes.
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| Easy wild-life spotting at Anhinga trail... |
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| funny birds drying their feathers in the sun... |
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| some remaining swamp in the dry season... |
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| many aligators! |
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| and the funny elephant nose turtle :) |
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| Selfie at Pa-hay-okee outlook |
Well-refreshed, we continued to the gigantic
Sawgrass Mills Outlet Mall, where we spent almost 5 hours of shopping :) Exhausted we arrived quite late at our Airbnb place in Fort Lauderdale. The owners were very cute and helpful. The next morning (09.04.) we went for a run along Fort Lauderdale's lovely riverwalk. Our Airbnb hosts meanwhile filled the kitchen table with lots of food for breakfast - a real treat! We checked out and went to the beach for some final sunbathing and swimming. On the way on Las Olas Boulevard to the beach one can spots plenty huge yachts. The beach itself was very similar to Miami Beach. Though, there were more bars and drunk folks close to the beach :) We really enjoyed our last beach day and so did our little minion^^ Back in downtown, we were almost starving and found some nice Mexican food at
Roccos Taqueria. Then we drove to the airport, brought the car back and flew back to Boston.
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| Art deco life guard stations can be found at Fort Lauderdale Beach too :) |
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| Family time :P |
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| I guess the little minion would love to ride on such a boat^^ |
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