Exceptional Adventures in Paradise
On our trip to Collier Seminole State Park last year, Steve and I hiked through an area that had just been reopened after a prescribed burn. Parts of the forest floor and many tree trunks were still smoldering! Surprisingly, though, the palmettos and ferns were already putting up new shoots. I guess nature is going to keep going no matter what her human component gets up to.
After our visit to the seagrass beds off Key Largo, we delved into the ecology of mangroves. A thicket of mangrove always reminds me of a fortress. Red mangroves lining a shoreline or roadside look impenetrable! From the water, the roots look forbidding and mysterious, and from land, the thought of trying to balance on those roots feels like a recipe for broken limbs.
Continue reading “Mangrove Fortresses: More Than an Enchanting Empire”
After an afternoon and evening of orienting ourselves to Marine Lab, Tuesday morning started with breakfast and a short class on seagrass ecology. Florida has three predominant species of seagrass: turtle grass (Thalassia testudinum), shoal grass (Halodule wrightii), and manatee grass (Syringodium filiforme). Turtle grass has a broad, flat blade that is rounded at the top. Shoal grass, the first grass to grow in an area that has been disturbed, has a narrower blade with a flat or notched top. Manatee grass is cylindrical and has very shallow roots.
Continue reading “Strong Seagrass Beds: Foundation for Thrilling Coral Reefs”
It’s too hot to be out on the trail, but it’s almost never too hot to be on the water, and I was recently fortunate enough to attend a week-long class at Marine Lab Key Largo. The class, Coastal Marine Ecology, was marketed to teachers. Since I consider myself an informal educator, I signed up way back in February. Focusing on the basics of the marine ecology of the Upper Keys, the class was an in-depth exploration of the interaction among seagrass beds, mangroves, and coral reefs.
Continue reading “Something a Wee Bit Different at Marine Lab”
According to my calendar, April is Spring, but travel to the Everglades and you will find that it is already summer. It’s hot and there are mosquitoes!
As soon as I got home from my first trip to Collier Seminole State Park, a Camping Concierge opportunity arose with a family who wanted to try something new — they agreed that Collier Seminole sounded like a good fit for their family. So I reserved their campsite and then mine, and gave thanks for my good fortune. . . I never dreamed I would get to go back to this special place so soon. Steve agreed to accompany me, and once I had the menus and adventures planned for my concierge family, I could start daydreaming about kayaking in Ten Thousand Islands.
There was a birthday to celebrate on Saturday morning, so hot chocolate bombs and s’mores seem like a natural, even for a young man who does not include camping on his top ten list of fun things to do. Applewood smoked bacon for breakfast that day, too.
Almost every campsite at has a Royal Palm (Roystonea regia) towering overhead. While they only grow as natives in South Florida, I can’t think of a tree that shouts YOU’RE IN FLORIDA more clearly! Their smooth gray trunks support a bright green crownshaft, from which emerge the leaves. These leaves may be 10-15 feet long, and they weigh up to 50 pounds when they are fresh. It is a wonder, I think, that more people are not injured when these leaves fall!
Gumbo Limbo (Bursera simaruba), on the other hand, is not as obvious, but just as distinctive once spotted. If you sit in the sun long enough, you may find your burnt skin peeling, just as the Gumbo Limbo bark peels in copper flakes. It easily earns the nickname Tourist Tree! These trees are found all over South Florida, and in the tent loop at Seminole Collier State Park, they are usually just behind the vegetation line lining the road and campsites.
It was, as I mentioned, hot, but we were grateful that rainy season had not yet started because the mosquitoes were minimal. There were a few deer flies around – their painful bites are hard to ignore, so we were relieved that they weren’t more plentiful. On the morning of the day we left, I noticed large insects buzzing loudly as they flew near the ground on unoccupied campsites. Some of them appeared to be going underground and coming out of the ground. A Ranger told me they are Cicada Killers. While they were so busy flying I could not get a photo, here’s a link that will tell you about their interesting habits, and a short video. I’ve never noticed them before!
We discovered a new-to-us State Park on this trip, and I have to highly recommend it. It’s Delnor Wiggins Pass State Park, and we spent what might just be my favorite beach day ever on the continental U.S. The day was sunny and bright, the sand was fine and sugary, the air and water were both perfect temperatures, and the surf was perfect for bobbing on one’s back enjoying the gentle waves. Between the beach and parking areas, there is a wide strip of vegetation providing shade and privacy to the picnic tables tucked among the trees. All of these spaces were occupied, so I do not have pictures, but it is a lovely place and I know we’ll be returning. There’s no camping at Delnor Wiggins, but there is some awesome kayaking, and we took advantage of that to explore the mangrove islands and their small beaches. There are many areas where the water is shallow enough to splash and play. A dolphin crossed our path as we paddled out, and we watched an osprey enjoy its lunch in the trees above us.
We had been watching the weather all week, because the last thing I want to do is put a family in harm’s way. On Monday morning, it became apparent that the thunderstorms which had been threatening us all week were finally going to materialize. Steve and I spent most of the day with my concierge kids. We built solar ovens (Thank you so much to Del Franco’s Pizza for supplying the pizza boxes!) and played some of the amazing games I had brought along. I buy my games here; this independent bookstore helped me maintain my sanity during the COVID-19 lockdown and I will always support the owner when I can. Taco Cat Goat Cheese is one of the funniest games I’ve ever played, and this was our first opportunity to play it. Spot It, Itzi, and Tenzi were also super fun. Good heavens, I don’t know when we’ve laughed so hard! There’s nothing like three kids who are not your own and a tableful of great games to make the time fly.
On my first trip to this area, Judy and I had an amazing day on Jane’s Scenic Drive, and I really did not want to leave without taking Steve to see it. I was astonished at the change in scenery in such a short time! In January, the road leading to Jane’s, FL-29, was bordered by water, and the waterbirds were so thick it was hard to identify them all. On this day, though, only the canal along the right side of the road was wet. There were few birds in evidence. Once we got on the Drive, though, there was a bit more to see.
Nearly as soon as we entered the swamp, we saw a softshell turtle who had made her way to the roadside to begin building a nest. Poor thing, that road is not soft and she really had a job ahead of her. Well, this is why no one ever says that motherhood is easy, I guess.
I love ferns, and I love air plants. We saw a bird nest fern that was situated so that the light was shining through the leaf, making the spores easily visible. This might be one of my favorite memories of this trip.
We stopped at one of the trams so Steve could get a good look at the dry swamp. He saw this snake, which we only identified as a cottonmouth much later. I am glad it was well-fed and inactive, because we got pretty close. This is not something I recommend. . .avoid venomous animals! Had I known better, you wouldn’t be looking at this picture. The identifying features that I’ll recognize instantly next time are the heavy body, the dark facial band, and the rough scales. There is also a banded pattern that is hard to see, although this feature is shared with harmless water snakes. The clincher, which is impossible to see in this photo, is the vertical pupil. Next time, I won’t get close enough to see that feature . . . being snake bitten on Jane’s is not a pleasant prospect.
We also saw this pretty little ground orchid. You can get as close as you like to these! They don’t bite.
I’ve already reserved a campsite for next year, in hopes that I can show Steve the swamp when it’s wet. I would like to camp here every month and watch the seasons change. Of all the exquisite places in Florida, this is one of my favorites, and I can’t wait to get back!