If Joe and Linda were any nicer, we might just have stayed parked in their driveway for a month. I didn’t want to leave, but knew I would feel that way every morning and might was well get along with it. So, we got underway about 1045. We went south in I-75 and then switched over to US 41 at Naples. Instead of saying Tamiami Trail, Helga the GPS kept saying “Tamiamitrami”.
I wanted to stop at the Big Cypress Visitor Center to look at the alligators and birds. I was disappointed that we did not see any along the roadway as we have in the past. I took a few pictures.
It was definitely alligator nap time. Not one of them moved a hair. This one opened its eye for a moment and then went back to sleep. There were not as many of them as we normally see, but I can’t come up with an explanation for that.
Here is a better look at the foot.
There is a very nice boardwalk overlook with chain link fencing at the bottom to keep the alligators from climbing up on the lawn and eating tourists.
This female anhinga was sitting in a tree drying and fluffing her feathers. (The males have a black chest, neck, and head.) Anhingas swim underwater to catch fish, but then they must dry their feathers before they can fly. They don’t have the oils like ducks and geese do.
This Great Blue Heron was hunting on the far side of the water. It did not seem too concerned about being close to the dozing alligator.
I thought this was a Little Blue Heron.
But, after I walked to one end of the boardwalk and back, this Tricolor Heron was standing in the same vicinity as the little blue. I suspect it was the same bird, misidentified at first.
Of course I bought another book in the gift shop.
We got to Midway Campground at 1520 and had covered 140 miles. There were no camp hosts. There are 26 RV sites and were only seven RVs there for the night. It is a really developed campground for a national park. There is even electricity, but no water or sewer hookups. The dump station is near the exit.
We took a walk and then sat next to the pond for a while. We went inside before any mosquitoes could suck our blood.
Dinata Misovec 
Amazing photos. You are so lucky to have experienced this.
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This is somewhere I’d love to see (as long as that chain link fence remains in place. I really don’t want to become an alligator ‘Scooby snack’! The scenery and widlife look stunning and your close-up of the alligator’s foot is excellent. There seem to be plenty of herons – something we see a lot of here, along the River Trent. I’ve never een an anhinga though. It’s interesting that their feathers aren’t oily, like other water birds.
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Beautiful pictures!
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Thank you Anna!
By the way. Today was the first day that I read your URL and made sense of it! I’m a bit slow on on the uptake.
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That’s ok. I’m slow too sometimes 🙂
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Amazing pictures but I got scared a little bit at the alligators, they seemed too close…
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Not too close. We were on a deck above them and there was a fence underneath.
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Ok, got a bit scared there for a tiny second…the pictures are absolutely amazing I can mark off see a real life alligator off my bucket list thanks so much Dinata
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Wow those pictures of alligators!!
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Not so scary because we were up on the deck that had fencing under it. You must be catching up on your blog reading!
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I think the photo of the alligator’s back is beautiful – such gorgeous lines and texture!
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I’ve thought it would be nice to touch one, but would never get that close!
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WOW just what I was looking for. Came here by
searching for real estate attorney in Chicago IL
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I don’t understand. I didn’t have a single snake picture in that post.
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What a fascinating ecosystem! I love your lifestyle~
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Great pictures. Thanks for sharing. 🙂 — Suzanne Joshi
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Thank you and you’re welcome Patricia.
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