« Everglades Photo Outting »

My husband and I got up bright and early Sunday morning to drive out to Shark Valley in the Florida Everglades for some bike riding and picture taking.  What a beautiful morning we had, clear skies and the heat of summer finally loosening its death grip on South Florida.  To my surprise there is little to no supervision of the public's interaction with the wildlife in Shark Valley, or anywhere in the Everglades aside from the airboat tours.  Not 100 feet from the trail entrance to the observation tower laid a huge alligator, sunbathing its crusted, mossy armor across half the path.  He laid there asleep, undisturbed by the crowd accumulating around him, tourists taking photos, kids hiding behind Mom's legs squealing with excitement.  And to the other side of the trail, massive, thick shrubs and mangroves, the occasional opening in the branches revealing an alcove filled with glowing morning sun.  Baby gators swam around lily pads and jumped on top of each other like rascally puppies.  The mother gator (I guess) made sure to show herself as I lingered perhaps too long taking her family's picture, she swam straight toward me and walked up the bank looking at me the whole time.  She was small but it was intimidating nonetheless.

The dragonflies flew about in cliques, perching on blades of tall grass.  I saw one get stalked and suddenly swallowed by a blue heron.  A different, luckier dragonfly landed close enough to me that I managed to focus on his tiny face while he was looking at the camera.

I made the mistake of deciding to walk alone down the boardwalk before we left the park.  It's a long, winding path built only a few feet above the thick watery swamp below, encased with greenery so thick that it makes for a very dark tunnel-like path, even with the bright sunlight above.  I walked about five minutes without seeing a single soul, the end of the path was never in sight, and I decided to turn back the way I came.  My husband called me to say he was hiding out in the shade and would be waiting for me, so I picked up the pace as I headed toward the parking lot.  I stupidly decided this would be a great time to look through the photos I took since I had enough shade to see my LCD screen.  I rounded one corner, then another, still nobody was in sight.  Directly off to the right I see something move and in an instant I realize what I'm seeing is a huge yellow snake trying to get away from me and off the side of the boardwalk.  It scared the crap out of me, I let out a hearty "Whoa!" and took off running, heart pounding out of my chest.  South Florida has some sneaky snakes, I've personally been accosted twice now.  Yes I thought of going back to take a picture of it, I mean a big yellow snake in its natural habitat, that's a pretty great capture for a quick wildlife photo outting.  But, uh, hell no that was not going to happen.  However, please enjoy the rest of the photos.  Click HERE for a 10-image slideshow.