Day 57 - Stuck and 'no outlet'

01/08/17

What is going on with Florida? When we wake up this morning, the motel room is cool and the windows are fogged up. A quick look outside reveals that it is freezing cold - still. After it cooled down to 8 degrees last night, it is only 4-5 degrees this morning. This is extremely cold for Florida, as we later find out. The cold air from the north is bringing in the breeze. Normally, it is between 20 and 30 degrees here in the 'winter'. Luckily, we are indoors. For now, because at 9 o'clock we are going on a boat tour and out onto the water.

We pack our things and drive the 40 minutes back to the harbor in the national park. Since we ate a lot yesterday, we skip breakfast. On time, we set off on our 'captainess' - we call her Jenny because we both can't remember her name - and two Germans (Paul and Ella) for the mangrove tour.

Right from the start, she informs us that the water level is extremely low (40-50cm) and it will be difficult to maneuver the boat through the shallows of the marshes. We zoom off, sometimes slow, sometimes at full speed. And then it happens. We get stuck on a sandbank. Jenny swears like a sailor. But she manages to free us from this predicament and lead us through the shallows to the desired side river. Due to the wind, it is freezing cold, but luckily the sun is shining.

We experience an exciting ride with numerous insights from Jenny. We see some birds, small crabs, and many mangroves. The mangroves, by the way, are one of the few tree species that survive in saltwater and create a unique biosphere. We go deeper into the swamp. The river becomes narrower and the trees denser (tree tunnel). Unfortunately, we don't see any alligators (it's too cold) or fish, snakes, or small sharks (brackish water is too murky). By the way, Paul is also entertaining, he constantly asks Ella questions: 'Ella, do you know... Ella, have you seen... Ella, can you calculate the tip?'. Finally, we reach a bend in the river, where the path is blocked by trees. So it means no outlet and turn back.

After 1 hour and 45 minutes, we are safely back in the harbor.

We get back in our car and realize that the heating works, lucky us :-) Slowly we warm up again and head northwest. During a short detour, we see some alligators sunbathing and lazing around again. Here is the offspring, can you find it?

Continuing on, we pass Marco Island. There we also make a lunch detour and visit the beach. It seems to be an affluent island, but the beach is flooded with thousands of shells. However, the sea is rough and murky.

Finally, we continue towards Fort Myers. We stop at the Miromar Outlet Center and go shopping. Well, that's our intention. Both of us came back empty-handed - so 'no outlet' again today. It's about time we get to our accommodation. Unfortunately, it won't be ready until 7 pm. So we make a short detour to the pub and watch some football playoffs. We arrive at our destination at 7:30 and are greeted warmly. Tonight we are staying in the guest room of an American/Indian family, booked through Airbnb. After dinner, we soon hear from our room: Zzzzzzzzzz...

Photo of the day: a living mustard tube