Homestead/Everglades National Park/Sanibel 🇺🇸

Arrived from the Keys and tourist/overpriced areas to a hostel after my taste - there is an outdoor shower, THE hammock is there, like REALLY THE(!), and a damn well equipped kitchen - let's plan our further route, logically we go to the Everglades National Park since we are so close... the first tour we find costs $130, which of course is not pleasant. So we chat our way through the area and check out the alternatives. There is something cheaper! So we gather a few more people and leave at 9 in the morning, or at least we try, ultimately we start about an hour later and the free tour at 10:30 is already tight, so full speed ahead. We barely catch the tour... but I have met a better guide.

The first thing we see are some alligators, various birds, lizards, and of course mosquitoes. The mosquitoes here in this area are definitely the most intense I have experienced lately.

We happily decide to abandon our initial plan of taking a kayak and navigating by ourselves, because the wind is damn strong and I am too lazy. Now there are two boat tours, one towards the ocean and one inland.

We choose the latter and sail through various types of mangroves towards Bear Lake, or I forgot the other name. There is not much to see here except for crocodiles, yes I know that is already special, but there is the myth that you can see dolphins (I have seen one😎) or manatees. A little disappointed but still amazed by nature we return to the harbor and guess what? Exactly! A manatee, so my day is saved and I am happy.

Back at the hostel, we decide relatively late and spontaneously to cook, because unfortunately there is no dinner for everyone today. And so, we have beer and start talking to a few guys from the USA, who are somewhere between rednecks, Palatinate Germans, and Trump voters, and of course they have visited the Navy/Army, and somehow we spend the whole evening together. It's always interesting to listen to such stories and check or clear away mutual prejudices. But the two gentlemen are not completely normal.

Conclusion of the day, I am quite impressed by alligators, crocodiles, and manatees, but the landscape is definitely interesting as well.

And after endless discussions about whether it is useful to have access to firearms or not.

We go to his car, mainly so he can show me where the handbrake of our car is, but 2 seconds later I had a gun in my hand myself. Somehow strange to know that with a flick of the finger I can kill someone, but I was also somewhat overwhelmed at Walmart because shotguns, rifles, and other guns were offered practically between milk and bread. It's not for me... but the experience can be made.

A little off track, we continue to Sanibel in the morning, there are supposed to be good beaches on this island... but first we take a little boat tour where they promise us dolphins, and luckily we actually get to see them!

So I am happy. Additionally, we can watch a fisherman with a shark on his line and a manatee paddling along. Cool stuff.

Afterwards, we drive to a really nice, unfortunately somewhat crowded beach to relax, and on the way back we stop at a suitable spot for us to admire the pretty awesome sunset for the time being.