Another earlyish start as we set off for the Everglades National Park and our airboat tour through the alligator swamps. For 90 minutes we went through the swamps, sometimes at break neck speed with the boat almost vertical as we took tight corners around the foliage, slowing down to crawl speed in some of the backwater where the alligators were. Yes we saw real alligators – the spooky bit was not seeing them in the water, it was when they looked you in the eye and then slowly sank and disappeared below the surface. There are no photos of the alligators in the wild because the heavens opened – there are photos of another boat in their rain ponchos! To be honest the rain didn’t spoil it all, it was a brief 10 minutes when we were in the backwaters not in open water. In truth it made it more exhilarating. Ok I’ll be honest there are no pictures of me holding the 3yr old alligator because I didn’t! However I did stroke it – my bravery only goes so far! For our added amusement, our captain was Captain Hook!
I know it’s the rainy season in Florida but to be honest we have been so lucky it’s not spoiled the holiday at all. Today the heavens really opened so there was flooding just north of us, but we were inside having lunch and then shopping (nowhere exotic – Rachel was desparate to go to a Walmart superstore!). By the time we’d finished shopping the rain had stopped and we had a great couple of hours in the pool. That’s what relaxing is all about