Naples!

We did end up taking a guided boat tour through the Everglades which was very informative and interesting. Turns out the alligators prefer fresh water and these canals are very brackish so we saw salt water crocodiles, birds, one snake...of the 28 different varieties in the area, and a manatee. It is extremely hot and humid this time of year. The benefit of this is that it is very quiet and there are not many tourists. Reasons being the bugs are bad, it is not that comfortable temperature wise and most of the birds fly North. We only spent one night there, but did enjoy it.  Leaving the park there are several trails, however the boat guide recommended only one for the above reasons. This particular trail is on a boardwalk so the bugs are not as bad, and it is more open. We did get to see alligators on this trail and the scenery was beautiful. The ponds we're teaming with fish...extremely healthy environment. It was quite late in the day by the time we finished our site seeing. We decided to take the tamiami trail towards Naples. It is a nicer, more scenic drive then taking the somewhat faster highway. There are many air boat tour companies along the way, which we considered, however they were all closed at this point in the afternoon.

As we drove into Naples we were famished and decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner at a steak and seafood restaurant, Bill's! They had live entertainment.....the dude singing had amazing pipes and was singing anything from the Temptations and Motown tunes, to Prince! He was so animated and a great entertainer. Rog ordered the lobster special...two huge lobster and a cob of corn. I had the grilled swordfish. Excellent meal. We were not having any luck finding a state park in the area...the one close by was closed for renovations. They directed us to another park, however I wasn't able to reach anyone there. A search of the area located a private park nearby so we decided to give it a try...our last resort was going to be a Walmart, definitely not our preference. We pulled in and called the after hours number and a lovely lady, who lives in the park and manages it with her husband, came out to greet us and had us follow them to a site. They told us not to worry about anything as they could see we were pretty tired, and to just come see them at the office the next morning. I have to say...although these private sites seem to be a bit more commercial, not as private...it was very nice to have full hookups. No rationing of water, not worrying about having to go to a dump station to empty the septic. It is extremely quiet. This is their off season so there is barely anyone else around. We were given an crazy cheap rate to boot! So far we LOVE this area! The management, Kim and Al, are very solicitous. They gave us all kinds of tips on where to go and what to do in the area. The location is terrific as it's close to beaches, shops, whatever you need is a short bike, walk or drive...there's something very nice about that, having been off the beaten path at the last site. The bugs aren't bad here at all so you can actually sit out and enjoy and there is less humidity, it's very comfortable with nice breezes.

Yesterday we went to Marco island, only a 20 minute drive. It is a gorgeous area. We decided to check out Tiger Tail Beach. Now this is a beach! You wade across a lagoon to get over to it and it is breathtaking. The beach is powdery white sand, with tons of beautiful shells. The water was awesome, just the right temperature to cool off a bit, but very comfortable....we'd bob around for long stretches...and I didn't get cold! There were many birds, more osprey, we saw a pod of dolphins  swimming by....we could have stayed there all night! We did head back for dinner and Rog barbecued some nice jerk chicken for us, fantastic day!