December 29 2016: Heading to Naples for a Franko Family Gathering

We have been quite pleased with our "Keys Cruiser" but knew the headlamp lenses were very yellow and faded.  Knowing we'd be doing some night travel we decided to try cleaning the lenses.  Turns out the Turtle Wax people have a good product. You can see the results.  

Tuesday we packed up and left the boat once again. This time for only a four hour drive to Naples for the Franko Family gathering.  We decided to avoid the freeway and cut across southern Florida on Alligator Alley which goes through the Everglades.  

We stopped at the Big Cypress Swamp Oasis Visitor Center. The swamp is essential to the health of the neighboring Everglades by delivering filtered fresh water for the rich marine estuaries along Florida's southwest coast. 

Big Cypress Swamp is larger than 729,000 acres and is fortunately now nationally protected as a preserve.  In the sixties, plans to drain and develop the swamp were halted as that would have been a disaster for the Everglades.  


Big Cypress National Preserve contains a mixture of tropical and temperate plant communities that are home to a diversity of wildlife, including the elusive Florida panther. There are plenty of alligators, birds and the rest of the typical swamp critters such as otters, snakes and butterflies.


We continued up to Ft. Myers to spend the night so we could pick up Matt and Wendy at the airport. Everything went as planned and we had Matt and Wendy in the car in time for a nice Thai lunch. 




It was still too early to check in at Naples so we decided to stop at the six Mile Slough park. They have a very fun bike rack!










The water in this swamp area was quite low because it was winter but we still saw some alligators, a few birds and some really cool large turtles. The cormorant next to the turtles gives a size perspective.








It's fun to walk on the raised boardwalk among all the Cypress trees. 

The John Franko Family planned a fun filled few days in Naples. We gathered at Pizza Fusion for a great dinner Wednesday evening and planned an Everglades airboat tour Thursday morning. 

The airboat company had just the right size boat to accommodate our group of nineteen.  Someone asked the captain if we had to wear the ear muffs.  He said, "It's optional, but you WILL!" He was right, very loud
















The driver enjoyed speeding through narrow openings and sharp turns. 

We appreciated seeing the alligators close up and in their natural environment.  Also spotted were various birds and two snakes. We came quite close to a couple of very large alligators, 10 - 12 feet long, definitely not the time to get out of the boat.










We all made it back to the boat safe and sound, hands and feet in tact!












The gift shop had some fun alligator humor postcards. 

Too many activities to cover in one blog.  The remainder of the trip will be covered in the next blog.