Erie, Pennsylvania
December 2, 2022
Posted on January 16, 2023
On Friday, December 2, 2023 we were not expecting the disembarkation process to take so long. Since we were coming from Europe, every crew member as well as every passenger had to go through U.S. customs. Ordinarily, this would not be a challenge, but the ID cameras were not working. That meant a much slower process over an hour and a half.
Our bus trip from the Port Everglades took us through the Power and Light Company, fuel tanks, more cruise ships, container ships, and three heavily guarded entrances. Finally we were on our way to Holiday Park where we would tour the Everglades. Our tour guide was talkative and told us Fort Lauderdale was the Venice of America. She described the Everglades as a prairie underwater. The terrain was flat for miles.
The Everglades system is 40-50 miles wide and 100 miles long. It flows into the Gulf of Mexico. The water is brackish near the Gulf. American alligators are freshwater reptiles, the crocodile lives in salt water.
We
arrived at Everglades Holiday Park and were soon escorted to their state
of the art air boats. The ride through the wetlands was exhilarating as we
navigated the grassy river and tried to spy alligators. Because it was cool
that day for alligators, we only saw a couple small ones on the ride. We did
see wading birds and other water birds, like egrets and herons and osprey. https://www.evergladesholidaypark.com/
After the ride, we headed to the world-famous Gator Pit where we met one of the Gator Boys from the Gator Boys from the Gator Boys Rescue Team seen on Animal Planet. This man should have been a comedian, he was very funny, and I should have written some of his jokes down. He did a live show with alligators in the Gator Pit which was very informative. He had all of his fingers and was not afraid of the reptiles at all.
Anyway, we learned that they are non-kill trappers. The guide said 8000 nuisance alligators are killed each year. Generally, if an alligator is trapped in public areas and housing developments and is over 4 ft. long, it is killed. This group rescues those alligators if it can and places them in a sanctuary. Alligators cannot be relocated because they can find their way home.
- An alligator can go 4-5 months with no food
- Their jaw has 2000 pounds of crushing power
- They have black skin, not green
- Their eyes are protected by three eyelids (alligators have two eyelids to protect each eye. However, when an alligator submerges, a clear, third eyelid covers each eye. This eyelid acts as swim goggles and helps them to see objects clearly under water).
- Their brain is the size of a thumb (and they can still find their way home!?!)
After the show we walked through a sanctuary area with what seemed like dozens of huge alligators. Several years ago I had my photo taken with a big one in St. Augustine—it is on my Facebook page.
Off we went on the bus to the airport—that experience was not too bad except the bus dropped us off about a half block from the entrance. TK and I are getting good at managing six bags of luggage plus computer tote. HaHa.
The rest of the day was uneventful—we were happy to eat lunch and eventually arrive home at midnight. Faithful Son Brian picked us up at midnight and we were HOME sweet home! Bedtime!
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