Dolphins, Mangroves, and a Whole Island to Ourselves
Yesterday on our Airboat tour, Ariel and Wyatt learned that dolphins live in these waters. Ever since, they’ve been wanting to see some. So today we took a 2 hour boat tour and set out looking for dolphins! Paul was the captain of the pontoon boat we were on (it was just the 4 of us, which was great). He was fantastic! Our tour took us along beautiful channels lined with colossal and beautiful homes. There is a lot of wealth along these shores.
And, to our delight, we saw dolphins. The boat buzzed with excitement! We saw three dolphins and one was just a baby. Ariel and Wyatt informed us that we were seeing a mom, dad, and baby dolphin. Seeing a whole family of these incredible creatures made the kids’ day. The three dolphins swam so gently through the water. It was graceful to watch, but I wished one would have jumped out of the water while talking to us like Flipper so that I could have taken the perfect picture for the kids, lol.
Our tour continued through the mangroves and Paul shared some interesting details about these forests. I knew mangroves were hardy and amazing trees to be able to survive in these brackish waters, but I had so much to learn. Did you know, when a mangrove tree absorbs too much salt from the saline soil, then one leaf sacrifices itself for the entire plant? It takes all the extra salt thereby turning yellow and dying. Mangrove forests also move more carbon dioxide from the atmosphere into long-term storage than any other forests. They are considered to be among the planet’s best carbon scrubbers. What an incredible ecosystem! I also learned that the smell I’ve noticed since arriving in this mangrove forest region of Florida comes from the anaerobic sulphur-reducing bacteria which thrive in the oxygen poor mud and release hydrogen sulphide into the air.
We didn’t see any alligators this time and we also didn’t see sharks (Wyatt was sad about this). Paul did share some trivia with us that provided me with a small victory, though. Before coming to southern Florida I mentioned to Ron that this is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles coexist. He doubted that crocodiles live North America, and I assured him I knew what I was talking about. We dropped it, but I knew I was right! Well, Paul told us that crocodiles are, in fact, found in these waters with alligators. I looked over at Ron with the biggest grin on my face and he knew why. One point for me! Alligators are pretty docile for the most part around here but crocodiles are aggressive.
Paul also brought us to a small island, and we had the entire place to ourselves. We spent 30 minutes exploring the white sandy beach, swimming in the water, and collecting so many beautiful shells. If you are ever in Naples we highly recommend Naples Water Tours and hopefully Paul is your captain.
The kiddos both had to attend their class Zoom meetings. So, after the tour, we headed to Celebration Park to eat and set up our computers for them. The area had several food trucks and a small bar. We picked out our lunches and savored a bite to eat along one of the canals. The kids attended their classes and then we were off back to camp to let the pups stretch.
After we regrouped back at camp we loaded up some snacks and towels and headed to the beach. We enjoyed a warm afternoon along the Gulf of Mexico. Ron grabbed a tiny bottle of champagne from the Ritz vending machine as per Brent’s instructions It was a nice treat on the beach. To end our day in Naples we had tacos at a little beachside restaurant that Ron found. They were delicious and he was all smiles.
We were supposed to head north and work our way out of Florida tomorrow, but we have decided to break up our trip a bit. Instead, we’ll head to Key West for a few days and celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving there. We now have the fun task of rebooking all our remaining campsites, but we’ve decided it will be worth it. One thing we’ve learned along the way is that we don’t want to drive more than 5 hours a day anymore. Ron is very excited to see Key West and travel along the Overseas Highway!
Goodnight from sunny warm Florida!