Everglades National Park and Key Biscayne National Park - checking parks off our bucket list

If you had an extra day in Florida after a cruise, what would you do? We would cross two more national parks off our list, of course! So when we got off the cruise ship in Miami, we had a full day planned. That included renting a car for transportation to these two parks. We had read terrible reviews about the rental car companies close to the very crowded ship pier. There were stories about people waiting in line for hours for their reserved car, only to find that they were out of vehicles. We didn't have time for such foolishness, so we got on the free trolley (that we have used four times now), and got to a more remote office where there were no lines and plenty of cars. Then we were off on the drive to Biscayne National Park.

If you haven't heard of Biscayne, you are not alone. It's one of the least visited of the 63 national parks. But it will be #51 for us, so we are there! Actually it is a very large park, but 95% of it is under water. The walking path along the shore and the visitor's center are the only parts on dry land, so we did both.

We shared the rocky shore line with this beach lizard.

This is a great place to go salt-water kayaking, but we didn't have our boat with us. So we had to watch the salt-water fish from the shore trail. The water was so clear that it was easy to see the fish under the water.

It was too windy for kayaking or snorkeling, and some of the boat tours were cancelled because of the gusts that day. The light house is only available via boat, and it was closed for renovation. So even if we had planned a full day to see the watery magic of Key Biscayne, we obviously had to do it on a calm day. We will check this national park off our list, but we need to come back to really experience it.

That put us back on the road in our rental car towards the Everglades National Park. But before we do any trails in the park, we have to make the necessary touristy stop in this area. We made reservations at the Everglades Alligator Farm. Before you assume that Mark is doing something stupid (again), that's a statue instead of a real alligator.

The Everglades Alligator Farm even had some baby crocodiles.

This farm raises alligators to sell for their meat. These gators come in all sizes from babies . . .

to big boys . . .

to babies that are postured in such a way that they look like big boys.

We had to try some gator tacos, as the alligators around us watched us warily.

The alligator farm is proud of how big some of their gators grow. This guy is about three times as long as Denisa.

The real reason we came was for the airboat ride into the tall grass. We know this is a very touristy thing to do, but it was another thing to check off our list.

We started slowly through the narrow channel bordered with trees and tall grass near the farm.

Then we headed into the everglades--with its sea of grass. These wide flat bottom boats can float in just inches of water, and it often looked like we were going to go aground. We did get wet as we made one of the 360-degree turns through this soggy grass prairie.

We found one alligator, but it almost seemed like it was staged. Maybe they feed him in that same spot every day?

As we slowed down for our return to the farm, our captain pointed out another creature on this ride. We can add iguana to our list of scaly creatures seen today.

The big propeller behind us was deafening. But hearing protection devices were provided at the beginning of the ride.

Airboat rides are available at many places in this part of Florida. We chose the Everglades Alligator Farm for its price and reputation, but also for the extra things to see here. Most of the other airboat companies don't have hundreds of alligators.

They time the rides and shows so that most travelers can also see the alligator feeding. The farmer told us lots of alligator facts as he threw dead rats into the crowd of scaly reptiles. We learned that a group of alligators is a congregation. The congregation crowded to the front when they saw him swinging rats by their tails.

The other attraction was something like an alligator wrestling show, where the handler showed us the inside view of a gator's mouth. You hope to never to see that under any other circumstances.

As we left the alligator farm, we got to pose with another scaly critter, this pet armadillo.

Now that our tourist stop was finished, we could finally get to Everglades National Park and some hiking. Our first stop was a recommended hike on the Anhinga Trail. Anhingas are one of the few birds that swim with their bodies under water. Because only their s-shaped neck and head is above water when they swim, they are nicknamed "snake birds." They dive underwater to fish for meals. Before they can fly well, they need to perch and spread their wings to dry them out. We found an anhinga hanging out on its name-sake trail drying out.

The trail runs right along a canal, and it didn't take long to find our first gator.

Even though we had just seen so many at the farm, it just seemed more real to find them in the wild.

This gator kept gliding along beside us, so Denisa kept walking and taking his picture. Count it as a double blessing when you see an anhinga and an alligator at the same time on the Anhinga Trail in Everglades National Park.

 

Another double with a heron and an alligator in the same picture.

The trail becomes a loop, and heads over the water on a boardwalk. We spotted a couple more gators from the boardwalk.

The birds were out fishing as we continued along this great trail.

It's easy to spot wildlife when people are stopped and watching it too. But it's more fun when you see one that no one else has spotted. Mark's an eagle-eye wildlife spotter, and that includes alligators. We had this alligator all to ourselves.

He also spotted this anhinga that was fishing in the shallow water near the boardwalk. This bird actually has another nickname--turkey bird--because of the way its tail feathers fan out. We could see that fan  under the water. But what's that in his mouth?

We were certainly surprised to watch as it caught a fish that we assumed was too big for him to actually swallow.

We watched in amazement as that skinny-necked bird managed to swallow that big old fish whole! That was an unplanned wildlife moment!

The Anhinga Loop is well-reviewed for a reason, and it didn't disappoint us.  The brilliant blue skies made a nice back drop for this double crested cormorant.

A close-up shows that hooked beak that makes him a successful fisherman. It also shows that he has bright orange facial skin and brilliant blue eyes that matches the blue inside his mouth.

As we left the Anhinga Trail, we spotted our final alligator of the day.

We had read warnings about leaving cars in the parking lot for this trail. In fact, they often leave a box of tarps for visitors to cover their cars while they are hiking. That's because the vultures like to congregate here and spend their time shredding the plastic on doors and roofs of automobiles and RVs. We didn't see any tarps today, so maybe the problem has been taken care of. The only birds we saw were kinder, gentler species that liked to pose for us.

After hiking the best wildlife trail in the Everglades, we drove deeper into the park. We spent some time at one of the visitor centers. This is a huge national park that deserves several days to see more of it. But on our tight schedule, we were glad we got to see as much as we did. We hiked another trail, that showcased the flat river of grass and water that covers this entire part of Florida. This national park is a slow-moving river that is making its way to the ocean ever so quietly. There were miles of glades as far as we could see. Maybe that's why this is called the everglades.

The sun was already setting as we drove back to our motel in Homestead, Florida. After eating way too much food on the cruise, our gator tacos seemed like a tiny lunch and we were hungry. The next morning we had a sizable drive back to Fort Lauderdale to return our car and catch a plane home. But we had a successful time of checking things off our bucket list at two different Florida national parks!

How did we like Norwegian Cruise Line's Encore Ship?

We've sailed with Norwegian Cruise Line before, and we have enjoyed those vacations. After going on more than a dozen different cruises, we have to say that we've never had a bad cruise. We enjoy the fancy food and the free entertainment, and who doesn't like it when someone cleans their room and makes their bed every day? We thought we'd include some pictures and talk about some of our experiences on our seven-day cruise to the Caribbean on the NCL Encore with our group of 16.

The day we launched out of Miami was a good time to explore the ship. We had warm weather and blue skies, and the swimming deck was full of passengers already working on their tans.

The Encore was launched in 2019, and it's one of the largest in the NCL fleet.

It can hold 3,958 passengers, and our spring break cruise was full. Sometimes it was difficult to find an open table at the buffet with that many people eating at the same time. But it had four different soft serve ice cream stations, and two more for hand-dipped ice cream. They got extra points for having fun toppings like gummi bears. So there was no waiting in line for the ice cream that Mark enjoyed several times each day.

We found that when you arrived early in the morning, you can snag a table by the window for breakfast. You also get some great views of the next port stop.

The Encore is a beautiful ship, and we enjoyed the two days at sea. Our group participated in many of the games. Among the nearly 4000 people on the ship, our group of 16 came out winners in several of the games. It was fun having people to play games with, and to cheer on to victory. We're proud to say that the oldest member of our group, Andy, was quite a celebrity when he won the dance contest on the first day of the cruise.

Denisa and Mark were on the team that won the "Majority Rules" game, and their prizes were insulated metal cups with the NCL logo. Nice!

Communicating with other members of our group was tough on this ship, so we'll remove points for that. A year ago, we could use the ship app for Mark and Denisa to text each other. That is so important when you're trying to find other people in your group on such a large ship. But NCL must have discovered that people wouldn't buy the expensive internet package if they could text each other easily for free. So they changed the app, and we could no longer text on the ship. That's a major inconvenience when trying to keep up with 16 people that range in age from 7 to 70. 

Our group usually met every evening for dinner, enjoying the three course meals together. While the regular dining room is included in the fare, eating at one of the many specialty restaurants has an extra cost. NCL has been running a special for more than a year, that includes one meal at a specialty restaurant with each ticket. The kicker is that you are charged a 20% tip on the expensive total of this "free meal." We hate it when free things cost money NCL! Our group ate at the Teppanyaki Restaurant for our special treat, where our meal was prepared on the Asian Grill in front of us.

We have to say that the entertainment on this ship was below par. A year ago we sailed on the NCL Gem, and we enjoyed a major production in the auditorium almost every evening. The Encore had only one major production, and reservations were required to get a seat. While it was good, we didn't appreciate some of the actions of the all-male cast. Call us prudes, but we were on spring break and had hoped for a more family-friendly show. The magician that performed two nights used number theory to impress the crowd. But we saw right through one of his tricks when he asked for input from the audience. He asked Mark for a number to be totaled together with three other numbers. A couple math whizzes can tell when his new total was less than Mark's number. 

We did enjoy the piano bar guy, and wished we had discovered him before the last night on the ship. We thought some of the best entertainment on the Encore was happening at the karaoke bar. Early evening was family time, and some of our group members were rocking the stage.

Like most ships, the "at sea" day will include a fruit carving demonstration. We haven't missed one of those yet.

The top deck of the ship includes a launch point for one of the longest, steepest tube rides we have ever seen. Throw in the fact that the tubes circle out over the ocean as they spiral out of the side of the ship, and it makes for a thrilling ride. Mark was in the brave group that rode the Ocean Loops tube more than once. The picture below is a blur of one of our group whooshing down the clear section of the water slide. Riders must weigh at least 120 pounds to ride the tube. One of our girls wanted to ride, but she was denied by the scales at the top of the tube. But after a week of eating three-course meals and meeting at the crepe station every evening for another dessert, she finally got up to 120 pounds and got to ride the Ocean Loops.

The children's program must have been good, because the 7-year-old in our group loved to go there. It might have something to do with the fact that he got to play unlimited amounts of video games--something that he doesn't get to do at home.

This is one of only a few ships that has a sizable race car track on board. The last evening was the time for the brave to strap on racing gear and take those cars for a spin over the Caribbean Sea.

Since it was dark outside and the cars were whizzing by at race car speeds, all the pictures were blurry. But everyone thought it was great fun to be driving on top of the ship while sailing through the ocean.

We have always booked inside cabins on our cruises. Our opinion is that we don't spend much time in our room, and they sell for a much cheaper price. This one was very basic, and the bed literally filled it up. But we love the ports and the activities and the food, and we only go to our room to sleep. But we found sleeping to be troublesome in our inside cabin this time. 

The first night we were awakened by the roar of water rushing by our headboard. We bolted out of bed, wondering what that loud sound could possibly be. Mark went out in the hall to talk to all the other passengers that must be awake, and wondering the same thing now. But there was no one in the hall. What?!? We tried to analyze the sound as we laid awake for a couple hours. It was the sound of water rushing through something like a three-foot pipe, then a pause and gurgle, and more water. We complained at the service desk, and got the feeling they knew about the problem. Part of our group was next door, and they heard nothing. The sound happened the second night, but not quite as long. The pipe was definitely in our wall, very close to our headboard. We counted steps to find the area directly one floor above. We found a door with warning signs. 

We think they were perhaps draining and refilling the pools through that pipe in the middle of the night?!? After more trips to the service desk, we were finally moved to our first-ever balcony state room. 

We were told that it was a full ship, but someone got off the ship in St. Thomas. So the last couple nights we slept peacefully, with balcony views. The hospitality staff apologized for our terrible sleep, and sent chocolate covered strawberries to our room. Nothing like that has ever happened to us before!

Besides the sound of rushing water keeping us awake, it was a great cruise. We were blessed to spend it with a fun group of 16 people, and we had a wonderful time! We appreciated the invitation and all the memories! We end it with a final sunset, showing off our balcony for the last time.