Catching up Finally!

Hoping to I finally have a Wi Fi signal and can start getting some pictures posted. We are at Oscar Scherers State Park near Osprey Florida just south of Sarasota.

Ruins of the old city of Panama from the early 1500's. The old city was abandoned in the 17th century and much of the building materials scavenged to build new dwellings in the new city.

The modern skyline behind the tower in the old city.

The ruins and original city site have been preserved as Panamá la Vieja

A cruise ship entering the Pnama Canal locks.

This enormous cruiser filled the lock completely. We were told that a cruise ship like this will pay approximately $400,000 to pass through the Panama Canal.

The bulk of the traffic through the canal consists of cargo ships such as this one, that transport goods across the globe.

The huge container ships pay the highest tolls to use the canal. To date the highest toll for a single ship was in excess of 1.2 million dollars!!

Here we are getting ready to take a ferry onto the lake at the high point of the canal system.

We saw white faced monkeys and the guides were feeding them grapes to get them to come aboard.

Tamirin monkeys liked papaya

Another tamarin monkey. 

This is our group getting ready to board the tour bus. Caravan uses comfortable new buses for their tours,

This is the grounds of our hotel in the rainforest of Panama. We were near Gamboa Eco park.

One of the species of toucans we saw at the rainforest hotel.

My travelling companion.

Back to Camping in Florida

We ended our trip to Panama last Wednesday. Flying back to Miami took most of the day since we had to coordinate a shuttle to the airport and our 2:45 flight and then a shuttle back to the hotel in Miami.We started from our resort in Panama at 10 am and got to our hotel in Miami at 7pm.  All this for a two hour flight!
Panama was a great experience. We had a cruise through three of the locks in the canal (we shared the locks with a 61 foot catamaran and a small ship. They try to fill up the locks so as not to waste time and water). When we flew in to Panama I counted sixty ships anchored at sea waiting to enter the Panama Canal!
We stayed at a beautiful beachfront resort for a couple of nights and a resort in the rainforest for a couple more. The other hotels were in Panama City and were very nice although not a lot to do around them.
Our tour was good and the food was great, but we were a little disappointed that we didn't see more of the country of Panama. Our tour concentrated on the canal and we were confined to the sixty miles between the Caribbean and the Pacific oceans.
Panama City was very impressive with almost two hundred high rise skyscrapers making up the skyline. About two million people live in the city and it was quite busy.
The rainforest was beautiful and we saw monkeys and sloths. One of our days we took a boat ride on Gatun Lake and visited a tribe of indigenous people. One had t wonder though how much of what we saw was a nostalgic recreation of how the people lived decades ago. They now made their living from selling trinkets and crafts to the tourists who came to see them.
We left Miami and picked up our camper on Thursday and spent two nights at Highland Hammock Sate Park near Sebring, and are now at Myaka River State Park for five nights. I have a WiFi signal at the cafe here at the park, but not strong enough to post pictures from our trip. I will catch up as soon as I can.

The Florida Everglades

This is our fourth trip to the Everglades and we're spending seven nights at Flamingo. The last time we were here was in the spring before the 2017 hurricane came through. There was some damage that we could see coming in. Some of the mangroves have been choked out by salt infiltration and sediment build-up. Areas looked dead and quite sad. The campground was intact, and we have a nice site. The restaurant and visitor center at Flamingo lost their roof and mold became a problem. The are both closed down pending renovation. The conscionaires that run the boat rentals and tours and the cafe are building a new facility where the old resort was west of the current boat launch. They are scheduled to open in two years.
Everything else is as always, and we have been touring all of the attractions in the park. It's always nice to be here. The bugs are quite scarce and its no problem to be outside. Last time we were here nobody ventured out of their campers!
We have only a few more days and wee fly out of Miami to Panama City for our tour of the Panama Locks. Probably will not be posting for a while, but I will be taking pictures to post on our return.

The roof blew off of the visitors center and restaurant at Flamingo.

The gulls were waiting for a tour.

This american crocodile was guarding the entrance to the boat launch on Florida Bay

New eco shelters at the campground on the bay.

This hawk was patrolling the campground.

Hurricane damage at West Lake's boardwalk.

Kayaking out to Coot Bay

This was a mini-croc. Only about eighteen inches long.

Dwarf Cypress forest in the glades.

A heron at Royal Palm visitor center. Not as much wildlife this year. Probably since there is more water and they are dispersed over a larger area.

Air plants blooming. 

Our last day at John Pennenkamp SP

We're having a great stay at Key Largo. The weather has been great with varying temperatures, but always wearing shorts regardless of the weather. We've had a little rain, a little sun, a lot of wind and some calm days. What a mix. We never know what the next day will bring.
We took a drive down to Marathon Key a few days ago and enjoyed Sombrero beach for an afternoon. This is one of our favorite beaches in the keys along with the small beach at the south foot of Seven Mile Bridge. We went there also to see if it has re-opened after the 2017 hurricane. It has, but the bathrooms are still being re-built, and so are not opened.
Some of the small islands off the keys were flooded with salt water during the storms and all of the mangroves were killed off. They look quite barren now.
Today we went to Indian Key to kayak out to the small island 1/2 mile offshore, but thje winds were too strong. Maybe it was just as well because after we loafed in the sun and slight rain there for a couple of hours the flats were completely exposedc with the low tide. We might not have been able to kayak off of Indian Key!

The pelicans begging for handouts behind Key Largo Fishery.

The coast of Key Largo.

Spiny lobsters on ice at the fishery. These are fresh off the boat.

We love going to the backyard cafe at Key Largo Fisheries. The menu is on a billboard and you order your lunch through a window. When the food is ready you pick it up at the next window and have a feast!

A view from one of the bridges connecting the keys. Thew water is a gorgeous aqua blue.

Fun at Sombrero Beach at Marathon.

We were entertained by the magnificent frigate birds soaring over the beach. I love watching them float in the air like kites.

Another view from Sombrero Beach.

The coconut palms were just loaded.

A coral rock on shore.

This is the small beach just south of seven mile bridge. The hurricane caused a lot of havoc in this part of the keys.

Lazing away at Key Largo

After a few days at Sebastian Inlet we moved back to John Pennekamp near Jupiter. We spent more time with Mike and Carol, our neighbors from Leelanau County, and had a few more adventures around the Hobe Sound area.

On Saturday we move south to the Keys. We are spending ten nights at John Pennekamp State Park on Key Largo. This is one of our favorite campgrounds in the keys. Hoping to do a lot of beaching , kayaking and some fishing while we're here.

 

Mike Walker on the Loxahatchee River. We kayaked eight river miles one day while at Hobe Sound. 

Mike's freind Doug joined us for the river trip.

We saw several alligators in the upper stretch of the river.

Paddling through the cypress trees in the upper river.

We came to a downed tree that was blocking the river. No way around so we had to climb over it and pull our kayaks across. This part wasn't in any of the brochures!  

We went for a long bike ride on another day and saw these berries along the trial. Mike looked them up and found that they were called beauty berries. I didn't eat any to see if they worked. 

My next boat at Shrimpers restaurant.

Here we are at the end of the trail having grouper ruebens at Shrimpers on the water.

Thebikers

We waw several tortises along the trail

Here is the boat dock at John Pennekamp S P.

Starfish on the ocean floor. They turn upside down to absorb the sunlight!

Oh, what a beautiful afternoon.

Nancy having a birthday lunch at the Fish House on Key Largo. I didn't know the camera was set to Fisheye mode, but maybe it was appropriate when the wait staff brouhgt out a fish with a candle for her birthday desert!