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| no partners | | On my tour of Florida with the mom, I hit Shark Valley Everglades NP. I decided to rent a bike for $9 and was told to return in an hour and a half as my mom was going to take a nap and hang out in the parking lot. "No problem," I thought. It's flat and only a short bike ride. Bikes cost $9/hour. I figured that I can ride this in an hour and have time to explore the parking lot. I hit the rode and saw some amazing creatures along the way. I saw dozens of great blue herons, little blue herons, alligators, snowy egrets, white ibises, tricolor herons, great egrets, and anhingas. I could not stop for all of them. I saw two sora rails, a new species for me.
I got to the Observation Tower in an hour and 10 minutes. I was about to leave before I found a softshell turtle. I think I alerted a local gator patrolling the area. It approached me and the turtle. The turtle saw the gator and took one last breath and did an amazing acting job and played dead that deserved an Academy Award in my opinion. I wanted to wait to the food chain in action, but I heard that turtle can hold their breath for 45 minutes, and I promised to be back in an hour - plus, the bike is $9/hr, so I decided to leave the scene and maybe catch the incident later on youtube or something.
Moments later, I caught a few crows raiding someone's stash of food in the bike basket. I took a few shots and found it quite entertaining. I'm easily entertained. I did not want to be seen and be asked why didn't try to stop it, so I tried to be quick. When it comes to people vs animals, I'm always rooting for the animal.
By then, I was 25 minutes late for lunch with the mom and had 35 minutes to return the bike to not get charged an extra $9. I promised myself not to stop for any more gators or herons on the way back. I would only stop for snakes or anything unusual. I soon discovered that the bikes aren't that fast.
On my ride, I took some bird shots while riding. I was actually impressed with my own ability to photograph on the fly. I broke my own rule by stopping for some gators, but in my defense, these were baby gators and very cute.  I quickly shot them and took off. I neared the end of the trail and was ready to pull in with a minute to spare, until I saw a snake on the side of the trail. The snake set me back a few more minutes, but I was able to return the bike without getting charged an extra $9. My mom was cool with me being late because she digs what I do and thinks that I'm like some wildlife whisperer (not true), and that I should publish my photos.
All and all, it was the best trip that I've had at Shark Valley. I've always walked it or taken the tram, but definitely, biking it is the way to go. In reality, you need a good 3-4 hours to get the full Shark Valley experience. Shark Valley's bike trail is the most scenic bike ride in the state and is a most do in the cooler months.
The only compliant that I have is that I saw 2 dead turtles that the tram ran over.  The tram drivers need to watch the road. It's not like these turtle were small. They were about 2' or larger. The tram is slow enough to stop in time, and it's not like turtles have a tendency to run out in front of moving vehicles.  I would have said something, but I was in a rush and forgot to say something.  |
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