Sombrero Marina, Marathon, Florida: January 21-22, 2021
https://www.google.com/maps/@24.6982386,-81.0849577,15z
Our one stop going North to St. Augustine
Our one stop going South to Marathon
Marc- Our two day plan to help Michael get his truck in St. Augustine involved renting a round trip car (saving the $200 drop off fee) and staying overnight in St. Augustine. We stopped at the Biscayne National Park Visitor Center in Homestead. This is an amazing place right on the shores of Biscayne Bay and in the Mangrove forested shoreline. The Park Ranger was very helpful. He answered our questions, showed us movies about the Park and provided us with waterproof maps of this mostly underwater park. The maps provide the location of coral reefs, shipwreck sites and especially the moorings you can use to visit both. The Visitor's Center also has a marina providing access for boating visitors and concession boats taking visitors out to various Keys in the Park.
On our return trip Sue and I stopped at the same Homestead highway exit to visit the Everglades National Park. We were impressed by the beautiful vegetable farms on our approach to the Park. The Everglades National Park Visitor Center is near the entrance to the Park but is unfortunately mostly closed. Park Rangers were available to advise visitors in a tent. We drove about 65 miles visiting various trails off the main road into hardwood hammocks of mahogany, mangrove and the ever present palm trees. The main attraction is the open savanna areas. It is all wilderness in its glory. The bald cypress trees had lost their leaves and looked dead in the barren state. This is only a winter phase before the new needles grow in and we did see some new growth. Various ponds had abundant fish. We went all the way to the end of the road at Flamingo. Despite warnings of heavy mosquitos in the area we saw none. The Park Visitor Center here was heavily damaged during Hurricane Irma in 2017 and is still in reconstruction. Flamingo has a very interesting marina separated by a dam. Half of the marina is in fresh water and half is in salt water. There were only a few visiting cruising boats but many fishing boats present. We saw two manatees in the salt water and many fish. It was difficult to see anything in the murky fresh water.
Looks like savanna for many miles (but its all wet).
Freshwater fish love this place.
A saltwater shore bird
Not two logs but two manatees in Flamingo Harbor
Park Rangers headed out of the Harbor in a hurry.
Watch out manatees!
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