Monday February 27th 2023

It was a little bit cooler today, but it was still above normal. Along with the continuous breeze it was a very comfortable day. The temperature peaked in the lower half of the eighties.

I split the day between catching up on chores and a little touring. The morning was for chores and the afternoon for touring. I drove along the Tamiami trail to the main Big Cypress National Preserve Visitors center. Unlike the Oasis visitors center near the Midway campground I was at last week, this visitors center doesn’t have alligators. Instead it has a boardwalk along the mangrove lined marsh where you can often see manatees swimming. There weren’t any today. The best I saw today were a few purple blossoms.

On the way back I stopped at the Marsh trail of the Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife refuge again. Yesterday I walked the whole three mile round trip out the trail and back. Today I only walked a short way to the observation tower. The majority of the wildlife are in that part of the trail. Today the Rosetta Spoonbills were hanging out in front of the observation tower.

The campground had more turnover today than it did yesterday. There was a steady line of departures starting before eight this morning. The campground hosts were very busy checking the sites as each became empty. By night fall the campground was full again.