This blog is written by sweet daughter who went on a wonderful trip to Florida over spring break for a biology trip with the high school.
Welcome to the Florida Keys, or more
specifically, Key Largo! This is the recount of my Biology trip. Now this is going to be more like comments on pictures, but that works too right? Yeah, that's what I thought. Let's get started then!
These little leafy greens are called Mangroves. They are trees that only grow in salt water. SALT WATER!! What?! That's what I was thought too! I mean, when you pour salt water on a rose bush it dies right? Well not with these babies, they thrive on the stuff! And they are EVERY WHERE!
That's the ocean in the background, and yes, it looks like that all around the Keys.
So, the first thing we did was go to the Turtle hospital. Hence the sign saying "The Turtle Hospital".
This is the building to the Turtle Hospital. The place started off as a motel/hotel. One of the two. The owner had set a pool of salt water in it to put fish in, so the guests could see what kind of fish were in the ocean. Then he heard about the trouble the turtles were in and started using it as a hotel/turtle hospital. In the 1990's the hotel was flooded and it was just cheaper to refurnish the Turtle Hospital. So now it's a full time research
facility and turtle rescue. The only official Turtle Hospital in America.
This is a turtle that had some large tumors by it's eyes and we were lucky enough to come in time to see the surgery. There were about three or four other turtles with the same problem in waiting.
I think this is the shell of a Green Turtle. Green turtles aren't actually green, but their organs are! This is the inside of the shell. As you can see it's about half my size, and that's just the shell! Turtles can live up to 100 years and they never stop growing. Also they can weigh over 300 lbs!
This guy was rear ended by a boat and has developed bubble butt from the damage of it's backside. You can go to the turtle hospital website and adopt one of these
lovable fellows for just $35. My favorite was Manuel, but it was hard to see him in the picture I took. I'm sorry to say I forgot what this guys name was.
After the turtle hospital, we went fishing for sea urchins. We caught several shrimp and some crabs. This is a picture of a fully mature cow fish that someone caught in their net. You can tell it's a Cow fish because if you look closely it has horns above it's eyes.
When we finished fishing, we went to Randie's to feed the Tarpon. The Tarpon eat fish so the Pelicans were EVERY WHERE! Some would land on the dock and stand there. This is a particularly mean Pelican that snapped at the dog that was scaring the other Pelican's away.
WARNING!: Do Not Feed the Birds!
This is Max. He was the dog that was scaring away the Pelican's. He would run around the docks barking.
Poor guy he worked so hard and the mean one snapped at him every time he tried to make her go away.
These are the fish. They are called Tarpon. To feed them you have to lean over the docks, as this man is doing. It has to be far out enough that the Pelican's don't poke their beaks through the holes in the fence and steal it, but not so far that you fall in.
They are HUGE!!
At Randie's they also had stands, like this one, where you could buy island jewelry and other trinkets.
Across from this one was another booth where there was local art. Which was pretty good.
The next day we practiced
snorkeling in the water. It was difficult for me to use the snorkel. It's not as easy as it looks.
I didn't have any pictures of that so I took a picture of this little guy who kept trying to steal my
sandwich at lunch, which was right after that. One of his friends succeeded in stealing a younger boys
sandwich though. He wasn't too happy with the bird.
After Lunch we went for a mangrove hike. Not the most exciting thing in the world, but it killed some time.
The day after that, we went Kayaking for TWO HOURS! My arms ached after that. At first it was hard to maneuver through the mangroves, but my teacher taught me a trick that helped me out a lot.
After kayaking we went swimming with dolphins at Dolphins Plus! I had forgotten my camera on the bus so, no pictures of dolphins. Sorry! But it was really fun. They pulled you around by their dorsal fins and pushed your feet with their mouths. Here's a little fun fact: When dolphins are first born, they are born with a mustache! But it falls off within a week.
After the dolphins, we went snorkeling. Although, I didn't go in because I felt nauseous. I didn't exactly want to be swimming with Barracudas while risking a barf. So I road at the top of the boat with the captain and his 1st mates, when they weren't working. The water was so clear and blue down there that you could see the reef even from the top of my boat. I had an urge to listen to Jimmy Buffet.
Later, we went back to Dolphins Plus at night to dissect Squids. My friend didn't want to touch it so I had to do all the work, just like in class last year. They told us that if we ate the ball that was inside the eye, that we would have 7 years of good luck. Pfft yeah right. We tore the coloring off of the mantle and the stabilizing fins so they could make it into calamari. It was the eating kind, because it was left over from the seal and the dolphins. It was pretty good.
The next day we went to the bird sanctuary, where we saw lots of different kinds of birds that lived in Florida. There was one that looked like a dinosaur (he was
weird). This little guy here though, talked to me. Oh yes. I mean we held a conversation. He said yes, I don't know, no, and are you crazy? Which I replied, yes.
They also had chickens running around and pelicans on their roof and all sorts of things.
That night we went to the Everglades. We walked on the board walk that was right over the water. If we shined our flashlights out towards the trees, at a certain angle you could see the glowing red eyes of the Alligators. No joke. Our leader from Worldstrides made baby alligator sounds and a male, at least I think it was a male, came right up under my feet. He was HUGE! There were 10 inches from between his eyes to his nose at least! Convert that into feet and you'll know how big he was (or something like that).
We went back the next morning and took a tram tour through Shark Valley (which is another name for the Everglades). I sat at the side of the tram and the alligators were right by the edge of the road. One hissed at someone, so I told him that wasn't very nice.
Our tram
tour guide told us a story about how a Brazilian kid had ridden his bike out a little farther from his parents and fell
on top of one of these big boys. The gator had him in his mouth showing him off. The mom jumped on its back and started pounding the gator, and he let the boy go. Let's here it for Brazilian moms! The alligators probably have a sign there saying "BEWARE: Brazilian Mothers Alert"
This is the watch tour where you can see everything in the Everglades from on top of. Well maybe not EVERYTHING. They go on forever it seems like.
Now, this is just the sentiment of a 17 year old girl, but I REEEEALLY want to go again. And I mean REALLY. It was a lot of fun and soooo beautiful! If you're looking for a vacation idea, here's one that will NOT dissapoint you!
