Thursday March 2 - What are we doing down here, spending our hard-earned Canuck bucks on Yankee dollars, when the temps back home are in the plus double digit range? Not sure, but maybe because here it's plus 30C today, sunny skies, just plain hot, which the person I'm travelling with likes very much. Sweat it out Lar,,,,

Yesterday was moving day. But before that, we had a pretty nice stay in the Naples park, crowded though it be. Good facilities, nice pool and hot tub, so okay. We did two excursions, to Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary on Monday, which was great. They have a 2.25 mile boardwalk that winds through the swamp, ending up in the Lettuce Lake area, in which there were loads of birds and alligators, living in lovely harmony. Except when one of the gators went on the prowl, and got the native birds a little uneasy. Not sure if he met his appetite needs or not, but just after we left, we heard a great commotion and lots of squawking, so maybe he got lucky.

Tuesday, we drove to Marco Island, just to have a look, and to maybe spend a little time on the beach. Forget that. High end area, with most of the beachfront taken up by high-rise exclusive resorts. And no place to park...anywhere on the island. So we did our drive-around, and left. Turns out, so our neighbour from Michigan told us when we got back, you can pay 5 bucks to one of the resorts, and they'll let you park on their lot. Not sure they'd have welcomed a 25 footer.

So we headed back, and stopped in at an Aquatic Center we'd noticed on the way to the Island. It houses an education center on, you guessed it, aquatic biology. Good displays. We did a little hike through the scrubland adjacent to the center, and got eaten by bugs. Gail tried to do the 4 minute kilometer. Couldn't keep up with her. Benadryl saved her, as she gets bad reactions to the no-see-ums down here. They don't bother me, but no sense, no feeling, I guess. We'd hoped to see manatee or sharks in the river that runs by the center, but no such luck.

Back to moving day. We had thoughts that it would be nice to visit Sanibel Island, as there is a wild-life refuge there that was highly recommended by a birder we met in the swamp. Six bucks, and over a big beautiful bridge onto the island entrance and much traffic. They actually have young guys at key intersections directing traffic, which seems to help a little. We did an 8 mile route on our bikes, which was great, and found a couple of flocks of white pelicans, and a lovely mother osprey and her chick. Back in the van by 3, back into much traffic, over to route 75, and on our way to Largo, which is next to St. Pete's. Breezed along until we ran into an 8 mile traffic snarl caused by road-work, and another 4 mile back-up near Sarasota. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: "There are just too damned many people in Florida!!!"

Result: we were over an hour past our e.t.a., so arrived to find we had to park in the late-arrivals area next to the office. I was a little ticked, but it worked out fine. Right across from us were super clean bathrooms and a hot tub, so were soon in the tub with a beer in hand. Later, we wandered about, and ran into a bunch of people enjoying a sing-along. Ray from New Brunswick adopted us, and we had a great chat. The majority of the people here are full seasonals, and from the Canadian Maritimes. Friendly as all get out. So our three days here should be just fine. We're now parked right beside a lovely pond, with good space around us, and a lovely day.

That's it. More later. Stay tuned.