While exciting, it’s hard to overstate the peril we were in. Emma was attacked by a small alligator before we even left the bus:
While I was forced to fight off its big brother after finishing the ride:
The Everglades are huge, and cover a large part of the state, butting right up to the edge of Miami. They used to be larger, before developers and road-builders began draining them. Eventually the state government realized the scale of the ecological disaster they were facing, and they have since been investing heavily to reclaim some of the land.
I thought the Everglades were basically a swamp leading into a huge estuary (that bit’s for you, Mario). Actually the Everglades are primarily a massive slow-flowing river, with vast expanses of grassland growing in the shallow waters broken by small hills.
And there really are alligators. We saw the first one before getting on the boat, and probably saw a good half dozen while out on the Everglades, including this cute little baby:
Mama was a bit less cute, and unimpressed with the attention we were giving her baby, so our guide suggested we might be wise to keep our arms in the boat.
There were plenty of birds and fish, but no snakes. I guess you can’t have everything.
The airboats can reach a top speed of 70-80mph/115-130kph, which is the speed we would have preferred to be travelling at. For safety reasons they only get up to about half that, which is still enormous fun:
Not to mention windy, and rather loud. Ear plugs are recommended for a reason.
Our only problem: too short. We could have stayed out for hours.
After the ride the park put on an animal show, with alligators, skunks, cane toads, and scorpions. Emma loved the last bit.
I got to hold an alligator. Animals love me when they’re bound and gagged and I pay someone to hand them to me. Isn’t he beautiful?
In the afternoon we spent some time in Bayside, Miami. For the Sydneysiders, it’s a cross between Darling Harbour, Circular Quay, and Rooty Hill K-Mart. It also has the highest density of ugly women’s boots per square meter that we’ve ever seen. Maybe it’s some weird Miami form of contraception.
I tried to take some shots, but they burned the camera out.
Back in our room I collapsed on the bed, while Emma performed her usual animal magic and summoned a pod of dolphins. They put on a better show than the ones in Charleston, with one dolphin swimming belly-up under our ship right below our window. We watched them for an hour, and would have watched them for longer if we didn’t go to dinner.
The entertainer that night was English violinist Nicola Loud, Crystal Cruises’ Instrumentalist of the Year. We were worn out, so we sat near the back of the Galaxy Lounge, intending to sneak out after the first 20 minutes. Unfortunately she was extremely good, so we sat through the entire show. She performed half a dozen different styles of music, everything from Bach to jazz to country, played them all superbly, and made it look effortless. I was torn between admiration and insane jealousy.
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