Sometimes I’m not sure what I am thinking about or even why I do some things.

After wandering around Flamingo Gardens some more I decided it was time to move on…but where? I had a list of places and attractions. I know I had someplace in mind as I hopped on RT 75. I think I was headed to find the Seminole Reservation but somehow got misdirected.

I was driving along the highway and my cell phone rang. No one ever calls my cell phone? So when I heard from one of my friends still in Massachusetts I got to chatting until I lost signal but by then I’d also forgotten where I was going. At about that time I saw a sign for Sawgrass Recreation Park. That was on my list of possible places to visit so having wasted enough time driving I pulled off to check this out.

Similar to Evergaldes Holiday Park, there are airboat rides, a snack bar and some souvenirs but instead of alligator wrestling they have a zoo of sorts. To explore the animals on exhibit you have to take the airboat ride. And that’s how I found myself back on another airboat. Not that I’m complaining. 🙂

It was another full boat but this one was open, more like I’ve been on in the past.

In fact, I’m pretty sure my mother and I stopped here when we visited Fort Lauderdale about 10 years ago.

As we pulled out from the dock our operator told us we can never get lost in the Everglades. He pointed out a row of high tension line towers. He said just follow those and it would lead you out of the “glades”. Because the land is so low these towers can be seen from anywhere in Everglades.

The airboat ride followed the same pattern , a  little bit of “hot doggin'” to throw up some water and provide some thrills for the folks with a need for speed then a slower approach to the cuts and locations where the operators expect to see gators.

Sure enough we got to see a couple of good-sized ones in deeper water. They were swimming fast enough they even left a wake!

Another one made a bee line for a neighboring boat.

Our operator reminded us that gators can jump so keep hands and small children (swamp humor) inside the boat.

It was another beautiful afternoon.

Back at the dock we were reminded to check out the “critters” because they are part of our ticket price. I wasn’t sure exactly what “critters” they had but I headed down the path dodging one of the ever-present peacocks that decided the plop down right in the way.