South Florida, The Everglades, Key West and Miami, 4/22-5/1/03

Between 4/22 and 5/1/03 (Earth Day to May Day!) I took a trip to Miami and Key West. I had a friend getting married in Key West, and, since I had to fly all the way across the country, I decided to check out the Everglades (and Biscayne National Park), the other Keys and Miami.

Each c. 200x300 thumbnail (yes, I have large thumbs) links to a c. 1000x1500 larger image (1200 dpi scan on a new Epson 3200, with a fair bit of JPEG compression), the larger images are generally about 200K, although some are bigger.

The Everglades National Park

Yes, there are lots of alligators in the Everglades.

The cormorants really don't seem to mind people at all.

A Great Blue Heron looking dramatic, and some green stuff that was mosquito infested. The Everglades has some really big, aggressive mosquitoes.

The root ball of a tree felled by Hurricane andrew, and a palm growing in an area that had a recent fire, which are common and natural in the 'glades.

Just some interesting trees. The Everglades aren't all swamp, there's quite a variety of ecosystems.


Biscayne National Park

This park is mostly underwater, but the view from the little bits of land is quite nice.


Long Key State Park and Crane Point Nature Center

These are both on the Keys, where I stopped on the drive down to Key West.


Key West

The descendants of Ernest Hemingway's cats still live well at the house. That's Charlie Chaplin in front and Jimmy Stewart behind him. (The cats, not the people being dive bombed by the seagulls).

There's lots of very nice boats, most of them available for charter cruises, at the Key West harbor.

Key west is home to many many chickens. They just roam about the place.

At the South end of Duval St. is a fairly new operation called the Key West Butterfly and Nature Conservatory, which is definitely worth a visit.


Miami Metrozoo

I had two days in Miami, the first I spent at their very fine zoo, the second it rained, so I checked out their fine museums, but didn't take any pictures, so all I have from Miami is the zoo.

They have a Siamang (the largest member of the genus Hylobates, all the smaller members are called gibbons) who just loves to swing about his little setup. He also seems to find the people very amusing.

On the left, a pair of Malayan Sun Bears relaxing, on the right the 3 Bengal Tigers getting ready for their morning snack.

Although they get a regular feeding, the zoo has a keeper give them a daily snack that makes for some good pictures. Mmmmm, horse meat!

The ostrich just posed for me, I don't know why.

That's a mother and baby lowland Gorilla.

Chimps and a camel that seems to be saying "Whadda yew lookin' at!"

Komodo Dragon, and at least one wild Ass that really needs to shed.

Well, they do have tigers and bears, so... (That's an Asian elephant on the right).

The only cheetah they have is in their show, which has a good selection of birds too.


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