Left that great little time share and headed for the Flamingo Campground this morning. We stopped at the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park hoping to see some of the 14 species of Bromeliads or 44 species of native orchids. We saw huge Royal Palms and butterflies and a lots of non-flowering bromeliads....more dry weather blues! Nice walk through the woods though. 
Then stopped again at the Shark Valley Visitor's Center hoping to see something different along the tram trail--and we did! The ever present gators, the red chested woodpecker peaking from her nest, a limpkin and two very cute river otters crossed our viewing paths! Then on through Homestead and down to Flamingo. Lots of hurricane damage down here in the last 30 years, but there is alot of new growth going on. Water remains the major issue. Many canals pull water off further north for agriculture and developments and they are currently in a three year drought. We went by many ponds that were bone dry. Hopefully the rains will begin June 1st as I was insured earlier this week. We actually happy it hasn't been raining, more for the lack of mosquitos, but also because it's made out trip really good. We arrived at Flamingo and drove into the campground....a very level area (high point in the park is 8' above sea level) with sporatic large trees and a sign that said "Camping is free". Got to love those prices. We set up the new tent and headed for the visitor's center and signed up for the "sunset" cruise into Florida Bay. It was a nice boat trip and a fairly good sunset. Great way to end the day.
