Florida - Fakahatchee Strand Preserve

Today we left Everglades City, heading for St Petersburg Beach. Along the way we stopped at Fakahatchee Strand preserve (on Tamiami Trail 7 miles west of the intersection with the road to Everglades City) to take a 1-mile round trip walk. We didn't see a lot of animal life, but the plants were nice. Here is a cypress that is just leafing out and is full of bromeliads.And a good example of a strangler fig.Another amazing thing that we were too far away from to get a photo (and a good thing too) was a huge bees nest way up in a tree. There were large curtains of honeycombs hanging down from the tree, several at least 2 feet in diameter. And while the ranger confirmed that was what we were seeing and agreed that having them external like that seems strange, she also said they don't know if these are true honeybees or ones that have crossed with African bees. From what we could see through the binoculars, they seemed too large to be what we think of as honeybees.

After our walk we continued on to St Pete Beach. We were surprised at the crowds pulling into the Sirata Beach Resort where we are staying and we had a hard time finding a parking spot. But then we realized it was check-in time on the Saturday before Easter. Not the best time to be arriving. We are also surprised at the building that has gone on since we were in St Pete many years ago. It is very crowded now. Not clear we will come back.