Ninemile Pond - Everglades National Park

During our early February 2013 visit to the Everglades, my wife signed us up for a ranger-led morning canoe trip in the Flamingo area of the park.  We arrived at the Ninemile Pond parking area and found our names were not on the ranger's list.  However, he was willing to work with us and mentioned he had a couple of kayaks that weren't being used.  When he found out that we were novices, he decided to put us in one of the canoes instead.  The group waited about 10 minutes for the final couple to arrive, but they never did.  After realizing that some of the other names on the list weren't exactly correct either, he deduced that we probably were the missing couple and strapped the kayaks back on the trailer.  

I should have taken the roster mix up as a sign and bowed out of the trip, but Joan had her heart set on making this trip, so we forged ahead.  The ranger told us to push the canoe mostly into the water with just the stern on the shore and for me to sit in the front of the canoe and my wife to sit in the back.  I climbed in, sat down and waited for further instructions.  My wife also got in the canoe.  The ranger then said that he'd help push us off the bank.  The next thing I knew, the canoe was slowly rolling to the left and I was quickly dumped into the pond.  I had no idea that I could get completely soaked in about 15 inches of water.  Luckily, my camera was in its pouch on my right side, so it didn't get wet.  I looked back and Joan was soaked as well, but only on her left side as she was only in six inches of water.  The ranger and I dumped the water out of the canoe and we boarded it again without incident.  Once we had paddled a few feet off the bank, I realized that I hadn't asked Joan how long we would be paddling.  For some reason, the theme song to Gilligan's Island popped into my head when she told me it was either a 3 or 3½ hour trip.  

While the ranger led the group, a couple in their own kayaks volunteered to trail behind.  As we were the last of the six canoes in the water, we were at the back with the kayaking couple, Bill and Phyllis.  Bill was a constant source of encouragement to us during the entire trip.  Most of the trip was spent paddling in very shallow water through the mangroves.  We had to wait a couple of times for alligators to swim away before proceeding.  

Red Mangrove

Bladderwort is visible in the shallow water

Mangrove thickets can be very dense

Alligator swimming toward the mangroves
(and away from us!)

Reflections in calm water

Mangroves with some saw grass

Catopsis (an epiphytic bromeliad) growing in a fork in a mangrove

Air boats disrupted this part of the ecosystem many years ago

Saw grass almost hides an alligator

Finally back to open water

As we neared the end of the tour, I was ready to head for the bank.  However, I quickly reconsidered when the ranger pointed out "Croczilla", the resident twenty-foot crocodile that was sunning at the edge of the pond.  We stopped about fifty feet away and I took some pictures.  When the crocodile opened its mouth to pant, Joan told me to get her out of there immediately!  However, the ranger had other ideas and gathered us together at the edge of the mangroves to inform us that alligators are seldom aggressive toward humans, but that crocodiles can be quite aggressive.  At this point, Joan found her second wind and paddled like there was no tomorrow.

Twenty foot long crocodile

Crocodile panting to regulate heat

Little Blue Heron at edge of saw grass

With an alligator sunning at our take out area,
we paddled to the other end of the parking lot

In spite of our inept canoeing, this was an excellent ranger-led activity that was one of the highlights of our trip.

The park website is http://www.nps.gov/ever/index.htm.