On the road with Mike and Tina: Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, Wine and Cheese Party

Monday the 30th

It's another beautiful day on South Florida so we decided to go for a drive to the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary (http://www.corkscrew.audubon.org/). The Sanctuary, located about twenty miles NE of Naples, is an 11,000-acre nature preserve with a 2.25 mile long boardwalk trail. The walk passes through various habitats – pine forest, wet prairie, bald cypress and sawgrass marsh.

After taking the dogs out for their 'after breakfast walk' we headed out. Driving north on Airport-Pulling Rd we turned east at Immokalee Blvd finally arriving about 10:30 AM.

After parking and grabbing the cameras and a bottle of water, we entered the Blair Audubon Center and were greeted by a member of the Audubon Society. She gave us a rundown of the areas we were about to enter and told us that there were a number of Naturalists along the trail to answer questions.

One of the points she made was that part of the Sanctuary has the largest collection of ancient Bald Cypress in North America, the last unlogged virgin forest with many trees over 500 years old.

Relatives of the Redwood, these trees are really impressive soaring 130 feet, many with a diameter of 25 feet. Massive branches are draped with mosses, lichens, air plants, orchids, and ferns, home to many species of frog, insect and bird.

We headed out on our walk and were fortunate to see a Hawk, several Ibis, three different specias of Heron, a couple of Anhinga (relative of Cormorants), a couple of White Eyed Verios, a Pileated Woodpecker, a large Alligator, Cattle Egrets and evidence of Black Bears (claw marks on the Cyprus trunks). We were out on the trail for almost three hours before arriving back at the Center. We really enjoyed our walk and highly recommend the Sanctuary to anyone making a trip to the Fort Myers/Naples area. For more information about the sanctuary click on:

http://www.ecofloridamag.com/archived/corkscrew_swamp.htm

Since we missed lunch, Tina suggested we have a late lunch/early dinner at The Dock Restaurant (http://www.dockcraytoncove.com/) back in Naples on the Cocohatchee River next to the City Marina. We got there about 3:00 PM and were seated on the deck looking out over the marina. We both ordered sandwiches, I had a Kobe Beef Hamburger with Orzo Salad, Tina had a Cuban Pulled Pork with Black Beans and rice. Mmmmmmm, mmmm good!

We got home about an hour and a half later, took the kids for a walk, gathered up some snacks, some pop for me, a bottle of wine, our chairs and hiked to the other end of the campground for a Wine and Cheese Party. We actually got there a little late but since there is an every day gathering at 5:00 PM things were just getting under way. We sampled several snacks (meatballs, little smokies, several different cheeses, chips and a couple of different salsas), listened to some country music and visited with our neighbors.