Shabbos on Sanibel Island was very nice.  We went for a couple walks on the beach, and the weather was perfect.  It’s not the busy season here right now, so the campground is pretty empty:

Sanibel Island is the best place in the US for collecting seashells, and we were not disappointed when we went out collecting before sunrise:

Within a couple hours we had collected quite a stash:

I went for bike ride across Sanibel Island.  There were no good hills to climb, but the scenery was great:

We left the island a bit after noon to head North to overnight at a Walmart Southwest of Orlando.

Sunrise over Bahia Honda Key:

It’s time to move on, so we left our campsite:

Heading Northwest, we drove along Alligator Alley and stopped for an airboat tour of the Everglades:

The facility also has a walk-through section, where plenty of alligators sun themselves on shore:

M holds the baby alligator:

We continued on to an Everglades visitor center where the kids received their Junior Ranger badges:

We also did a bike ride out to an observation tower and back.  The winds were very strong, so getting there was easy but getting back was a real slog:

We continued West to a campground on Sanibel Island, Florida.  Good Shabbos from Sanibel Island!

M and I went out on a fishing charter this morning:

Unfortunately, I became violently sea sick, but the charter doesn’t of course end just because one person gets sick.  It was the longest 5 hours of my life.

Mercifully, we eventually returned to shore.  M relaxed dock-side:

While we were at sea, Trish and B were at a dolphin research center interacting with the dolphins there.  They had a great time.

In the afternoon we went snorkeling off Bahia Honda Key.  We saw a few little fish.

This evening we walked the shore next to our campground:

Another beautiful day on the Florida Keys!

After a wonderful end of Sukkos and Simchas Torah, we said goodbye to the Young Israel of Kendall this morning:

We drove South to visit Biscayne National Park, where the kids completed the Junior Ranger program there:

Continuing South, we drove onto the Florida Keys.  I went snorkeling with the kids at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park and we then continued down the keys to visit the giant Tarpon at Robbie’s marina:

We will be camping at Bahia Honda State Park for the next couple of days.

Shabbos was nice here in Kendall, but really hot and muggy.  So hot, in fact, that I was able to take a perfectly comfortable shower without turning on the water heater, the water being in the mid-90s like the outside air temperature.

Today we drove South for a day trip into Everglades National Park.  Our first stop was the visitor center:

We went for a few short hikes along the road that penetrates the everglades:

This species of parasitic tree completely engulfs and kills the host tree:

Monday and Tuesday are Jewish holidays culminating in Simchas Torah, and we will once again be with the Young Israel of Kendall, Florida.  We’ll be back on the blog on Wednesday.