Tampa - 5/2/13

We'd made a plan to drive south to the Everglades for an air-boat tour, aiming to set off early for the 2 3/4 hour drive, although Stefan estimated around 2 hours to get there. This failed more or less immediately with us struggling out of the trap for around 11.

It was a lovely drive down the gulf coast and baking hot as we pulled into airboat station, situated in about 200 sq. miles of privately owned swampland, the advantage being is that they'd set it up as a one way 'track', so no danger of hitting other boats and being able to MAX the craft across the water. The engine incidentally was a 500BHP 496 cubic inch (whatever that means) V8, meaning that maxing certainly provided a lot of thrills in our half empty boat, with the culmination in a big lake of a full throttle 360 turn. Great stuff.

The tour lasted for around 3/4 hour, unfortunately not seeing any 'gators, but plenty of other wildlife (jumping mullet, coots, moorhens and so forth) and unusual flora - principally mangroves, but a large variety. Great experience.

After the tour, we got back on the road north and stopped off for some grub - pretty standard fare (and large), but also allowed for the sampling of margheritas excepting driver B. Following this, three of us were feeling fairly tired and emotional and had a gentle snooze while our driver bore us peacefully to our destination. Upon regaining consciousness, our driver excitedly commented that she'd seen some racoons along the way that were alive and not roadkill.

Tea was planned, but we were all still so full from the afternoon lunch that it was impossible.