Flamingo Day Two

Monday, February 6, 2017

It was a restless night for me (and because of that, Ellen probably didn't sleep well either). Even with drugs, my cold woke me up in the middle of the night and I couldn't get back to sleep. We'd closed the doors at dusk and with the exception of an initial flurry of no-seeums that probably came in at that time, we were not bothered by insects. The mosquito forecast was "unpleasant", 3 on scale of 1-5. We could hear the mosquitoes outside the van, but that is where they stayed for the most part.

The next morning we took a short walk to Eco Pond, next to the campground, to try to get a look at the wading birds. The herons and egrets were absent when we arrived and the reason was obvious. A couple of women had backed their car and trailer down to the pond and had gone kayaking (which I don't think is allowed and we've never seen before). It is a very small pond with an island in the middle where the birds congregate and I'm sure they drove them off. They were loading the kayaks back on their trailer as we arrived and managed to drop one on top of two bicycles that we also parked there creating a large crash, scaring away any bird that was left. During our walk, a Tri-colored Heron and a couple of Snowy Egrets but there wasn't much else.

One of the things Ellen misses when we travel is her morning walk, so she has decided not to miss it any more, even if is just a fast walk around all the campground loops. When we returned to Speedy from Eco Pond, off she went. I went to the showers.

The showers here at Flamingo are solar-powered. Each shower and restroom block has a large solar hot water array to heat the water and mid to late morning is ideal. There is plenty of hot water and I really needed it. I returned about the same time as Ellen and it was her turn to get the hot water.

The screen house has been an ideal place to sit and read out of the sun and in the breeze and that is where we spent most of the rest of the day. About mid-afternoon, we took a break from our relaxing and rode our bikes over to the visitor center to see if there was anything new as well as what was available in the marina store and in the restaurant. The marina store and restaurant hadn't really changed in two years. There had been a large Osprey nest on a post at the bridge over the canal by the marina. It was a great place to see the Osprey as they were only about ten feet away and they didn't seem to mind people. Sadly the nest seems to have collapsed and the birds have abandoned it as one would expect.

Also the Flamingo visitor center now has public WiFi available! We can at least make phone calls via my Project fi phone, keep the Speedy Journal updated and collect our mail but we do have to go over to the visitor center to do so since it does not reach the campground.

It was back to Speedy and the screen house until dinner. We had fewer no-seeums tonight and mosquito chorus was even smaller probably due to a strong wind. Maybe the mosquito forecast will be lighter tomorrow.

Photos