RonnieAdventure #0199 - Florida, 2016 Part II

Everglades National Park was much different than I had envisioned because I had always thought the Everglades were just a large swamp! I learned quickly that when in Florida you do not call the Everglades a "Swamp!"

When we drove the Scenic 38-Mile Road from the park boundary to Flamingo, we had to cross Rock Reef Pass; but we made it safely without any problems!

Along the Scenic Road we stopped at several information kiosk and learned that the Everglades are actually a slow-moving fresh-water river containing a waterway labyrinth made up of over ten thousand islands. The fresh water comes from Lake Okeechobee and annual rains. 

A Sawgrass prairie connects many of the islands and the Park Service has installed elevated boardwalks so that visitors can get out and enjoy the beauty of the Everglades. The boardwalks vary in length and many lead back to the same starting point; thus, you can hike the trails and do not need a shuttle in order to get back to your car. 

From the boardwalks it is possible to see an amazing bio-diversity with many plans, animals, birds, and fish that are only found in the Everglades, or in the Caribbean tropics.  

At the National Park Visitor Center in Flamingo we signed up for a Swamp Boat trip (narrated by a Park Trained Naturalist) that went up the Buttonwood Canal into the Ten Thousand Islands area of the Park and through a Mangrove estuary. Unfortunately it was bitter cold and rained off-and-on throughout the trip. We did, however, get within about 15 feet of a Manchineel Tree. (The Most Poisonous tree in the world.) The narrator told several horror stories about people that contacted a Manchineel Tree, which made me decide that I really did not want to get off of the boat and take a hike through the Everglades wilds.  

Biscayne National Park is located directly east of the Everglades and I realized quickly that in order to enjoy the Park you need a boat! Since I did not have a boat, I had to settle for watching a movie in the Dante Fascell Visitor Center and observing Jelly Fish in an aquarium.

Just outside of Biscayne National Park is an interesting road sign at Maggy's Corner, explaining how the corner received its name.

Coral Castle is located in Homestead (Florida) and is rated as one of the "Top 10 Hot Spots" in the Miami Area. The coral structures have been featured on "Ancient Aliens," "That's Incredible," "In Search of...," "Good Morning America," "Ripley's Believe It or Not," and other publications. The structures still baffle engineers concerning how a 5-foot tall, 100 pound Latvian immigrant (Ed Leedskalnin) could built the structures by himself between 1918 and 1922. The feat is often compared to building Stonehenge and the Great Pyramids of Egypt.

It is known that Leedskalnin used only simple tools, many of them that he made himself, to move and carve an estimated 1,100 tons of Coral into the existing structures.

The entrance gate to the property weighs approximately 6,000 pounds and can be opened-and-closed easily, even though there are no gears or bearings in the rotating mechanism!

The two-story living quarters contain the only things on the property that are not made from coral -- most of the furnishings are made from scrap parts. It is the yard that contains the really interesting sculptures.

The rocking chairs weigh about 1,000 pounds each and rock back-and-forth with minimal effort. There are no chisel marks on the rockers, so it is unclear how Leedskalnin was able to shape the coral rockers so perfectly.

There is a two-piece 25-foot tall "telescope" that weighs about 40,000 pounds and holes in the coral line up with Polaris (North Star). Other astronomical observations can also be made.

The Moon Fountain is constructed from three pieces of coral. The center piece weighs about 23 tons and represents the full moon, while the  left and right quarter moon shapes weigh about 18 tons each. 

The sun dial is the only one of its kind in the world. The dial has markings from 9 AM to 4 PM (Ed said that a man should only work from 9-to-4 and he was not interested in the other hours.) and also shows the seasons.

Considered to be the most amazing feature is a nine-ton gate that can be moved with one finger. "The gate pivots on a rod, appears to be suspended from above, rests on an automobile gear and fits a snug quarter of an inch from the walls on both sides of it. The gate has been probed, measured, and x-rayed by many engineers and scientists and to date no one has come forth with an acceptable explanation of how Ed so perfectly balanced the 18,000 pound weight and uneven shape."

Interesting Place!