The Everglades

On Wednesday we left our Key West home. It was really hard to leave but exciting to be on to something new. We arrived in Everglades City at about 11:00 in the evening. The alarm was set for 3:00 AM so we headed for the beds. The plan was to go out on the gulf with Bill and his crew on the crab boat. Bill and Karen are awesome hosts who are letting us stay at their home. We were all interested in going crab fishing and Bill was happy to have the help. That morning we headed 35 miles out into the gulf and spent the day crabbing from sunup to sundown. It was a really cool experience. We spent the day stacking crab pots, de-clawing the stone crabs, and checking out all the cool creatures that came up with the traps. I relearned what I already knew… I get seasick. I was happy for the experience but was also happy to be back on land. Yesterday we organized our lives and did some scheduling. We plan to start work at the Fachahachee State Preserve on Tuesday. There is a huge seafood festival this weekend in Everglades city with live music and lots of people which should be fun to check out. Last night we ate fresh stone crab which was awesome. Today we headed out to the 10,00 islands on our kayaks. It was a beautiful place to explore! The highlight was kayaking alongside dolphins as we followed the tide into shore. Life is good!