February 10, 2006 Siesta Bay Resort, Lee County, Florida We are coming close to the end of our time in south Florida. We spent one week here, then one week in the Everglades, and finally another week here with Mom & Dad Woods. Our first week here provided relief from the preparations and travel required to make the transition from our former life. We relaxed and enjoyed the company of our hosts. Last week we took our little Ford Focus and tent and headed southeast. We had heard of hurricane damage at the Park, but didn’t realize that Flamingo was closed. It was a struggle getting our backcountry permit, but we got it and spent three days exploring the Hells Bay land and water area of mangrove, mahogany, and weakly brackish lakes and channels. We looked for birds along the Trail, in the Park, and in the Miami area. We saw crocodiles at Flamingo that had survived the storm and the gray salt and marl residue left by it. We returned to the Ft. Myers area tired and bug bitten, but happy having enjoyed the magnificence of the sawgrass glades, hardwood hammocks, and the stately winterbare cypress strands of south Florida that remain in between the traffic clogged roads and uncontrolled development of the coasts and even the more northern interior areas. This week we made two day trips, one across the Devils Garden, the Okeechobee shoreline and the sugar district to Loxahatchee Refuge and another to Ft. Desoto Park at St. Petersburg. We also visited Ding Darling Refuge on Sanibel Island and Bunche Beach near Siesta Bay. Our mail finally arrived and it took a day to take care of business. I put off working on the taxes for another week. We celebrated my birthday and Mom & Dad Woods anniversary. Today we took a boat ride with friends to see the Estero Island Beach Club from the Gulf. We have enjoyed watching the February moon appear and expand drifting away from the sun. We loved the silence of Pearl Bay where we tented on a Park Service “chickee” miles from the nearest land road. We gloried in bird sign and two young eagles engaged in harsh pursuit of a fish carrying osprey. We have seen peregrine, merlin, and kestrel in south Florida this month. A series of cold fronts has provided brisk and glorious weather for exploring this region.