Later that day we arrived to Big Cypress Preserve in south Florida. The preserve is a huge swamp - heaven for birdwatchers and full of "smiling" alligators as well.
We stopped by the visitor center to watch some of the wildlife and to make reservation for a ranger-led canoe trip for the next day. There were no openings and they added us to the waiting list. They said that the chances are slim but that they will call us if something changes. As we arrived to the campsite we found out that there's no cellular signal and we already made different plans for today instead of canoeing. Later at night when Adi fell asleep we decorated the rv for his birthday.
This morning Adi woke up first, all excited about his special day. As a special treat he had breakfast in bed. The cake was waiting on the table too.
Then, a ranger in a car stopped by the rv and asked if were the Barilan family. She said that there are openings for the canoe trip and that we have to be there in 30 minutes. We were so happy and thought it would be a special way to celebrate Adi's birthday. We hurried up and made it in time for the meeting point. We split in 2 canoes - Adi with us and Aviv shared a canoe with a ranger and a German guy.
There were another 5 canoes in our group. We paddled along the swamp, watching tens of alligators and hundreds of birds. In the pictures - Herons, Osprey, Water Lili and Gator.
As we went farther south towards the Gulf of Mexico, the water became more salty (at least that's what the rangers said and we believed it) and we saw more and more Mangroves growing in the water. Mangroves are trees that grow in salty water. At some points the Mangroves were so dense that they formed a tunnel above the waterpath and we had to duck all the time. It became impossible to paddle and we navigated by pulling the branches only.
When we got back to the starting point, we took out Adi's cake from the rv and Adi blew the candles and gave out cakes for everyone. The crowed sang happy Birthday in 4 different languages.
10 comments:
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADI!!!! What a fantastic birthday you had yesterday! I would like to do that for my birthday - the canoe trip sounds like it was awesome! Aviv...do you have something planned for your birthday too???? We can't wait to hear!
עדי שלי,
אני כותב בעברית כי האנגלית שלי לא טובה כמו שלך כדי להגיד לך כמה התרגשתי כשראיתי את התמונות מהבילוי ביום ההולדת שלך.
שיהיה לך תמיד כיף, מענין ומרתק כמו יום ההולדת הזה. ועם אחות כזאת והורים כאלה... מה חסר?
נשיקות חמות לך ולכולכם.
סבא מישה
Dear Adi,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, gefeliciteerd as we say in Dutch.
HAve a great year to come,
Jorine, Hilde, Eva and Jan and Mathil
Happy birthday to Adi. What a great day! I really like the "birthday vouchers"
Happy Birthday yesterday Adi! What an exciting way to spend your Birthday!
From all the Big Bridges
Adi Hachamood,
Happy 8th Birthday!! dash to all, we miss you, please come leave in Haifa :-)
Inbal, Guri, Yotam, Na'ama, Omri
Adi I like your shirt. I hope you had a good birthday and I wish I was there too. From, Jack
Hai Adi, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!I saw the pictures, wonderful, what a nice way to celebrate your birthday, bit scary friends you invited:-)
And I loved your birthdaycake!!!
Wow man, 8 years old and then in such an exciting trip through the US!!!!! And such sunny weather, big hugs from Hedzer, Augusta, Caesar & Kazimir
Hi to all,
Thanks a lot for all the greetings. I wish Adi would agree to write something. He even refused to talk to his grandparents on the phone!
Happy Birthday Adi!
That is what it looks like in Africa minus the gators!
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