Belle Glade

While staying at Waters Edge, we decided to take a day trip to Belle Glade, the place on Lake Okeechobee where he and Jerry went fishing years ago.

 

Chuck had told me previously about all the sugar cane fields that they would see on their drive to Belle Glade... and the sugar cane is still a huge industry here.  The dirt in the fields are very black which makes you think it must be very good soil.

 

And the fields were at all different stages of growth.  Some had been recently planted.

 

Some were nearly full grown.

 

And some of the fields were being burned off getting ready for harvesting.  (Notice the smoke way off in the distance.)

 

We found the place where Chuck and Jerry used to camp and go fishing.  After a major hurricane and rebuilding, Slim's Fish Camp is still there.

 

We also checked out the campsite that Jerry and Pam were coming to in a couple of weeks (unfortunately, we were going to miss them).

 

Chuck said it had changed a lot since they had been here.  The hurricane that came in a few years ago basically picked up everything on this side of the lake and blew it into the rim canal.  The rim canal was not even passable until they dredged it out again.

On the drive back, we stopped at one of the many locks around the rim canal where boats can come in and out to the lake.

 

Part of the bike trail around the rim canal was located here also.

 

When it is finished, the bike trail will go around all of Lake Okeechobee.  You can see Lake Okeechobee from the top of the rim canal here.

It looks like an ocean.

 

It was fun driving to the place where Chuck and Jerry had many good fishing trips but kind of sad that it had changed to much.

 

 

 

 

 

Okeechobee - Waters Edge

After leaving Melbourne, we drove down to Lake Okeechobee to spend a few days.  Waters Edge Motorcoach Resort is a Passport America Park but they only had availablity for 3 nights.  Silver Palms RV Resort had a special of $99 for 3 nights.  So we ended up staying at Waters Edge the first 3 nights and Silver Palms the last 3 nights.

Waters Edge is a small but beautiful park with sites that have brick paver pads and are surrounded by palm trees and landscaping. 

 

The resort is located on the rim canal surrounding Lake Okeechobee and they have a large shelter with picnic tables and lounge chairs right on the edge of the rim canal...a perfect location to fish...

and just sit and watch the scenery and wildlife.

They also had a nice paved bike trail along the rim canal.  We took our bikes to a place where we could cross the canal and went for about a 10 mile bike ride one afternoon.

 

At one point, we could see across the canal to where we were camped.  (You can see from these pictures what a nice resort it is.)

 

Waters Edge was a great place to do nothing.  We enjoyed sitting outside watching the occasional lizard running up and down the palm trees.

 

This lizard was huge!

 

Just kidding!  The lizards were not as big as they appear in these pictures.  They were only about 5 or 6 inches long.

 

Chuck fished some right before sunset.

 

I just enjoyed taking pictures of the birds...

and the sunset....

 

....hmmmmm..... nice.  :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A visit to John and the wilder side of life!

After leaving Davenport, we drove to Melbourne for the weekend to visit our friend John Carlson who we had met while camping at Moody Beach in Maine last summer.  On Friday, John took us to the bridge at Melbourne Beach where the dolphins came right up next to us along the sea wall.

That was the closest we had ever been to dolphins.  I think we could have almost reached out and touched them.  Thanks for arranging the great dolphin show, John!

Next, we rode over to Cocoa Beach.

 

 

It is a beautiful beach...

 

...and not very crowded in January.

 

Then, we rode over to Cape Canaveral where the big cruise ships come in.

 

On Saturday, John took us over to the St. Johns River for an airboat ride at Camp Holly.

 

Hope we don't get eaten up by any gators!

The airboat was big enough to seat several people.

 

And the river was beautiful and full of lily pads.

 

We got in the boat, turned our hats around backwards...

 

...and off we went...

 

 

We saw a few gators...

 

...and the river was beautiful.

The most fun part to me was the ride back when we rode through what looked like no water in places.

Next, John drove us up to a wildlife refuge at the Kennedy Space Center.   We rode down this dirt road where we not only saw gators...

 

...but we also saw lots of birds and little ducks...

...an osprey...

 

...a big flock of pelicans...

 

...and what looked like a few pink flamingos.

 

Then John drove us to this little park nearby where he says sometimes you can see manatees.  And sure enough, there they were:  manatees!

 

It was absolutely amazing all the wildlife we saw.  And I didn't even get pictures of the wild hog on the side of the road or the coyote that ran across the road in front of his truck.  I don't think we have ever seen so many different wildlife in such a short period of time.

John, thanks for a great visit and showing us the "wilder side of life!"