Travel Thru My Eyes: HOUSE/PET SITTING in RETROSPECT - NAPLES FLORIDA

Recently I completed another house/pet sitting assignment in Naples Florida for Jim and Cynthia, clients turned friends. This is the third or fourth time I’ve cared for their pets and home, yet it was like visiting Napes for the first time. Yes, I ‘revisited’ a couple places, but with so much to do in the area, there was are also many new places to explore.

Let me preface this posting by telling you the weather was mostly unfavorable for extended/day long excursions. Tropical “Invest 99L” (a tropical wave expected to develop into a tropical system) was churning off the southern coast of Florida with predictions of development into a named tropical. While the chance of rain hovered around 50% daily, I did take some shorter trips, to include new places, well new to me anyway.

As the time for me to travel south to Naples, I began closely monitoring “Invest 99L”; with winds and heavy rains expected I left my house early. After a three hour drive I arrived about 1000 hours. Jim, Cynthia, and I talked about what had happened since my last visit, we went over the pet routines, and they too dodged the wind and rain as they departed for their trip north. The rest of the day was spent getting settled in, reacquainting with Baby and Tuffy the Bichon pups and meeting Coco the newly acquired cockatiel.

Tuesday morning brought news that Invest 99L had been upgraded to a tropical depression thus being renamed TD9 (Tropical Depression). It hadn’t moved much and was still forecast to run up the western coast of Florida and making a more northeasterly track to the northwest bend of Florida known as the “Big Bend area”. Still not much wind, but the rain is now coming in the typical bands that circle around tropical storms.

With the threat of scattered heavy rain I kept my exploration indoors and mapped out a visit to the Museum of the Everglades in Everglades City, then to the Big Cypress Gallery in Ochopee.

Rain band moving across the Everglades

Departing the house the weather was fine, clouds filled the sky with sunshine occasionally peeking through. Shortly after entering the Everglades, I noticed an ominous looking storm would be in my future. Continuing, I soon found myself in the middle of a tropical rain band. At one point I considered turning around, but knowing these bands are usually short lived, I continued.

First stop, the Museum of the Everglades in Everglades City; although with a population of around 400, I’m not sure this can really be considered a ‘city’. It’s a small quaint city with some of the friendliest people in South Florida. If you’re planning a day trip in the area, this should be included, but unless you want to take an Everglades tour, it won’t take long to see everything.

Due the rain bands now sweeping through, well that and an electrical generator outage at the museum, this visit was short, but well worth the stop.

Due to bad weather, this shot downloaded from Google Images

From here, I headed the Big Cypress Gallery on the Tamiami Trail (US Highway 41) which connects Tampa on Florida’s west coast, south to Miami on its east coast. Ever since learning about Clyde Butcher, I wanted to visit one of his Florida galleries; Big Cypress Gallery being his first and a second gallery is located in Venice Florida. Clyde is a renowned photographer, primarily known for shooting landscape and nature in black and white. He gets off the beaten path, taking steps where no person has walked before, photographing places that are often unseen by humans. His story of how he got involved in photography (started with a pinhole camera he made himself) and his photographing style is great.

This shot downloaded from Google Images

Okay, time to head home and feed the pups. Not wanting to cook, when I got into Naples I stopped at Amigos Café’. It’s a quaint little place with good service and food where you will not leave hungry. The price was good and it’s a place I’ll remember next time I’m here.

Shops on 5th Ave, Naples

Wednesdays forecast was for more rains but since TD9 had moved northward some of the wind had decreased. So, it was time to revisit downtown Naples along 5^th Avenue and of course the Naples Pier. Well, nothing much had changed but leisure walk in a peaceful city along the Gulf of Mexico is always good.

A colorful store front

Walking to the west end of 5^th Ave, I headed southward to Naples pier. Even though the winds decreased, it was quiet breezy stroll with high clouds and rough waves. There were some people lounging on the beach, others enjoying a walk of their own, and upon reaching the pier there were a few surfers. As usual, there were also plenty of people fishing from the pier but nothing was being caught.

As I returned to my car, the clouds became thicker and rain was imminent. Luckily I made it back just before the bottom once again fell from the sky in the form of a torrential downpour. The rest of the day was spent indoors, watching TV, messing with the bird Coco, and reading.

One side of a newspaper box

The other side of the newspaper box

Yet another day forecasting rain, but here in Florida, we recognize this as a part of life living where the sun shines more often than not. We appreciate and many times welcome the rain, especially when it’s 90⁰F plus and the rain cools it off a little. We want it for our flowers but not the grass we have to mow; we want it for our pets and children to play in the puddles, but not for the gators to wander our streets. See, life is always a give and take.

Today’s mission, find a fishing spot. After talking to a couple locals I didn’t get a good fix on one particular spot. And when they did mention a fairly specific area, I couldn’t find public access so I headed north to the DELNOR – WIGGINS PASS STATE PARK. The entire coastline of Florida is spotted with state parks that have specific areas designated for swimming and fishing. Delnor-Wiggins also has a ‘pass’ which allows boaters to access the Gulf of Mexico from a mangrove lined channel leading to the park managed boat ramp. On the map, this looked like the spot.

As I just mentioned, ‘on the map’, but when I physically put my toes in the water I knew I couldn’t put my ass in the sand. Mainly because the wave action was so intense it covered what used to be the sand and was washing into the mangroves. With this high water came a current passing through the pass that, for me, was unfishable. So, another fishing spot would have to be found. Keep reading…

Since fishing for the day was out, and I was close to the NAPPLES ZOO at CARIBBEAN GARDENS, plans changed and as the TV commercial says ‘I went to the zoo’.

The Naples Zoo is a great place to visit but a couple things to remember, don’t go in the heat of the day and animals’ behavior is largely effected by the weather. Today was one of those days, actually it was a combination of both. I got there around 1100 hours and the heat was already up to 88⁰F. That coupled with the barometric pressure, which continues to drop because of now Tropical Storm Hermine (formerly TD9), for the most part the animals were in hiding. Those that weren’t in their nightly enclosures, were laying in the shaded areas. Even with little to no animal activity at all, going to the zoo was the right decision for the day.

Tropical Storm Hermine has moved farther up the Florida coast and has been upgraded to a category 1 hurricane. With its current track, I’m now tracking the movement even more because my home is now projected to be on the southeast side of the storm which contains most of the wind and rain.
However, the winds here in Naples have dissipated, but the bands of tropical rain continue.

Again, with the forecast of rain any day trip will be short, s I went to nearby SUGDEN REGIONAL PARK. I’d been here in the past and it has a nice trail around a lake where about the only sounds you hear are the sounds of nature. Birds chirping, leaves rustling with the breeze, and insects or small animals scurrying through the undergrowth. A truly relaxing stroll.

Today I’m going to give the Everglades another try. While at the Big Cypress Gallery the other day, the lady suggested I visit JANES SCENIC DRIVE. She told me the roads were dirt, but my vehicle would be fine. I located the drive on the map and made my way south and east.

Janes Scenic Drive is located in the Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park. There is a $3 entrance fee for the park which is on the ‘Honor System’, please stop by the office and pay your fee. The beginning of the road is paved but soon changes to a dirt road wide enough for two vehicles to pass easily. However, as you continue the road narrows, more holes in the road appear, and you’re driving in a canopy of trees with swamp on the sides.

With all the rain we’d had because of the tropical storm there was plenty of water on the road and the surrounding swamp was full, thus at some point the water was moving across the road. I drove a few miles before I came to place that I could not see where the water ended and the road resumed. I turned around.

I do not recommend taking a car on this road but a vehicle with adequate ground clearance should be fine, four-wheeled drive is not required. Oh, with the road being narrow and some of the trees low hanging, I don’t recommend any high profile vehicles.

If you like nature and don’t mind spending time in your vehicle (not many places to park and even fewer to walk) this is worth the ride.

Returning to pavement I decided to drive through and past Everglades City to where the road ends on Chokoloskee Island. This is another small town at the northern end of the area known as Ten Thousand Islands. These are the islands that separate the Everglades and mainland Florida from the Gulf of Mexico.

Well, that didn’t take long at all; it ended in the parking lot of a small store on the water.

With time to spare and my fishing equipment in the back, it’s time to go fishing. On my way from Everglades City to Chokoloskee Island I drove across a causeway with a bait shop on the island side. Leaving the island I picked up some live shrimp, drove up the causeway for about a mile, and went fishing. No luck here, but I knew another spot on the outskirts of Everglades City, so off I went.

YES, I finally found the place that had fish. I caught several small, less than legal keeping size, mangrove snappers, and, my first snook, this too was not of legal size. Being more a catch and release fisherman, and equally as important, a legal fisherman, all the fish were safely returned to grow and reproduce.

As I approached Naples I saw a sign for yet another state park, the COLLIER-SEMINOLE STATE PARK . This is a small park and from what I could tell it was primarily used for camping. It did have a boardwalk, which was closed due to repairs and high water. The campsites included tent and camper spots complete with water and electric hookups.

My final day trip was to another place I’d visited before, the Naples Botanical Garden. I enjoyed this place last year and figured it would take up some time before I had to prepare to end this assignment and return to my home.

The foliage was lush, many flowers were in bloom, and the weather was perfect for a leisurely stroll.