One adventure ended, another started

On Sunday morning (March 2) we’d disembarked.  It was sad saying good bye to our Princess pals.  It was especially hard leaving the little community we’d had … where our beds were made, we had fresh towels whenever we wanted them, and little chocolates to show we were cared about.  The very worst was leaving the Horizon Court and the ever-present buffet of food.  It only closed between midnight and 5:30 a.m. when we should be sleeping it off.

Fending for ourselves, it immediately became apparent we no longer had the skills.  We were trying to get to the car rental place and wandered around, getting on the elevator in the rental center, going to the wrong floor, getting off, getting on, going down.  What a hassle.  We finally got our car, and an upgrade to a small SUV.  The guy behind the desk must have liked us. 

Getting to the car was easy.  Getting out of the airport garage was easy.  Getting out of Ft. Lauderdale and/or around Miami … not so much.  But Jaz and I are persistent if nothing else, and we finally made it out and down to what may have been Florida City.  We stopped at a sub shop (not Subway) and had a not-so-good sub, but we were starving as our last meal had been on the ship in the early morning.  This foraging for ourselves was not going so well.  But we managed, and spent the night in some rundown type of place, but the first one we found, and we were tired.

On Monday morning we headed out again with no real plan.  But that’s always the best kind.  We found the Everglades National Park and they have alligators or crocodiles (everyone says different) and a wonderful place where we saw lots of birds.  Of course, we had drug our cameras along and were snapping right and left. 

Everywhere we looked there were birds to photograph.

I think the Everglades must be a birder's dream.

I should probably look up the names of all of these, but didn't.

An Ibis.  I know this one.

As we walked toward an alligator, some woman said “lady, lady.”  We turned around and she pointed out that we had walked within just a few feet of another alligator that had been laying along the walkway in the shade.  He’d made no move toward us.  But we decided it was the old bait and switch … the one would distract us while he made a grab for one of us.  “Old white lady – tastes like chicken.  Yum” 

One alligator.

And this is the one that was laying in the weeds waiting for the two old white gals.

Cormorant drying its wings.

This one was very intent on something, but never saw it go after anything

We survived that adventure and headed to Key Largo.  Wonder of wonders, I recognized the hotel where I’d stayed with Mike and Joyce and Uncle Glen and Diana a few years ago.  We registered for the night.  We also found the same glass bottom boat and took a tour in the late afternoon.

Would you believe we were on another Princess?  It was quite a come down from our Island Princess cruise ship.  But she was a good one, got us out to see things on the reef and safely back into the harbor.

The African Queen (from the same movie) was also still there but now you could go for a ride on it, so we signed up for a 10 a.m. the following morning.  This trip just keeps getting better.

The African Queen in all her glory.

The weather was wonderful and there were dozens of pelicans waiting for a handout from guys cutting up fish.  I must have snapped 200 photos … always trying to get the perfect one.  The money shot!!!

I just love the pelican look.

This one is swallowing a fish.  You can see part of the fish in its beak.

There were a couple dozen of them all in a row facing the guys who were throwing them fish.

This one flew in and landed on top of the other one.  It wouldn't give up until the one on the bottom left.

It was a great day, just kind of happening into things.  We walked around the docks where many of the boats were tied up, and it was just enjoyable.  Then it was time to go to bed.  Foraging for ourselves, looking for lodging is just too tiring for those of us who have lived on a cruise ship for two weeks.

 

On Tuesday we woke up to sunshine.  Imagine.  I don’t get tired of it.  We had a leisurely breakfast and wandered over to the African Queen.  For those who might not know it, it’s a boat out of a classic 1951 movie called the African Queen, basically about a drunk rescuing the sister of a minister during a war.  Humphrey Bogart and Katherine Hepburn starred.  The history of making the movie is also interesting as most everyone had dysentery except Bogart and Huston who drank copious amounts of alcohol. 

 

We found out the African Queen was a real boat, not just a movie prop.  And it has now been refurbished to the tune of about $85,000.  The steam boiler is out for reworking and is expected to be back in place in a few more weeks.  So while we didn’t have that last piece, and a ride on a boat using a steam boiler, we had an excellent ride through a canal and out into the ocean and then back.  It was a great time and I was happy to have enjoyed a little piece of history.

I was allowed to run that little boat a bit.  What a great thing that was, steam engine or outboard engine.

The boat was built in England in 1912.  She was named the S/L Livingstone and shipped to the British East Africa Railways Company on the Victoria Nile and Lake Albert on the border of the Belgian Congo and Uganda.  She was built narrow so as to navigate the river and was used to carry mercenaries, missionaries, cargo and hunting parties on their voyages. 

John Huston saw the vessel and in 1951 commissioned her for the movie he was directing “The African Queen.”  She was renamed after her starring role.  She was used for charters starting in 1968 but in 1982 was found languishing in an Ocala, Florida, cow pasture.  She was purchased again, made operational and began giving visitors rides from her new home port at the Key Largo Holiday Inn.  Although her engine broke down in 2001, she remained on display, which is how I last saw her. 

She's a sweet thing, and what memories she brings back ... of my mom and dad watching the original movie.

And the story would not be complete without the re-enactment of the pouring out of the gin.

Although not at her finest, she was shipped to England for the Queen Mother’s 90^th birthday celebration and for the commemoration of the 50^th anniversary of the Battle of Dunkirk evacuation in the English Channel.  She has also visited Australia, Ireland and New York.

In 2012 the African Queen was refurbished to how she was in the movie, with steel in her hull being replaced and the black African mahogany oiled to recondition the wood.  What a story for this little boat with a big history.

After our run on the historic little boat we set off down the Keys.  They drew us in as only you can be with sun, warm weather and white sand.