12-11-17 post-cruise trip to Wakodahatchee:

We couldn't come to South Florida without going to see our friends at Wakodahatchee!   So that was our big plans for today.   It was a beautiful day---mid 60s and sunny. 

Love the boardwalk over the wetlands. 

I was a little surprised that there wasn't as much bird activity going on here yet as I expected, but I did see quite a few alligators.

Saw a few soft shelled turtles, too.

I was wondering what this guy had in his mouth.

so was this swamp hen

When the gator got on shore I was able to see he was carrying a fish.

This great blue heron didn't seem to be afraid of the gator.  the heron was probably trying to figure out if it could eat the gator.

one last photo of the gator.

on to checking out the other wildlife.  Some of the black bellied whistling ducks were back

There were several Great Blue herons there, too, although they hadn't started building nests yet.

Some looked like they were finding mates, though.

some of the pickelweed was still blooming

another soft shelled turtle popping up to great us

saw a few iguanas

even a couple woodstorks

another great blue

a white peacock butterfly

some tri color herons were here, too.

a Florida Cooter basking in the sun

I remember when we lived near here that the cormorants nested and raised their young first.  There were a few of them here, but didn't look like they were nesting yet.

another gator

the swamp crier warning everyone about the gator.

A cormorant that looked like it was gathering nesting materials

another large iguana

Then we heard a commotion in the water.  Thought a gator was chasing a bird.  Then I noticed it was an iguana, not a bird.

The iguana escaped a couple of times, but the gator finally got it by the tail.

down it went

then we saw the gator swimming around with a tail in it's mouth.  At first I thought it got the iquana, but later I was wondering if the iguana dropped it's tail and got away.

Looked like the gator only had a tail

heading out

mottled ducks

When we were done at the wetlands, we went back to Wyndham for a bit.  I even enjoyed the pool and jacuzzi for awhile.  Then caught sunset from our 9th floor condo balcony.

Just after sunset, we headed to Coral Springs to have the Monday night $5 burger special at one of our favorite places---Lefty's Bar.  It was as good as we remembered---maybe even better since we really don't go out for burgers in Atlanta.  We even went to Pasquale's Pizza a few doors down and got some zeppole's for dessert.

Then it was time to get a little Holiday cheer so we drove around looking at Christmas lights.

I like that the people in South Florida often go extravagant with Christmas decorations.  I guess it helps them get in the spirit of the season since the weather is so nice.

The house at the corner of the street Angie and Josh use to live on.

more of that house.

Back at the condo it was time to pack up again so we would be ready to head back to the FLL airport after check out the next morning.  We had a great end to another great vacation!