As I mentioned in the last post, we were waiting on the final truck-repair bill to figure out what we were going to do next. 

Well, let's just say that we got it ... and that we need to stay here for a little while longer to pay for it and to make enough money to make the trip back to Louisiana.

Yeah .. oh well ...

Since we have to stay anyways, we've decided to stay a whole month longer and save enough money to take the 'long way' back, which means we're going to see some of the south of the State, like the Everglades and the Keys. At least I'm excited about that!

James has send the bill to US Engines, the company we ordered our engine from, and we're hoping, hoping, hoping, that they might refund us some. But with our luck ... we'll see ..

 

In the meantime, we drove to Fellsmere for a visit to Stick Marsh, a place where people have spotted a lot of big gators.

We had a hard time finding the marsh and by the time we finally arrived it was mid-day, which is usually not the best time to spot any wildlife.

As luck would have it though, we found a few medium sized alligators ...

 

And than this much bigger one ...

Which I think could actually be a Crocodile! 
The south of Florida is the only place in the US where they co-exist together, but I think that's mainly in the Everglades.
Crocodiles have more of an U-shaped snout, have 5 ridges on their backs instead of 3 and are usually lighter in color. Also their 4th tooth is visible when their mouths are closed.

We did come across a whole lot of birds, several of whom were 'new to me'!
Like this Limpkin, he made a lot of noise, trying to lure us away from his nest?

And a Glossy Ibis:

     

There were the usual suspects, like Great Blue Herons and quite a lot of Anhingas:

  

     

And on a small Island a little further in the marsh, some Roseate Spoonbills and Great Egrets were nesting:

      

I think this is a cluster of Chicken Turtles, soaking up some sunshine on a downed palm-tree trunk ..

These guys had the right idea, kayaks will get you a lot closer to the water birds and their nests, but I would be a little scared for big alligators chasing me or tipping me over ...




They were paddling through a big group of Moor Hens who didn't seem to be disturbed by them at all ..

I was surprised by the high water level. 

Lots of trees were at least half under water. I didn't think we had that much rain this winter ..

        

(The small white flowers on the right are from Lance-leafed Arrowhead)

James was off for a couple of days last week, and we've been putt-zing around the RV a little, doing a few small repair and maintenance jobs. 

We also cleaned both the trucks, and drove Brian's (our loaner) to a place here in Melbourne where he wanted it parked. Which is nice because he moved to Smyrna Beach, and I was happy I didn't have to drive it there!

We even tried our hand at Shuffle Board on one of our evening walks!

Such style!

And since it was Fat Tuesday, I baked a King Cake, but with a little twist as you can see, I shaped it like you would make cinnamon Rolls.

Mm, Mm good!

Too bad we missed all the Mardi Gras parades in Louisiana! 
Oh well .. we might still catch some of the Crawfish by the time we get there!
So far the truck runs fine by the way, so let's hope we will get there, which will be somewhere in April, we think ..

I'm not un-crossing any fingers yet!