On the first day, we went to Daytona Beach, on the shores of the Northern Atlantic. Daytona Beach is very different from the umpteen beaches around Tampa I had visited previously. It was huge in length and breadth. I could not see any end either side. We could also drive the car on the beach itself.
As sunset approached, I got ready to soak in the breathtaking paraphernalia of colours that normally accompanies the setting sun. But surprise, surprise, there wasn't any sun over the sea! It so happens that Daytona Beach is on the east coast. So the sun was actually setting on the opposite side to the sea! But we did have a backup plan to catch the master painter at work.
The tallest lighthouse in Florida and the 2nd tallest in the nation, Ponce Inlet, was about 6 miles from there. We stepped on the gas, reached the lighthouse and climbed 203 steps just in time to watch an iridescent sunset.
Ponce (meaning mosquito) Inlet has been exquisitely maintained and is still functional. The original caretaker's house has also been restored and turned into a museum. Driving 150 miles back to Tampa, we reached home at around 11PM.
The next day was the most eventful. After eating brunch at about 11AM, we started for Miami. It was not a typical Florida weather. Cloudy, humid and morose. The beauty of Sunshine Skyway was dampened by the dank clouds. I checked the weather forecast: Thunderstorms expected at night. Now that would be fun to drive through. Anyway, after driving through the interstate highways I275 and I75 for about 4 hours, we reached the Everglades National Park. The only other forest/park I went to in Florida earlier was Weedon Island which is nothing but a large swamp. But everglades is actually a slow moving river (about quarter miles a day) and a huge forest. It is also teeming with wildlife.
There are various entrances to the park: Flamengo Visitor Center, Shark Valley Visitor Center and Gulf Coast Visitor Center. The Shark Valley center is closer to Miami (about 40 miles) so we took this one. Each visitor center also specializes in different guided tours. For instance, the Gulf Coast Center has a 2 hour boat tour and the Shark Valley center a 2 hour tram tour.
Since it was getting pretty late and we only had one choice, we asked the local people for their choice of any one. While the predominant opinion was that it's like comparing apples and oranges (kinda like IIM and ISB :P ) but one fellow tourist suggested we take the Tram ride as it takes us to the heart of the everglades and we can see a huge variety of birds and beasts.
As always, there was a catch. It was already 3 PM and the last tram ride leaves at 4. The shark valley center was still 20 miles away but we had to reach the center well in advance to reserve a seat and park as the tram ride is very popular. So I took the wheels and in a ride that would put James Bond to shame (and gave my friends a heart attack) made up the 20 miles in 15 minutes. Once we reached the Park, we were blown away by the flora and fauna. There were just so many birds and alligators all around. Check out this video of Mr Alligator taking a stroll across the street.
I was very surprised to see that the alligators openly roam around the park in such close proximity to people in general, and small children in particular. I wondered whether there had been any untoward incidents before. I got the answer during the tram ride when the guide (a sharp witted sweet old lady) explained that the alligators do not associate the humans with food. That's because the alligators are not fed by humans. The sign: Do not feed wildlife, suddenly made a lot of sense. Since human beings are larger in stature than alligators, humans also intimidate the alligators. So till date, there has never been any alligator attacks in the Everglades! Well there was a small incident wherein a brazilian boy actually fell over an alligator (while riding his bike) and the animal (not the Brazilian) took a nice bite at the offender but punches from the boy's mother cut the animal's snack short and the boy escaped with a few broken ribs! During the tram ride it started to rain, which eventually gave way to a beautiful rainbow.
After spending about 3 hours in the Park, we finally left for Miami. Miami has a North and a South Beach. We passed through the city, admiring the nigh skyline, and headed to the South Beach. We parked our car on the Ocean Drive right next to the sea. The beach was awesome and the city was alive even at night. The beach was lit up by the light emanating from nearby hotels (a lot of 'em) and clubs. We sampled the Miami night life and had dinner at an Italian restaurant called Casablanca. Choosing the restaurant was also an experience as each of the hotels had people standing outside with the menu stuck to their chest and were throwing freebies such as free wine (which we succumbed to eventually) and 15% off on dishes and so on. There was even an Indian restaurant among others. Our waitress at Casablanca was as beautiful as any Hollywood actress. I thought of saying "Here's looking at you kid" but then remembered the ending of Casablanca.
The beach was so gorgeous P and T wanted to stay over at Miami for the night and experience it in the morning. The sky high hotel charges put an end to our high hopes and we configured the GPS for our route back home. We intentionally timed our journey so that we could avoid the thunderstorms at Tampa but we couldn't escape the fog.
So here I was, driving at 90 miles/hour, in pitch dark fog at 3Am in the night with my friends and I singing old Hindi and Bengali songs. And I loved it. It was a thrilling ride back home. Eventually we reached home at about 4:30AM to bring an awesome day to an end.
The next day, we headed to an all familiar destination (for me anyway): Clearwater Beach. The beach derives its name from the transparent quality of the water. The weather that day was awesome: bright, sunny and warm.
However the water was freezing cold. Taking a bath in the freezing sea was another awesome experience. P and T's flight was at 6:25 PM so we somehow dragged ourselves out of the water just in time for them to catch the flight back.
After dropping them off at the airport, I felt really sad that the whirlwind vacation came to an end so soon. I wished it could go on a bit more. It left me with a sweet but sad feeling quite like the feeling after watching Casablanca.
No matter what the future brings, As time goes by...
...I must remember this
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