A Young Naturalist's Perspective: Journey to the 10 Thousand Islands

Journey to the 10 Thousand Islands

by, PJ

I took a trip to the Everglades with our nature group ECO. We went to a place called Ten Thousand Islands which was really cool. It is called 10,000 Islands because of how many little mangrove islands there are in this area. When we arrived, we went into a museum and learned all about Florida and the local Native Americans. I learned about the Calusa Indians and that their name means Fierce Warriors. They were very tall and full of muscles because they had a diet made up of mainly meat. The Calusa Indians usually won battles against the Spanish because they were faster, stronger and knew the area so well. We then went to the Gun and Rod Hotel where we saw animal heads, pelts and whole stuffed animals from the area. We ate lunch under a canopy made of palm frowns at a dock that had huge Deer Flies. They didn’t bite but were very annoying. Mosquitoes were everywhere. Good thing we brought bug repellant. I spotted an Osprey coming from the lake and flew into a tree. It wasn’t carrying any fish. We saw some enormous grasshoppers. Before we started the nature walk, we saw a baby alligator. It was less than two feet long. We walked further and saw more huge grasshoppers, lots of trees and plant life. We stopped to play nature bingo and heard a huge “SNAP!” It sounded like a gun going off in the distance. Christy, our fabulous nature teacher went over to the water to see what the noise was. It was a 10 foot alligator. Boy was I glad to be standing on the dock. I love nature group!