Joanie's was reported to be in the town of Ochopee, so we headed
towards this settlement. And somehow missed it - not the restaurant, the
whole town. After a while we turned round and drove back, stopping at the
only building we had passed, a disused petrol station. It turned out that this
was Ochopee and the unlit building next to where we stopped was Joanie's.
Blatantly we were not eating there tonight, or probably ever, so we headed
back towards our campsite. We stopped in Everglades City and ate at the
Seafood Depot (also listed in our guidebook).
Renowned for fish dishes, Emma and I both had all-you-can-eat shrimp
salad to start. Emma then moved onto crab claws, and I had chilli (beef, not
seafood!). The meal was very good - though we were so hungry after the
Joanie's fiasco we would have eaten anything - and good value for money,
especially as we left with a doggy bag of American ‘biscuits’ (a bit like savoury
scones).
Following a quick breakfast of nearly fresh biscuits, we headed off into the
wilds of the Everglades. Well, actually Route 41, a main road through the
park, but still pretty wild. En route to Shark Valley visitor centre we saw
masses of alligators and stopped several times to take ‘snaps’. We also
spotted lots of different birds including a rare (according to our leaflet) wood
stork.
We ventured gingerly out of the van the first time we stopped to look at
the 'gators, but then approached others with increasing boldness - until one
thrashed loudly in the water near us, causing us to beat a hasty retreat. We
also attempted to take photographs of some turtles sunning themselves on