Girls on Tour Again!: Florida marshes, the odd bird and shy aligators

Arriving in Florida, we Brits had a shock. Rain we can cope with - well, ours is a 'green and pleasant land' after all - but hot?

We picked up the car (and went through the usual additional cost/information/dire warnings about not having the right insurance..... although to be fair to Hertz, they didn't bat an eyelid at adding Karen as a spouse and extra driver) and then cautiously took to the road.

Karen learned a few years ago, that as long as you keep the centre of the road on your left hand side, all will be well, although we did head two miles up the road in the wrong direction (although on the right side of the road!) when we came out of the airport. It's astounding to us that the bigger the roads, the fewer signposts they have on them.

But we finally arrived, more or less on time to our first activity in Florida - an airboat trip around the Florida marshes, run by the very lovely Denny and Captain Mike of St Johns Airboat River Tour.

We scored a big hit with the accent, while Denny scored a big hit with the bag of food and goodies she brought for our tour, which instead of 90 minutes lasted more than two hours. Obviously, they've been watching Downton and think all English people expect this kind of service...

The Florida marshes were spectacular. We skidded across water and greenery, and loved the sort of half-land which was neither land nor water.

This is a fantastic primeval landscape with inky water and spooky trees with their skirt of roots.

Something straight out of Cape Fear....

While the aligators were a trifle shy and we only caught the flick of their tails as they dived beneath the water, or the bumps on their eyes and noses as they rested just beneath the surface, the birds were in plentiful supply.

Roseate Spoonbills, which glowed pink in the failing light, white and black Ibis, bald headed eagles, osprey and others we forget... all scared out of their wits by the noise of the engine for our photographic pleasure. Only some of the photographs, sadly, warranted their discomfiture. Some of them are below, but one of my personal favourites is one which reminded me of the vultures in the Jungle Book.