Ok so I am driving for the first time since being over here! For a variety of reasons, I decided to treat myself and just hire a car for 5 days. If I want to really get out and about and explore Florida properly I have to, as the public transport is really not great, especially with me being here over the Christmas holiday. Plus, taxis etc are going to be super expensive! After picking up my car and getting a free upgrade (thanks once again British accent!) I sit in the car for the first 10 mins psyching myself up for this and repeating ‘drive on the right’ especially as of all places I have decided to drive apparently Florida is one of the worst! Turns out it’s not the whole of Florida but Miami is definitely a nutty place to drive. No one cares for the rules of the road, speeding and undertaking, anything goes!

I am driving to Fort Myers, where I am staying with a lady who is an environmental consultant. It takes me 3 hours to get there with a few rest stops along the Everglades. Once out of Miami, the driving is not so bad and kind of feels like driving a go kart without having the gears. I arrive at Gabrielle’s where I am staying on her sailing boat, she is an avid sailor and actually sailed across the Atlantic ocean when she moved to the U.S.A from Europe! Super cool! We have dinner by her pool and as we are eating I point out the bats echolocations calls we can hear, which obviously gets me all excited.

After dinner and talking for a few hours I set up my base on the sailing boat, parked on the canal at the bottom of the garden. The stars are out and so I have a couple of beers on the back of the boat and read my book. I have been bitten by mosquitos but I don’t care as I can hear bats echolocating and flying around, I can hear splashing in the canal (by manatees hopefully!!!) and I read my book on the back of the boat whilst taking breaks and staring up into the sky full of stars…. So a few mozzie bites are ok as I want to hear the wildlife around me, it’s so peaceful here.