music to accompany this page. KOKOMO by The Beach Boys, MIDI

On Highway 41 (Tamiami Trail) there is an intersection at Highway 29 (W 81 21.88' - N25 54.65') that takes you to Everglades City (81 23.09' - 25 51.71') and Chokoloskee (81 21.74' - 25 48.81'). We've passed this intersection at least a dozen times on our trips to Naples, Florida and never were tempted to make the turn South at Hwy. 29.

Stone crab season just started. We've never been to the world famous Joe's Stone Crab on Miami Beach, Florida (80 8.12' - 25 46.08'). Because it requires about 2 hours of standing in line to get in, unless you give the maitre d' a fat gratuity. I'm not a "big" tipper, so the wait for us might be up to 4 hours. But we found out that you can go to Chokoloskee and buy stone crab claws fresh from the docks.

You gotta beat it, stone crab claws that is, with a hammer. The first time I walloped one the meat, shell fragments and slippery stuff inside went flying around the kitchen. I was picking the stuff off the floor and walls for a week. After a couple of smashing bouts, I learned there is an art to cracking a claw, but I never quite learned it. However I did improve my batting average by covering the claw with a towel and then giving it what-for right between the thumb and index finger.

Alligator at H.P. Williams Roadside Park on the Turner River (80 51.36' - 25 47.39')

Before you get to Chokoloskee you have to stop and see the alligators. Now when I say "see the alligators" it doesn't mean that they stand up in the water like a dolphin furiously wiggling it's tail to stay aloft. Alligator sightings are more subtle. Alligators are usually very still and very low in the water as though they're a log. At this site we spotted 4 alligators in the river next to the road.

Also at the same park you can have a picnic lunch, get out the fishing pole to go after bluegill and largemouth bass while observing and taking pictures of cattle egrets, ibis, Everglades kites, black vultures and anhingas diving for fish.

This is the Everglades City Methodist Church. In Chokoloskee and Everglades City you won't find any fast food restaurants. In fact, the entire drive from Naples to Miami on the Tamiami Trail is also without McDonald's, Burger Kings or any advertising signs. What a pleasure! The only advertising are small signs for the many Miccosukee indian villages along the route.

City Hall, Everglades City. One of the most photogenic City Halls I've ever seen. This is on a small circle with the above church and a restaurant. Part of the restaurant's facade is seen below.

A decorative garage attached to a restaurant in Florida City. I don't know why the restaurant needed this particular decoration but a lot of effort was put into it, and it comes off pretty well.

This store is in Chokoloskee. They sell bait and tackle, sundries and even have a small place to sit down and eat stone crabs.

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About five miles East of Hwy 29 on the Tamiami Trail, we stopped here for seafood appetizers which were filling enough until we got back to Miami and had the Stone crab claws we bought in Chokoloskee.

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The Ochopee Post Office (81 18.22' - 25 50.07'). The smallest post office in the world. I'm sure the truck that deliver's the mail is bigger than the post office. I've gone by it many times and photographed it many times as well, but I've never been there during the week when the postmaster is in.

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This is the treasure trove of claws we went to Chokoloskee to get. There are $70 worth of claws in the dish. You can imagine how much they would cost served in a restaurant. We also bought a special mustard sauce, but traditional melted butter tastes just as well, if not better.

Fisherman often break off the large claw and throw the crab back into the water. If the break is made at the first joint, the crab is not harmed. The stone crab can and does sever its own claw at the first joint (by muscular contraction) to escape from danger.

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© Gary Rodriguez 1998

EMAIL: midi-guitar@worldnet.att.net

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