Day five isn't missing, there just wasn't too much to report aside from enjoying the ship, hitting the gym, and packing to get off on Saturday morning. I did, however, make the decision to do an early tour in Miami, as I had quite a few hours to kill before boarding Eclipse.

I opted for an excursion to the Everglades, to Gator Park for an air boat ride and alligator show - something I've always wanted to do. Although it was early in the morning, our tour guide, Gordon, spotted an alligator resting on a canal bank on the drive to the park. I'd heard stories about these deadly creatures "hanging out" near homes and places people frequent, but to see the five-foot-long gator just sitting there with a backdrop of a wall and someone's house was scary.

Into the park and we boarded an airboat for what turned out to be quite a hair raising ride. But first, we ventured away from HQ up a channel popular with alligators, and we didn't have to go far before several appeared silently from the marshes to check us out. Our guide for this part of the tour was Al, a genuine swamp man with plenty of personality and a great eye for spotting wildlife. He also enjoyed revving the boat up and sweeping quickly through some of the channels - by the looks on the faces of my fellow passengers, they weren't expecting that!

Other wildlife we saw on the way included a great blue heron, the biggest bird in the Everglades, a white heron, the second biggest, and some yellow bellied slider turtles basking in the sun on a mud pile. Al also pointed out some of the different plants including a pretty white lily which flowers in the region, and at one point he made us all rather nervous by climbing out of the boat into the water - to demonstrate what to do and what not to do if you happened to fall in. It also demonstrated how low the water was, a perennial problem in the Everglades, so Al says.

Back on land 40 minutes later we watched Salvador and his famous gator show. The star was Normal the gator, about six feet long and on this day cool and not very aggressive or active. The show involved Sal telling us about alligators, including the difference between them and crocodiles, putting his hand inside Norman's gaping jaws, and jumping on him from behind to demonstrate how to "disarm" a gator. He also showed us, and talked a little bit about, a skunk called Paris (wonder why?)

At the end, those who wanted to donate $3 could hold a smaller alligator (thankfully with the jaws taped up) called Larry. All in all it was a fun way to spend a morning, and the bus ride back passed quickly - for me, I was also anticipating joining Celebrity's newest ship, Eclipse, for the media launch which was abandoned last April due to the Icelandic volcano eruption….a story for later. Until then, bon voyage!

To view images from the Everglades tour, click here.