Ft. Myers - Day Six - Everglades
Everglades
This was a day Kathy and Jenny had been looking forward to for years. Kathy said it was on her ‘bucket list’, Jenny said if we didn’t go to the Everglades this trip she would have rented a car and went on her own.
It was about 2 1/2 hours to Gator Park, the air boat tour we had chosen, so we headed out pretty early again. We hit Waffle House and were on our way.
We passed through Naples and 45 minutes later the landscape began changing to the grass and water wetland the Everglades is known for. A little while later Rob and Pat caught a glimpse of an alligator in a pond along the road. A disappointed Jenny complained she didn’t see it, but wasn’t disappointed for long. She would see gators on the banks of the creek and canals along the road every few minutes.
When we got to the air boat location, Pat checked in but there was a momentary hiccup, as he couldn’t find the receipt for the private airboat tour. Unfortunately there was no cell service, and he couldn’t pull up a bank statement. The staff was very helpful and went back to search their records, but Pat thankfully found it, after zipping right past the confirmation email several times. There was some slight concern from at least one of us that we would have a ‘doubly’ nice trip!
The staff member that checked us in was really nice. She let us know that her husband, “Tickle”, would be giving us the tour, and it was his first private tour ever. He had been working as a mechanic on the boats for quite awhile and decided he would like to start giving tours.
We chose the more spendy option of a private airboat tour for a few reasons - the larger boats provided a much shorter tour, the boats were much larger - holding up to 25-30 people and the private tour promised a tour that was both deeper into the Everglades and a closer view to the wildlife. And truth be told, Pat had always loved the airboats in “Gentle Ben” and wanted an “authentic” trip!
It was an amazing hour long trip. We got a great history of the Everglades, saw evidence of when Hurricane Sandy came through the area (a HUGE tree blown over), saw tons of birds - including one that had speared a fish and was trying to get it off his beak to eat - and a bunch of alligators in their natural habitat.
Tickle told us we had gone about 20 miles in the Everglades and back. There was a pretty slow start out of the docked area, and then a few fun 40-50 mile an hour runs through open areas. We were provided ear plugs when we checked in, and they were definitely needed. That fan is LOUD.
When we got back there was a short presentation about wildlife found in the area - scorpions, snakes, frogs and alligators to name a few. The scorpion was Kathy’s favorite.
Pat and Jenny even got to hold a young alligator.
Though expectations were high, we all agreed they were met and we all had an amazing experience.
We headed back and stopped at the Big Cypress National Preserve Oasis Visitor Center. There was a short boardwalk along a creek next to the road and we saw at least a dozen alligators on the banks and in the water. It was unclear if the were sort of lured there with extra food, or it was just a nice spot to hang out. Regardless it was fun to see more of them.
We grabbed dinner at Pinchers, a seafood place downtown Ft. Myers, and part of the Ford/Edison Winter homes area. Dinner was just ok for some of us, but Rob had fresh catch of the day and he thought it was fantastic.
We were wiped out after the long day and ended up just crashing in our rooms. Amazing day!
