Florida Everglades: Gators, Skunk Ape, Air Boats

Dwight our tour guide 

My mother in law and I went out to the Florida Everglades to experience the land. First of all I learned the Everglades are not swamps or marshes, they are rivers and slowly moving water. A swamp is stagnant water and the Everglades are anything but stagnant. Everything, is always moving. The water, the animals, and even to some extent the plants. There are air plants that grow on the trees, they are not parasites, there are Fig Elk, which are giant tree parasites that kill their host trees. Gators, snakes, and green everywhere. I don't even know where to start.

I'll start with Dwight. He was our tour guide on the Everglades Adventure Tour, he was awesome.  He had a wealth of knowledge of the Everglades and the tours he set us up on were beyond amazing. Swamp tours, Air boat rides, interactive animal parks (petting zoos with unusual animals), and some stops to see wild birds.

First, we took a tour of the Everglades Via Air Boat. It was exhilarating.  We flew through the Everglades, went pass Mangroves, Snowy Egrets flew past us, and of course the gators bobbed their heads up and down in the murky water. The water in the Everglades is brackish, which means it is part saltwater, part fresh water, so different creatures live throughout.

We went on the Gator tour and saw a lot of Gators inside of Wooten's Airboat tours. The air boat ride was cool, but afterwards we went on a swamp tour across the street. There was a giant swamp buggy.  The woman driving it took us through the grasslands and then through what looked like a jungle. She explained the sable palms, wax myrtle, air plants, and Strangler Fig (which is a tree parasite but it is protected by law and it looks really cool).  We saw Raccoons and deer. She said sometimes there are bears.

After the swamp tour we met a guy who let us hold baby alligators.  I got to hold the big baby alligator. His name was Fred. He was a bit bigger than the other alligator because he was five. That's still a baby for Alligators, they really don't know how long they live, probably around 100 years.  There were also venomous snakes, tigers, and other gators all over the place.


The last place we went was the Skunk Ape Research Headquarters. It was the coolest place I've ever been. They have no Venomous snakes. There were birds, giant snakes, a baby alligator, peacocks, snapping turtles, and a tortoise. I'm told there were tarantulas and Scorpions, but I did not see them.

To wrap up our tour Dwight took us to see some of the native birds by the riverside. We did not get out of the van because there are gators that hang out near the edge of the river. They run really fast and we saw them swimming around in the river. It is illegal in the state of Florida to feed alligators. You will get arrested. This is because once you feed them they become dependent and see humans as people that will feed them. They are not good pets, so please do not buy baby alligators.













Where we went:

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/13341
http://wootenseverglades.com/
www.evergladesadventure.com 
http://youtu.be/lCTMUCRoBU8 <------You tube videos
http://youtu.be/edUX118xYYc <-----Youtube videos