LauderBlog
Oct 21: Everglades Revisited
Posted On: October 21, 2008 10:05 AM
Posted By: LauderBLOGGER
Related Subjects: Greater Fort Lauderdale
As I wrote in my previous blog, my sister and brother-in-law are visiting me now that I have a condo with enough room for guests. Sondra and Jack are down here from North Carolina and we’ve had a great time so far. Several years ago during another stay with me, we all had gone together out to the Everglades for an airboat ride. On Saturday, they wanted to return to the great River of Grass. I really was happy to experience this environment again, which is unique in all the world. And it was a perfect day for airboating, sunny but not too hot. We put the top down on my convertible and headed west on I – 595 to my favorite spot for airboat tours. Called Sawgrass Recreation Park, this is where I usually have taken out of town visitors who wanted to see the Everglades. The park is even better now than on my last trip there.
Sawgrass Recreation Park has spruced up their grounds a bit, added more animals to their exhibits and generally made it all more interesting and pleasant. But of course the real attraction is the trip into the Everglades. Our captain, Charles, was the best I’ve had on any airboat. A very personable guy, he also was knowledgable about this Florida wilderness. And he sure knew where to look for gators.
Lots of them. I’m guessing this must have been my 7th or 8th airboat ride, at least, but I’d never been surrounded by alligators in the Everglades as we were over the weekend. Charles pulled the airboat into a little patch of clear water among the sawgrass and the gators emerged. One, two … three. Four. Five. Six. Yep, a half dozen alligators soon floated within yards of the boat, some quite large. “Keep your hands inside the airboat,” Charles warned. The crowd of gators watched us watching them, only their piercing eyes visible at times, before ducking under the water one by one and each bobbing up again somewhere else. Then two huge softshell turtles popped up too, splashing lazily around our boat. After maybe ten minutes of this, and lots of photos, we moved into a thicket of sawgrass where Charles gave us a short talk about the Everglades. At one point, he cut open a cattail to scrape out a pulpy mass from the center. “This is what the Seminoles used to bandage wounds,” he explained. I could see why – the pulp held together as well as a strip of gauze. Resourceful folks, those Native Americans. When the airboat docked back at Sawgrass, we tipped Charles well and toured the grounds for a half hour or so, wandering through the exhibits of live gators, snakes, wildcats and other critters before heading home. It was a wonderful beginning to my visit with Jack and Sondra. But only the beginning. That evening we were off for a terrific dinner on the Fort Lauderdale beach. In my next blog, I’ll tell you where we ended up and why it’s worth giving this restaurant a try.
Sawgrass Recreation Park has spruced up their grounds a bit, added more animals to their exhibits and generally made it all more interesting and pleasant. But of course the real attraction is the trip into the Everglades. Our captain, Charles, was the best I’ve had on any airboat. A very personable guy, he also was knowledgable about this Florida wilderness. And he sure knew where to look for gators.
Lots of them. I’m guessing this must have been my 7th or 8th airboat ride, at least, but I’d never been surrounded by alligators in the Everglades as we were over the weekend. Charles pulled the airboat into a little patch of clear water among the sawgrass and the gators emerged. One, two … three. Four. Five. Six. Yep, a half dozen alligators soon floated within yards of the boat, some quite large. “Keep your hands inside the airboat,” Charles warned. The crowd of gators watched us watching them, only their piercing eyes visible at times, before ducking under the water one by one and each bobbing up again somewhere else. Then two huge softshell turtles popped up too, splashing lazily around our boat. After maybe ten minutes of this, and lots of photos, we moved into a thicket of sawgrass where Charles gave us a short talk about the Everglades. At one point, he cut open a cattail to scrape out a pulpy mass from the center. “This is what the Seminoles used to bandage wounds,” he explained. I could see why – the pulp held together as well as a strip of gauze. Resourceful folks, those Native Americans. When the airboat docked back at Sawgrass, we tipped Charles well and toured the grounds for a half hour or so, wandering through the exhibits of live gators, snakes, wildcats and other critters before heading home. It was a wonderful beginning to my visit with Jack and Sondra. But only the beginning. That evening we were off for a terrific dinner on the Fort Lauderdale beach. In my next blog, I’ll tell you where we ended up and why it’s worth giving this restaurant a try.
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