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Experience Everglades
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Experience the Everglades
Experience the Everglades
Gulf Coast Visitor Center, Everglades National Park. The Gulf Coast Visitor Center for Everglades National Park, located in Everglades City, is the only visitor center within the national park that is free - no entry fee required. The center is located on State Road 29 in Everglades City. Boat tours are available that take you out into the saltwater mangrove estuary portion of the park. You're sure to spot bottlenose dolphins and numerous bird species, including osprey, herons, egrets and more. There is an educational display depicting the history and wildlife of the area, free park publications, including paddling guides for the canoe and kayak enthusiast, and park rangers are on duty. The Gulf Coast Center is favored by canoe and kayak paddlers. This is where they come to obtain their backcountry camping permits for excursions along the Wilderness Waterway, and there are kayaks and canoes available for rent.

This vast, federally protected wilderness is one of the last truly wild natural areas left in Florida and its ecosystem is unlike any other on earth. The park is home to alligators, crocodiles, hundreds of bird species, white-tailed deer, bobcats and the endangered Florida panther.

Fishing. The Ten Thousand Islands section of the Everglades is known as an angler's paradise, with tarpon, snook, redfish, permit, pompano and other species in abundance. Numerous fishing guides are based in Everglades City and Chokoloskee and are highly recommended for navigating through the shallow water and labyrinthine mangrove islands. Check the Fishing section for a list of charter guides.

Take An Airboat Ride. Everglades City and its outlying areas along with Immokalee in eastern Collier County are home to numerous airboat tour operators. These unique vehicles are designed specifically to navigate the shallow waters and swamps of The Everglades region where hundreds of species of birds and animals make their homes. Airboat tours provide wildlife viewing opportunities and a fun experience. Airboat tour operators are located throughout Everglades City and along the Tamiami Trail, but are not allowed within the boundaries of Everglades National Park. Visit the Nature & Wildlife Tours section for listings of airboat and other guided tour operators.

Wildlife Watching. Everywhere you look, there's wildlife to be spotted in the Everglades region. On the western side of the Everglades, you need only drive along the main road, the Tamiami Trail, to spot alligators and numerous bird species. Within the Big Cypress National Preserve, there are several side road trips recommended for capturing critters on film. Turner River Road and Loop Road provide ample opportunities for up close photo opportunities. For more information on these scenic drives, stop in at the Big Cypress Oasis Visitor Center on the Tamiami Trail or call (239) 695-1201. Just off State Road 29, Janes Scenic Drive provides miles of wildlife watching opportunities within Fakahatchee Strand Preserve State Park. In Everglades City, you can sit along the banks of the Barron River and spot everything from tarpon in the river to raccoons and otters on the mangrove islands. Take a boat trip from the Gulf Coast Visitor Center or hire a private guide and you'll spot birds, dolphins, manatee and lots more wildlife in the Ten Thousand Islands. The Everglades region, along with the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in nearby Naples, were both named in the top five best bird watching locations in the United States by Birder's World magazine.

Museum Of The Everglades. Everglades history is displayed in artifacts and exhibits covering 2000 years of regional history, from the Calusa Indians through the development of Everglades City. The Museum of the Everglades is located in the town's old laundry building and is on the National Register Of Historic Places.

Smallwood's Store Trading Post & Museum. Located on Chokoloskee Island just
Tour the mangrove canals
Tour the mangrove canals
across the causeway from Everglades City, Smallwood's Store features an extensive collection of Florida pioneer and Native American artifacts. At the turn of the century settlement of the wilderness in the Ten Thousand Islands brought a need for goods and mail and the Smallwood Store met that need. Established in 1906 by Ted Smallwood, this Trading Post served a remote area, buying hides, furs and farm produce and providing the goods required. Ted Smallwood's store was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974. It remained open and active until 1982. When the doors were shut, 90 percent of the original goods remained in the store. In the last few years Ted's granddaughter has reopened the store as a museum, and today it serves as a time capsule of Florida pioneer history. The center section of the building remains as Ted would have known it. The store is the location of the infamous murder of Ed Watson by area townspeople, made famous in Killing Mr. Watson and other novels set in the Ten Thousand Islands by author Peter Mathiessen.

Ochopee Post Office. The Ochopee Post Office, the smallest post office in the country, is located just south of State Road 29 on the Tamiami Trail, designated a U.S. Scenic Highway and Florida Scenic Highway. The post office is open Monday through Saturday and there is free parking. Post cards and stamps are on sale, and there is no charge for postmarking of your own pre-stamped mail. Hundreds of visitors stop by the post office each week to get the Ochopee post mark on letters and post cards and to have their picture taken in front of the tiny building. The original Ochopee Post Office, opened in 1932, was located in a general store until it burned down in 1953. The present structure, measuring 7'3" x 8'4" had been the tool shed behind the store. After the fire, the shed was pressed into service as a makeshift post office and remains there today.

Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve State Park. The rare ghost orchid - made famous in the movie Adaptation and the book, The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean – grows in the Fakahatchee Strand along with many other rare and endangered plant and animal species. Park rangers lead swamp walks every third Saturday of the month between the months of November and February. If you don't want to get your feet wet, you can enjoy some of the Fakahatchee's pristine environment on the Big Cypress Bend boardwalk, which provides, free, easy hiking access along a 0.8-mile boardwalk. Here you can walk past trees draped with orchids and other air plants, while ancient cypress trees tower above you. This boardwalk is the first major roadside stop along the Tamiami Trail after leaving Naples. There is a small Seminole Indian Village at the entrance of the boardwalk. The boardwalk is great for bird watching and spotting alligators, otters and other wildlife. The boardwalk provides the easiest access to the Fakahatchee - otherwise you can drive along Janes Scenic Drive for entrances to more challenging swamp hikes.

Collier-Seminole State Park. This 6,400-acre park showcases the wildlife splendor that is the Everglades. Explore mangroves and cypress swamp by land or water by boat tour or canoe. Tent and RV camping are available. Collier-Seminole State Park is located just 17 miles south of Naples on the Tamiami Trail.

Clyde Butcher's Big Cypress Gallery. World-famous Everglades photographer Clyde Butcher's black and white photography is on display at his gallery located in the middle of the Everglades within the Big Cypress National Preserve. Big Cypress Gallery displays an extensive selection of Clyde's work, which ranges in size from 16x20 inches to 5x9 feet.

Roadside Attractions. There are still some classic old-style Florida roadside attractions that feature lots of big alligators on display. Animal handlers get up close with alligators to show visitors the power of their jaws and their quick speed. Some of these include Wooten's on the Tamiami Trail and Jungle Erv's in Everglades City.

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