I’ve always had an affinity for water so it’s no surprise that I would see the Everglades, one of the United State’s many coastal parks. Being one of the biggest national parks at 1.5 million acres, there’s a lot to unpack about the Everglades so this will be a two part blog post.
The tour started on a bright Florida day on a small motorboat that’s mostly shaded by a blue tarp. We have two guides, one driving the boat and another that tells us about what we’re seeing. All parks are pretty in their own way, and as simple as the Everglades is, its large expanse of water framed by mangroves is beautiful with the mid morning light bouncing off of it.
A lot of the boat ride is looking out into this expanse for dolphins and the famed manatees that live off of the sea grass. The water is too murky to see below so we can’t see anything unless it comes above the surface. According to our tour guide the water gets its brown and blue coloring from the mangroves. Luckily for us, the bottle nose dolphins decided to make an appearance that day. A small group of them did tricks for us by flopping sideways onto the waves. Everyone had their phones out for photos, but the dolphins were too fast for the cameras. All my family has from the experience is a grainy video of a gray blur diving up into the air but we all remember the delight the sighting filled us with.
A manatee was also spotted but it escaped our view too quickly for most to see. The “chubby mermaid” as named by our guide must not be that photogenic. We brightened at the sighting of a natural osprey nest towering out above the treeline. Many of the osprey nests we had seen so far were built at the top of the striped water posts which was fun to get a close look at on our way back.
The Everglades has many more animals than the ones that meet the eye (like the dolphins that eagerly lapped up our attention) so there’s always a chance you’ll spot something when you go out to see it and if you don’t, you get the experience of being out on the water. Either way, it’s a park to go see. Of course along with everything great about the park, there are many threats to it as well. These threats will be covered more in depth in part two along with how you can help.