Let's not beat about the bush - this tour is expensive. Very, very expensive. Having said that, the tour is very good.
After a round of hotel pick-ups,. you are driven to a rendezvous on the edge of the Everglades where you meet your fellow group members and guides for the day - different groups will gave signed uo to do different tours. This one is the biggest and baddest. Then there are three main sections for the day:
First off, there is an air boat ride over marshland, looking for alligators and wading birds. Sometimes there are snakes too, but it was not a snakey day when I went. The boats are run by the Miccosukee tribe. They are large and you are likely to be combined with other groups on the boat.
Next up is a brief stop at the Big Cypress Park Nathaniel P Reed visitor centre where there are plenty of alligators to be seen. There are also interesting films broadcast in the auditorium but the stop is not really long enough to engage with these.
Then lunch at Joanie's Blue Crab Cafe. You pre-order food at the start of the morning so it is delivered quickly. I had a blackened fish sandwich - which is one of Florida's famous dishes. Then Joanie came out to sell us key lime pie (the other famous Floridan dish) at extra cost.
The second big stop was for a boat ride in the Ten Thousand Islands to look for dolphins. We got lucky and had dolphins following us for a long way. and we also saw swimming raccoons = which are in scarce supply as they are preyed upon by the invasive Burmese python. On the way we passed through Everglades City where most of the men had to go to prison for being involved in the drugs supply line, and visited the historic Smallwood Store.
The third and final stop was the wet walk. This is the bit that I had been most hesitant about - mostly concerning what to wear and how the logistics would work. The answer is that there is an opportunity to change before and after the wet walk, and the team make old shoes (pre-dampened) available for anyone who wants them. I got wet up to the tops of my thighs, but given that the floor is full of mud and hidden obstacles, it is always possible that you would fall and get completely submerged. I had brought a dry bag for my phone for this possibility. It was a sensible precaution but it did make getting it out to take a photograph something of a hassle. The walk itself was around a cypress dome - aka an alligator hole. The alligators do not see people as prey so they tend to back away if people appear. We were able to see many rare endemic plants and experience a habitat that is completely alien for humans. All under the watchful eyes of the alligator.
Then, after changing back into dry clothes, we were left back in our hotels. Overall the day started at about 7 and ended at gone 6 o'clock,
Our guide, Elijah Ruby, was a great asset. He knew the biology stuff but he also had a passion for the history and the people of the Floridan peninsula. While that may not be everyone's interest on the tour, it worked for me - understanding how Florida transformed from a swampy backwater with few inhabitants and little development to the cities and holiday destinations we see today. This came through in little details, like the way when we sat the smallest Post Office in the USA at Ochopee, Elijah told us about the communities it served and the huge area to which it delivered. This turned a quirky hut selling postcards into something real and functional.
Throughout the day, we had access to water and snacks (crisps, biscuits, etc) in the vehicle. We were also given a water bottle to take away.
If I could offer a couple of suggestions - they would be (a) to start earlier to allow longer at the Nathaniel P Reed Centre; and (b) to include the key lime pie in the price - or just add it onto the price. Otherwise it feels a bit like being nickel and dimed.
I am glad to have done this tour and I don't believe there would be a more comprehensive day trip to the Everglades on offer. You see three different environments in three different ways. You see some last vestige of Florida's soul that has long been lost in Miami. I just wish it had not been quote so expensive.
