What to do at Everglades National Park, Florida?

[WhatADeal!]

I heard the park is nice and interesting, but what exactly do tourists do there? Just take a boat around?

[robattoronto]

Go for a crocodile (or is it alligators?) tour with the locals. Make sure you go on the smaller boat which seats maybe 5-10 people, rather than the big bus sized boats. Will let you get closer to the crocs about a few arm lengths.

[WhatADeal!]

Thanks, but this doesn't seem to be something that takes up more than half a day. What else do people do there? Or is that really it?

[canadien99]

Chill, relax, enjoy the temperatures...
Eat some jumbalaya

Everglades is huge. Crcodiles are only half the story.

Ask Mr and Mrs Google.

[coopaloop]

there are no Crocks in florida......lots of Gators though

[canadien99]

Oops ... hehe, i meant, Gators

I went just before the stalled Cancun (unfortunately for Cancun, thank god for me otherwise i wouldn;'t have even headed down to Miami from Orlando) hurricane was heading towards Miami, so those swamps were wild and besides seeing the Gators in a small captive cage, i never got to see them in the wild.

The waters were very windy because of the approaching hurricane.

Those swamp airboat rides.

Most of them are reached via Miami rather than Alligator alley along i-75.

[BobW]

Realistically... yep...you take a boat around. It's just a giant bayou. The "standard" tour is a couple of hours, which is lots. The boats are pretty cool, the drivers of them have a very good touch (giant fan in back, these things all skid steer). The boats are noisy, chevy 350 engines with no smog control or mufflers.. they do give you hearing protection. Make sure you bring bug control spray....

If you're in the area, definitely stop in and do a ride; we did ours out of Everglad City. I wouldn't make a special trip to Florida for it though