Air Boat Ride & Shark Valley

Today takes us to the Everglades! Our first air boat ride and venture into the not so dark or spooky world of the daytime… Florida Everglades. We decided to wait to do the Air Boat ride when we got the the real everglades (not the Orlando thing). Most of the air boat rides here emphasize that it’s an airboat ride and not necessarily a great wildlife adventure. There is a reason for this… except for a few spots of deeper water, most of the glade area is only 6-8 inches deep… no alligators here! It’s just a huge grassy wilderness that’s like a slow moving shallow river. Lots of birds, a few gators in the few deep spots… so it’s just like they say… it’s a Airboat Ride. It’s a great experience if you’ve never done it before, but future trips will have to be more to the south everglades where you are more likely to see more wildlife in their natural habitat. All in all still a great experience. We did get to see some gators, lots of birds, and learn about the Everglades… and enjoyed a great ride! There are lots of Airboat Rides everywhere all along the edge of the glades. In keeping with our planned theme for the day, we continued our wildlife /glade adventure and went to Shark Valley Everglades National Park. Another great experience… got to see lots of gators in their natural habitat without any barriers between people and gators. I truly don’t understand how this could continue to work out. We walked along the blacktop path… right next to the water… right next to the gators. The basic education that you get at the start of your self-guided tour consists of a few basic instructions. 1. the gators are not really interested in you…. they will not come after you unless you do something really stupid. 2. Stay 15 feet away from all gators. 3. Getting back to the stupid stuff… don’t feed the gators, kick, touch, or poke the gators, or grab them by the tail because you think you are faster than them (you’re not). 4. If you have a telephoto lens on your camera… use it. If you don’t… settle for the long distance shot. Remember, the gator is faster than you and he will get your camera and your hand before you even know it…. you might get the camera back. 5. If you are going to do something really stupid and the gator grabs you, take your one free hand and reach in the gators mouth… all the way to the back of the throat… pushing open the membrane that would normally keep water out of the gators throat, and push it open. It’s said that he will release its grip and let you go. I think I’ll simply settle for the “ Don’t do anything stupid option”…. and the telephoto lens. I really have a hard time understanding how the whole “ Don’t do anything stupid thing works” …. given the amount of stupid people around… all those people, all those gators, no barriers….and nobody gets bit? I don’t have anywhere near that much faith in stupid people, not doing something stupid given this great opportunity!

Also stopped by an Indian reservation…. saw some more gators, turtles, birds, and snakes. I wouldn’t recommend the Indian Village Thing… waste of money and time. The village and the airboat attractions both had the wildlife animal handlers doing the alligator wrestling thing. Mostly hokey… or carnie if you like that sort of thing…. but the little kids were really impressed. The day ended with a stop and dinner at the Indian Casino. No, not to gamble, but for dinner buffet. I really don’t like hokey carnie crap and really don’t get the whole gambling thing. The dinner was just okay at best… could have been better if they didn’t heavily salt everything. A good dinner would have been a nice way to end the day. The ham was good and the least salty thing on the buffet. The meal did end on a good note… the flan was good (no salt).