Top 10 activities in the Florida Everglades
Take the road from Homestead to Flamingo
The main road through Everglades national park has been called "38 miles of nothing", but that's way off the mark. The road passes through every major natural habitat, including fire-shaped pinelands, sawgrass marshes, cypress domes, sloughs and mangroves before ending at the campground on Florida Bay. Drive slowly, stop often (there are numerous hiking trails, boardwalks and observation towers) and watch for wildlife. At the Anhinga Trail boardwalk, you can watch alligators and wading birds at exhiliratingly close range, while the boardwalk around Mahogany Hammock winds through a West Indian hardwood forest that contains the largest living mahogany tree in the United States.
Everglades national park, 40001 State Highway 9336, Homestead, +1 305 242 7700, nps.gov/ever. Park entrance costs $10 per car and $5 per cyclist or pedestrian
2. Explore Cape Sable and Florida Bay by boat
Photograph: Alamy
Cape Sable is a wild, desolate beachscape at the very bottom of peninsular Florida. Except for the Coastal Prairie Trail, from the campground in Flamingo leading west to Clubhouse Beach, you'll need a boat to explore the beaches of Cape Sable and Florida Bay. If the trade winds are light, exploring by canoe will put you in proximity to terns, gulls, wading birds, shorebirds and pelicans, particularly at low tide. Canoeing into Snake Bight and off Frank Key are easy, bird-rich day trips. If the wind is too strong to paddle in the open bay, head up the Buttonwood Canal from the marina into Coot Bay, or portage over to the Bear Lake Canoe Trail. Carl Ross Key, 10 miles south in the Bay, is my favourite spot to camp in the national park.
Flamingo Marina Rentals and Boat Tours, +1 239 695 3101, evergladesnationalparkboattoursflamingo.com. Houseboat, canoe, kayak, bicycle rentals and boat tours are available through the marina store, open Mon-Fri 7am-7pm and Sat-Sun 6am-7pm; fuel sales 7am-6pm daily
3. Take in the Shark Valley panorama
Photograph: M Timothy O'Keefe/Getty Images
Shark Valley, the northern entrance to Everglades national park, is on the Tamiami Trail. The visitor centre offers exhibits and programmes and a 15-mile loop road leads to a 65ft observation tower. The tower offers the park's best panorama of the Everglades, as well as excellent opportunities to watch alligators, turtles, wading birds and possibly snail kites. The loop itself is a leisurely two-hour bike ride, best in early morning when deer are grazing in the marsh and otters are playing in the water.
Shark Valley Visitor Center, 36000 SW 8th Street, Miami, +1 305 221 8776, open 9.15am–5.15pm (hours subject to change)
4. Wallow in the Wilderness Waterway
Photograph: Tim Tadder/Corbis
West from Shark Valley is Everglades City, the launch site for a visit to the Ten Thousand Islands – a mosaic of mangrove isles – and the Wilderness Waterway. Recommended for canoes, kayaks and small powerboats, the Wilderness Waterway is a 100-mile marked boat trail through mangrove-lined creeks, rivers, lagoons and open bays, which ends (or begins) in Flamingo. The Turner River Canoe Trail, which begins on the Tamiami Trail and ends on Chokoloskee Island, is an excellent day trip. You'll see birds, alligators, manatees, sea turtles and there is great fishing.
Gulf Coast Visitor Center, 815 Oyster Bar Lane, Everglades City+1 239 695 3311, open 9am-4.30pm, mid-April to mid-November, open 8am–4.30pm
5. Hike through the Big Cypress National Preserve
Photograph: Michael Sz Nyi/Getty Images/Imagebroker RF
The Oasis Visitor Center on the Tamiami Trail is the starting point for hiking the Big Cypress National Preserve; more than 40 miles of trails extend north to Alligator Alley and south to Loop Road. There are primitive campgrounds along the Tamiami Trail and tent camping along hiking trails is allowed anywhere you can find dry ground. Look for wading birds in the roadside canal and, while hiking through the pinelands, look for red-cockaded woodpecker colonies, bluebirds, and brown nuthatches. An early morning bike ride is often rewarded by sightings of barred owl, otter, wild turkey, bobcat, water moccasin and, very rarely, Florida panther. Be prepared to get wet.
Oasis Visitor Center, 33100 Tamiami Trail East, Ochopee, +1 239 695 1201, nps.gov/bicy
6. Go diving for Coral
Photograph: Alamy
Florida's coral necklace is the third longest in the world and the first undersea preseve in the United States. The easiest way to reach it is at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. The park covers a mere 175 acres of land and 75 square miles of ocean, but is still home to 40 species of coral and more than 600 species of fish. A concession runs a two-and-a-half hour glass-bottom boat tour, three times daily, diving and snorkelling trips, and rents everything needed to get on or under the surface. The park also has hiking trails and three miles of canoe trails.
John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, 102601 Overseas Highway, Key Largo, +1 305 451 6300, pennekamppark.com. Boat tours cost $24 per adult and $17 for children under 12. Diving tours cost $55 per person and are run twice daily
7. Get beneath the surface at Biscayne Bay
Photograph: Alamy
Beneath the surface of Biscayne Bay is a mosaic of pristine coral reefs – the northernmost on the Atlantic Coast – and half a dozen historic shipwrecks. Hundreds of species of rainbow-coloured fish, several species of sea turtles, American crocodiles and manatees ply the aquamarine waters, while brown pelicans and bald eagles patrol the airways. Winds and currents keep the park, particularly the isles, in a constant state of flux. There's overnight camping on Elliot and Boca Chita Keys, fishing, snorkelling, bird watching, swimming and beachside idling. The park concession rents kayaks, canoes and provides glass-bottom boat rides. Plan ahead: storms often force portions of the park to close.
Biscayne National Park, 9700 SW 328 Street, Homestead, +1 305 230 7275, nps.gov/bisc
8. Find sanctuary in the Corkscrew Swamp
Photograph: Raymond Gehman/CORBIS
Run by the National Audubon Society, the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary protects 13,000 acres of wetlands, pinelands, and old-growth bald-cypress swamp. It is the "gateway to the western Everglades" and a glimpse of wild Florida. A world-class 2.25 mile-long boardwalk winds through a green cathedral – some cypress are more than 500 years old. When the water levels in the Everglades are low, more than a 1,000 pairs of wood storks, a black-and-white wading bird that stands three-feet tall and spreads its wings nearly five-feet from tip to tip, nest in the sanctuary, often close to the boardwalk. Corkscrew Swamp is one of the very few places in the United States to see a blooming ghost orchid. The visitor centre offers food, exhibits and ranger-led hikes, including night hikes.
Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary and Blair Audubon Center, 375 Sanctuary Road West, Naples, +1 239 348 9151, corkscrew.audubon.org. Admission $12 adults, $6 students, $4 for children but free for those aged under six
Witness the migrating birds and collect shells at Sanibel
Photograph: Jim Brandenburg/Minden Pictures/Corbis
Named for political cartoonist Jay Norwood "Ding" Darling, the national wildlife refuge is on the northern end of Sanibel Island. During migration season, Ding Darling NWR is host to hundreds of species of neo-tropical birds. During the breeding season, roseate spoonbills, yellow-crowned night herons, and red-shouldered hawks (among many, many other species) are conspicuous from the canoe trails and the five-mile wildlife loop drive. Nearby Bailey-Matthews Shell Museum (shellmuseum.org) is both a research facility for the serious conchologist and a Mecca for the casual beach stroller. The museum, which exhibits one of the finest shell collections on the planet, is located on Sanibel Island because its beaches offer the best shelling in the United States. Shell collecting, however, is not permitted at Ding Darling NWR.
J. N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge, 1 Wildlife Drive, Sanibel +1 239 472 1100, fws.gov/dingdarling
10. Trip to the Turtle tropics
Photograph: Alamy
Remote and beautiful, Dry Tortugas National Park is closer to Cuba than it is to the American mainland, and is accessible only by seaplane and boat. The park includes a tiny archipelago of seven islets – the farthest extent of the Florida Keys – and 100 square miles of shallow, tropical water; the gateway to the Gulf of Mexico. Between the islands are sea-grass beds and coral reefs, and on the islands are seabird colonies, including more than 100,000 sooty terns on Bush Key. White-sand beaches host nesting sea turtles, which gave the islands their name: Tortugas. On Garden Key, a lighthouse warns boats off the rock shoals and Fort Jefferson, the largest all-masonry fort in the United States, attracts international attention. It was a garrison during the Civil War and a federal prison for Union deserters. The park is open for day trips or overnight camping (there are 10 sites on Garden Key). Because of the nesting terns, Bush Key is closed to the public from March to September; to protect nesting sea turtles, the remaining Keys – East, Middle, Hospital, Long and Loggerhead – are closed from sunset to sunrise from May to September. Bring your own water: there is no fresh water here, hence the "Dry" in the islands' name.
Dry Tortugas National Park c/o, Everglades National Park, 40001 State Road 9336, Homestead+1 305 242 7700, nps.gov/drto. Park entrance fee, $5; camping fee, $3 per day; 14-day limit. Ferry out of Key West, +1 800 634 0939, yankeefreedom.com. Prices are $165 for adults, $155 for concessions, $120 for children. Fly on Key West Seaplane Adventures, +1 305 293 9300, keywestseaplanecharters.com. A half-day trip costs $280 for adults, $224 for children aged 12 and under, a full day $495 and $396
Ted Levin is a nature writer, photographer and commentator for Vermont Public Radio. His book Liquid Land: A Journey through the Florida Everglades, costs £17.05 from Amazon
For more information on holidays in the USA, visit DiscoverAmerica.com