Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller, Jacque Miller, Matt Miller, Holly Miller, Shane Miller
Expedition Date: December 29, 2003
The airboat ride highlighted our visit to the Everglades NP which is a 1.5 million acre wetlands preserve home to hundreds of species such as turtles, manatees, alligators and the Florida Panther. We crossed State Highway 41 (Alligator Alley) from the Gulf and stopped several times along the two lane road to observe alligators in the creek that ran parallel to the road. Often the gators were on land sunbathing. At Cooper City we boarded an airboat for the thrilling, fast ride deep into the heart of the Everglades past mangroves, sawgrass marshes and pine flatwoods. The air boat stopped many times to point out birds and alligators but no Florida Skunk Ape sightings. Several gators were spotted in shallow water by cypress trees. The Everglades water was like a grassy, slow moving river, is the largest tropical wilderness in the USA and has the largest mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere.
After an hour we returned to the dock and took turns getting photographed in the airboat and hold small alligators and large snakes.
