Everglades! Everglades! Everglades!
I don’t know what y’all did this fabulous fall break here at Eckerd College, but I have to tell you about the wonderful adventure my friends and I had in the everglades! For those of you who do not know about the everglades, it is the wetlands of Florida or what it is famously called The River of Grass. It is filled with thriving amounts of life and beauty that unfortunately is almost completely controlled by man at this point and affects everyone, and everything living in Florida in regards to water. The Biscayne Aquifer located mainly just below Everglades National Park and the Miami area is threatened by the intrusions of toxins and harmful substances. I’ve lived in Florida all my life and have been in love with the Everglades since I was a little girl, so I hope to one day work there for conservation and restoration work, as well as to educate the public about where they live and how to better protect it. Of course, my friends since hearing about it constantly from me were ready to go for fall break with a little road trip down into the valley.
From our campus it is about a 4 hour drive into the heart of the everglades, which is only about an hour from my home. There are so many parks you can go to that would give you different glimpses into the life on the everglades in its natural habitat. Corkscrew Swamp is an amazing park to go to for a nice long boardwalk through the swamp. As you walk through, as long as you stay quite, you can run into all sorts of birds, furry creatures, and alligators. If you’re lucky, I was able to see a black bear once! You’ll be able to take amazing pictures within the trees, but bring bug spray and tons of water. You can take an airboat ride through the grasslands and see hundreds of birds fly out from the brush and alligators waiting to be spotted in their ponds. Maybe if you’re lucky, your airboat driver will do a 360 spin with the boat. So much fun and gives you more time to explore other parts of the glades. As you go through you must watch out for the Miccosukee Indian tribe police force on your speed limit because they will get you, but if you get a chance stop by their visitors center and learn about the tribe that lives in the everglades. All I ask is that you give them respect, and they will return the respect back.
Finally my favorite place in the world to visit in the Everglades is Shark Valley National Park. This is an amazing tour that takes you in deep whether you want a self-guided tour, or a tour with a tour guide to teach you about the things you find on your trip. It is open 24/7, so you can go day to night at your own personal risk, but during the day there is bike rentals to bike the trail or a tram ride with two amazing tour guides with vast knowledge about the everglades. This tour is a 14 mile trip to a viewing tower that gives you a complete view of the Everglades grasslands. My friends and I decided on the tram tour and enjoyed it immensely. We got to see so many beautiful birds, like the Great Egret, the Blue Heron, and the anhinga. The last thing I wanted to do was see some crazy spiders, but the best part was seeing a bunch of alligators and even a baby one!
A few fun facts about alligators is that in order to tell the age of an alligator is by the length of their snout and how many inches between the eyes. At young ages they can grow at a rate of a foot a year. The average size of males is 12 ft and females is 8-9 ft. The females will mate with the same males every year regardless of where the male is located. Also after a certain amount of years the alligators turn into cannibals and are a cannibal species. At birth since they are only about 6 in long, bigger birds will eat them, as well as any other alligator looking for a snack. During the dry season they will dig up a hole to hide in and have fish and other aquatic animals hangout in it since the other water has drained from the land until the rainy season starts up again. So much more was learned but in order to find that out I suggest everyone to go out there and explore yourselves.
Since there was no fencing or barriers blocking anything off, we were able to get up close and personal with two alligators and of course because we’re girls we documented everything. All I ask of you as visitors is that you respect the land and area you are in. You are entering the homes of these animals and in order to stay alive: keep your distance, do not touch, and the most important DO NOT FEED THE ANIMALS!!! This puts everyone after you in danger and even yourself.