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The Everglades, up close and personal

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February 05, 2012|By Stephen Jermanok

A roseate spoonbill, an Everglades native. (Y JOE RAEDLE/GETTY IMAGES )

EVERGLADES CITY, Florida - Rick Cruz parks his van at the edge of a deserted road and the four of us hop out. He hands my father, brother, and me long wooden sticks, which he suggests we not use as walking sticks, but as a way to try to see what’s in front of us by prodding the sticks into the mud. One last caveat: Be on the lookout for alligators since they tend to congregate near the road. Staying in single file, we follow Cruz and proceed to walk straight into the Everglades.

When I signed up for a swamp walk and persuaded my dad, 81, who lives in South Naples, and my brother Jim from Queens, N.Y., to join me, I expected we would get a little wet. We did bring dry shoes to change into. But I was surprised to find we would be walking in water up to our thighs with no chance of wearing waders, which would hinder our balance. Overcoming my initial fear of setting foot in a gator’s mouth or spying a poisonous water moccasin gliding atop the surface, I managed to inch deeper into this primordial soup.

Wading though the murky waters is no easy feat. You have no idea whether the next step will bring you straight into a fallen tree, a twisted web of vines, or worst of all, small depressions in the muck where you suddenly find yourself in water up to your chest.

“This is insane,’’ my brother says while slapping a mosquito.

I wanted to get a closer look at the US version of the Amazon beyond the touristy airboat rides. I had visited my father in Florida year after year and knew that Everglades City, that small outpost with a Wild West feel, was home to a growing number of eco-adventures that immerse people deep in this vast natural wonderland. Off Tamiami Highway, in the southwestern corner of the state, you find a desolate landscape of swamp, prairie, bald cypress forests, and mangroves that is home to birds, alligators, bear, even the Florida panther.

Our adventures in the Everglades start with a sunset kayak on the Turner River in Big Cypress National Preserve. A separate entity from Everglades National Park, this 729,000-acre preserve features the same terrain without the crowds. It’s a favorite getaway for area residents, who can still roam the grounds to hunt turkey, deer, and wild boar.

In the summer, our guide Ron Wofford leads kayak trips in Narragansett, R.I., on the Narrow River. Come cold weather, you find him kayaking along Chokoloskee Bay or leading trips on the Turner River as a guide for Everglades Area Tours.