Sawgrass Recreational Park

Posted on February 26, 2013February 26, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Sometimes I’m not sure what I am thinking about or even why I do some things.

After wandering around Flamingo Gardens some more I decided it was time to move on…but where? I had a list of places and attractions. I know I had someplace in mind as I hopped on RT 75. I think I was headed to find the Seminole Reservation but somehow got misdirected.

I was driving along the highway and my cell phone rang. No one ever calls my cell phone? So when I heard from one of my friends still in Massachusetts I got to chatting until I lost signal but by then I’d also forgotten where I was going. At about that time I saw a sign for Sawgrass Recreation Park. That was on my list of possible places to visit so having wasted enough time driving I pulled off to check this out.

Similar to Evergaldes Holiday Park, there are airboat rides, a snack bar and some souvenirs but instead of alligator wrestling they have a zoo of sorts. To explore the animals on exhibit you have to take the airboat ride. And that’s how I found myself back on another airboat. Not that I’m complaining. 🙂

It was another full boat but this one was open, more like I’ve been on in the past.

In fact, I’m pretty sure my mother and I stopped here when we visited Fort Lauderdale about 10 years ago.

As we pulled out from the dock our operator told us we can never get lost in the Everglades. He pointed out a row of high tension line towers. He said just follow those and it would lead you out of the “glades”. Because the land is so low these towers can be seen from anywhere in Everglades.

The airboat ride followed the same pattern , a little bit of “hot doggin'” to throw up some water and provide some thrills for the folks with a need for speed then a slower approach to the cuts and locations where the operators expect to see gators.

Sure enough we got to see a couple of good-sized ones in deeper water. They were swimming fast enough they even left a wake!

Another one made a bee line for a neighboring boat.

Our operator reminded us that gators can jump so keep hands and small children (swamp humor) inside the boat.

It was another beautiful afternoon.

Back at the dock we were reminded to check out the “critters” because they are part of our ticket price. I wasn’t sure exactly what “critters” they had but I headed down the path dodging one of the ever-present peacocks that decided the plop down right in the way.

Airboats and Alligators

Posted on February 19, 2013February 19, 2013 by Dusty Roads

Ok so I guess I wasn’t on dry land for long. Off the cruise ship in the morning onto the airboat in the afternoon.

This airboat was different from any I’d been on before. This one was enclosed so there were no bulky ear protectors to muffle the sound.

There was also no wind in your face or water in your lap. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about this.

I tried to manuver around the groups that wanted to sit together so that I could get a seat on one of the ends so I could take pictures. A good-sized man and his family scooted over so I could have a seat next to them so I had my prime spot. Now it would all depend on where the animals were.

We cast off with a roar ramping up to a pretty good speed. The operator zigged and zagged so spray would fly in all directions then just as quickly he killed the motor and we drifted into a clump of razor grass. While we sat there our guide explained about the eco system of the Everglades…how it isn’t a swamp, the water is not stagnant, how fragile it is even touching on some of the problems of invasive species. Then he reached over to start up the boat so we cold look for the main attraction, alligators, but nothing happened.

After trying a couple of times more he called the main office for a rescue. While we waited he told us stories about his childhood growing up in the glades and how the sun is your friend. If you are ever lost in the Everglades after dark it won’t be alligators and snakes you need to worry about…it will be the “skeeters”. As he went on about the “Skeeters” and what would happen at dusk we watched the sun sink lower and lower on the horizon. Just about the time we thought we should get out and start wading/swimming back, the rescue airboat arrived.

Lashed to the side of the new comer we all climbed over the side and into the new boat. All safely aboard we set off again. We hadn’t gone far when we heard our disabled airboard start up! Ok well at least it was a story to tell…Rescue in the Everglades.

The rest of the trip was uneventful. We saw several alligators and learned about the role temperature plays in determining the sex of the babies. Also the affect climate change seems to be having on the eco-system.

In one of the cuts we saw a little back and red bird that seemed to hop over the big leaved plants. The plants looked like water lilies but our guide said they were not even related. He said he had saved the little bird as a chick and raised it at his home only releasing it as an adult. Sure enough, when he called it, it came.

We spent a bit of time feeding the bird and then it was time to head back. As always the time was too short for me. I wonder if I could get a job as an airboat operator???

Holiday Park, Everglades, Fort Lauderdale Florida

Posted on February 18, 2013February 18, 2013 by Dusty Roads

There’s nothing like getting back on land after a sea voyage..don’t believe me? just ask the passengers on the Carnival ship Triumph. Sorry I couldn’t resist throwing that in. If we’d gone to Cozumel out of Texas instead of Miami we could have been on board that ship.

But now our cruise was over, Joe was on his way back to Orlando and I was on my way to find the Ramada Inn in Fort Lauderdale. Road construction is the bane of GPS navigation. That “oh so proper ” british voice saying turn right or turn left where instead of a road you find a Jersey Barrier! I am expecting a bill from the Florida Turnpike any day. I can’t tell you how many times following the “Keep Left” or Keep right” instruction put me in the “Easy Pass lane” with no place to pay the toll and no place to turn around! In spite of the mishaps I eventually found my way to the correct Ramada Inn where I was sent packing…in the nicest, politest way. Check-in wasn’t until 3pm. I’m so sorry but there’s no available room yet.

That’s ok it was almost lunch time and oh happy days…there’s a Golden Corral nearby. Weekday lunches must not be too busy as there was no line and lots of tables. Even at an all your can eat buffet eventually you need to leave and it still wasn’t 3pm.

At that point I did what any self-respecting TV fan would do. I went looking for Holiday Park in the Everglades.

Holiday Park is “Home of the Gator Boys” but if you have followed that reality show you know that at the end of last season the park was taken over by the county and the Gator Boys took their show to Mississippi.

Well I’ve hung in there through this season but I don’t like the Mississippi episodes as much as Florida so I wanted to see if anyone knew if they were going to be coming back to Holiday Park.

I found Holiday Park with less trouble than I had finding the hotel and began exploring. There isn’t a lot to see, the airboats, a souvenir shop, a little store that sells snacks and a fence with a sign advertising gator wrestling.

When you take a ride on an airboat the cost of the gator wrestling show is included in the ticket price. As I stood in line to buy my ticket I thought I recognized one of the other people in line to check out. But why would one of the Gator Boy characters (are the people in reality shows actors?) be in line to pay for snacks? I decided I must be wrong , took my ticket and wandered down to the airboat dock snapping pictures as I went and enjoying the fact that I was really at Holiday Park.

It was a beautiful afternoon for an airboat ride, not too hot, sunny…just perfect. I found I was really looking forward to getting out on the sea of grass again. I’d been on an airboat ride about 10 years ago and again about 3 years ago. One Floridian said “why?” you’ve seen it once. But each ride is different. A lot depends on your guide and there’s so much to see in the Everglades.