A very good friend of mine lives in Key Largo, and she's been telling me for a year that I absolutely MUST do a 'Glades trip with Garl next time I visited. I just got home from a week-long trip, and I totally agree with her. This was absolutely one of the highlights of my vacation, and is an absolute must-do for anyone who loves nature and really wants to get a real appreciation for the beauty and variety of wildlife in the Florida Everglades.
We did a full day adventure, which included off-trail hikes to 3 separate gator holes plus a long kayak trip through the mangroves (a full day often also includes a salt-water kayak segment as well, but the wind wasn't cooperating the day I went). The variety of wildlife we saw is nearly impossible to thoroughly enumerate. Roseate spoonbills, wood storks, egrets, herons. Everything from teeny tiny fingernail sized tree frogs to basking alligators. Snook and gar in the waters, rare cowhorn orchids and amazing bromeliads in the cypress domes. Garl's knowledge of the flora and fauna available to see through the rapidly ever-changing seasons is encyclopedic, and I can guarantee that he'll have scoped out the best places to see whatever plants/flowers are in bloom or what birds are nesting or where the gators are hatching, depending on the weather/seasonal cycle.
After enjoying a sunset glass of wine while floating in the mangrove pond watching the birds flying in to roost for the night, we took a quick after-dark jaunt down the Anhinga Trail on the way out of the park to spot frogs, wolf spiders and all the rest of the 'Glades nightlife. What better way to wrap up an amazing day than spotlighting gator eyes?
I can't recommend this trip highly enough. If you go, bring your camera!