This was via miami tours- When being collected from our hotel, the driver does not speak English only Spanish so was unable to communicate to us that we will be driving around 3 TIMES waiting to see if anyone books onto the tour last minute . We tried to ask what is going on as we went past our hotel 3 times and he could not tell us. He then took us to their main office ( temp office) as there one is shut. This location was packed with tourist booking onto different trips. We paid our remaining balance to the staff at the office and waiting for I believe Harry our driver to take us to sawgrass recreation park.
Harry was lovely and became a mini tour guide along the way telling us where we are and what the area is know for. Thank you Harry!
The everglades itself was rubbish!, it was rubbish as soon as we arrived to be honest. The man who was taking us out on out 1.30pm tour said to us I'm going to warn you all that you probably won't see any crocodiles because it's too hot right now and also it's nesting season for the females so they will be resting and protecting their babies.
That's a great start to the tour, why offer a afternoon trip when it's going to be the hottest point of the day and when it's unlikely for crocodiles to be out.
He was right we saw absolutely nothing.
We went to see the 'exhibit' which was not great- some people actually left and waited by the front for the Miami tours coach to head back as they didn't feel it was ethical for the animals to be kept in such small spaces.
Once I walked around I also started to feel unsettled. The baby alligator's are kept in a cage together but away from their parents and this cage is not big and with minimal water. I don't know why they are kept separate? No explanation for the purpose of this. It would be lovely to see a family of alligators together in a big outdoor enclosed area. Maybe there is a reason for this but this was not explained.
The large alligator seemed fine but again its just not in its natural environment, it is kept in a small outdoor area. The main 'show' did not start once everyone from our boat has walked over it was about 10-15 minutes wait and then they started
A few more people left and waited by the coach, as did I, so I can not comment on the alligators show.
Overall disappointing experience. No gators as the staff expected due to the season and hot afternoon sun and questionable living space for the gators. On arrival back to our hotel, the person who booked us on actually told they wouldn't normally recommend sawgrass recreational Park as they
have heard many times that you don't see alligators and they also use miami tours as their last resort! Annoyingly he told us after we did it, so
that's your heads up everyone. He suggested the
holiday park or the one at national park.