We talked to Charles Wright several years at Canoecopia (the world's largest paddlesport show in Madison, Wisconsin). This was a trip we really wanted to do and this year we finally made it a reality - it was worth the wait! Our 3 day 2 night base camp boat assisted tour was amazing! Our tour was January 5 - 7, 2020 and the weather was perfect. After a boat ride to the outer island of Picnic Key, seeing lots of birds on the way, especially white pelicans, we were ready to set up camp. Our guide was Dan McCumber, who really made our trip the wonderful experience that it was. He was very knowledgeable about the area and plants and birds, and made us very delicious meals, which we sat and ate on the beach. Each evening we had a bonfire on the beach near the shoreline. It was almost full moon, so we sat by a bonfire on a moonlit beach - it doesn't get much better than that!
We dealt with Charles Wright when making our reservations and he couldn't have been more helpful. He arranged everything and answered all of our questions with very quick email replies. He also was the person that took us out to the island with the kayaks and all the camping gear and food and such, and came to pick us up at the end of our tour, although we really weren't ready to leave the island!
We were joined by a father and daughter on the tour, and they were also fun to spend the 3 days with. By the third day, we had enjoyed paddling each day, seeing dolphins play in front of us near our beach, had enjoyable bonfires and lots of great conversation on our beach and while kayaking, excellent food for all of our meals, we learned a lot about the area, even saw a mangrove cuckoo bird at our campsite, and were guided by someone that took care of our every need and made the trip so enjoyable. We definitely would like to do this trip again and highly recommend Everglades Area Tours.