Disclaimer:
1. This is NOT a scholarly article; just a travel review of the national parks of Florida. Please don’t get confused by the title of the post.
2. Photos subject to copyright.
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The sunshine state is well known for its crystal beaches, tropical climate, and an array of amusement parks in the city of Orlando. However, there is much more in it, though not so popular among conventional tourists, but a true feast for nature lovers. In addition to all the popular tourist sites, the state has been endowed with a wide diversity of wildlife including a number of endangered species. There are several protected areas for this rich biodiversity, which include Everglades National Park and Biscayne National Park at the southern part of the state. The major part of the state is strategically placed between two major bodies of water; the Atlantic on the east coast and the Gulf of Mexico on the west. This unique geographical location is the principal reason for sustaining the biodiversity.
If you continue on I-95 towards south of Miami, it merges onto US-1 around Coconut Grove and becomes South Dixie Hwy. After driving for another 28 miles you will reach Florida City, the southernmost city in mainland US which is not on an island. In the center of the city lies the crossing of S Dixie Hwy and Palm Drive. This last crossing on S Dixie Hwy traps you in a dilemma. If you go westbound you will hit Everglades National Park (Gulf of Mexico coast) in about 20 min. If you choose to go to east you will reach Biscayne National Park (Biscayne Bay, Atlantic coast) in about 25 min.
In our entire stay in US, we came to the crossing twice, once in Dec 2009 and once in Dec 2010. We were lucky enough to have visited both the national parks, but on two different trips one year apart. The first trip, where we went westbound, was part of a Christmas vacation when we roamed around the whole state of Florida. The last one was just meant for Biscayne and greater Miami metropolitan area. So fond we were of the crossing, that we would love to visit there time and again.
Everglades
Everglades neither has the grandeur of Yellowstone or Grand Canyon, nor the sheer relief of Rockies or Smokeys. But it does have something that draws attention of thousands of nature enthusiasts every year. You just need to recognize its own unique beauty. This is the ultimate place for tropical wildlife watching in Southern Florida, though most of the park is inaccessible. The accessible parts of the park can be covered in one day, and for us that one day was the New Years Day in 2010. On the last day of 2009 we traveled to and from Key West in a single day. We enjoyed the firecrackers on the way to Homestead, and returned to our motel much after midnight. The New Years Day was supposed to be hectic. But we started early towards Everglades, despite being sleepy.
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| American Alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) |
The journey started at the Ernest Coe Visitor Center near the main entrance of the park. The Royal Palm Visitor Center is just 4 miles away from there. This place was infested with turkey vultures. A dead vulture was hanging on top of the visitor center; this exhibition was supposed to scare the hell out of the living ones.
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| Florida Redbelly Turtle (Pseudemys nelsoni) |
The Anhinga Trail starts from Royal Palm. Nothing less than an amusement park, this 0.8 mile loop trail is a must see for people of all ages. If SeaWorld decides to have an “Everglades Ride”, this is what it should look like ideally. This is mostly on a boardwalk, which offers closest possible encounters with fearsome alligators and crocodiles and cool turtles. And by closest I mean inches, without exaggerating anything. Surely you can pose for nice snaps with them without being worried. Those cold-blooded creatures, in the course of their languid sunbathing, care little about the nearby two legged animals. However, one may invite disaster if he/she tries to play games with them. The best thing about the park is that the food chain in the ecosystem is maintained naturally, without any interference from the park rangers. That means the alligators feed on naturally occurring fish.
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| Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) |
Apart from the reptiles, a whole variety of the avian species can be watched all the way through this trail, again from a very close distance. The Anhingas can be seen standing gracefully on wooden pillars; not bothered by the presence of the descendants of monkey species. The reflections of green herons and reddish egrets on the water surface; the nosedive of ospreys to snatch fish; all create picture perfect moments.
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| Water Turkey (Anhinga anhinga) |
The park ranger informed us that nearly 350 bird species can be found in Everglades, which includes wood stork, brown pelican, white and glossy ibis, roseate spoonbill, to mention just a few. In addition, it also hosts a large number of smaller migratory birds.
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| Green Heron (Butorides virescens) |
The Main Park Road is a scenic 38 mile drive from Coe to Flamingo Visitor Center. Several walking trails can be accessed by the side of this road. We chose to explore the 0.4 mile Mahogany Hammock Trail, which passes through a dense, jungle-like hardwood hammock (slightly higher elevated tree island). At the end of the scenic drive the Flamingo area generously offers a variety of activities to the travelers. The most interesting amongst them is wildlife watching from the visitor center breezeway. A number of gators and endangered crocs laze around the vicinity of Flamingo marina. A variety of birds assemble on the Florida Bay mudflats as well as on the Eco Pond.
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| Tricolored Heron (Egretta tricolor) |
To appreciate the real Everglades one needs a boat. Since we didn’t have one, we went for a narrated boat ride into the Florida Bay. The main attraction was to study some endangered manatees and bottlenose dolphins. We were neither lucky nor unlucky; just had to satisfy ourselves with occasional views of dolphin fins above the water surface.
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| Roseate Spoonbill (Platalea ajaja) |
With the setting sun, our daylong visit at Everglades was concluded. Hoping to come back at some other suitable time, we started our cross-country return journey through Big Cypress National Preserve.
Biscayne
The sole purpose of our second visit to the Miami was to explore Biscayne National Park and Biscayne Bay in general. The rationale was that the biodiversity on land is just the beginning. The real escapade begins when you hit the waters rich with sundry marine life. For several decades, the shoreline of Biscayne Bay has attracted marine aficionados from all parts of the globe. Biscayne National Park is probably the best place in Florida for up close and personal interaction with coral reefs. Only 5% of the park is land, consisting of a mangrove shoreline and about 40 barrier reef islands. The majority of the wilderness lies under water.
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| Double-crested Cormorant (Phalacrocorax auritus) |
For beginners, corals are tiny animals, termed as polyps, which assimilates calcium ions from seawater and produces fortifications of limestone around themselves. The array of those adjoining fortifications appears like colonies of flowers or mountains. When colonies of several species are placed in close proximity to each other, they emerge as living fortresses termed as reefs. Apart from corals, there exist sea whips and sea fans inside the reefs. Their back and forth movement in the sea current gives life to the otherwise stagnant reefs.
To spice up the matter, about 200 species of colorful fishes dwell on the reefs. Some of the popular ones include blue marlin, red grouper, damselfish, parrotfish, etc. A number of endangered sea turtles such as loggerhead, leatherback and green sea turtle, as well as shark, stingray, jellyfish, crab, sponge, starfish, etc. are residents of this part of the world. Scores of these species acquire food and shelter in the coral reefs. Being closer to Miami, the nightlife in the reef is amazing. A “bottom up shift” of the ecosystem always occurs at the turn of the day, which optimizes the utilization of the abundant food supply.
The best way to explore the reef is scuba diving, which was not our cup of tea. The second best option was snorkeling, which we tried the previous year at Key West, but not with great success. This time, to be doubly sure, we opted for both the glass boat tour and snorkeling, so that we could make an overkill of our visit. Both are 3 hour tours, managed by Biscayne National Underwater Park. Needless to say, both the outings were more than successful. They took us out front of Elliott Key Oceanside, where tons of patch reefs exist. The depth of water ranges from 10–15 feet, which is ideal for snorkeling. Words fall short to describe the views underneath the water. However, the astonishing views of the corals and fishes and stingrays could not be documented properly on camera. We managed to get a cheap disposable waterproof camera, which did not have the finesse of a simple point-and-shoot digital camera. So we had to be content with what our eyeballs captured.
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| Great Blue Heron (Ardea herodias) |
A large number of avian species accompanied us during both the tours, and our guide was nice enough to introduce them to us. A majority of them recognized us; probably saw our faces during the Everglades excursion.
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| Wood Stork (Mycteria americana) |
In spite of spending so much time with the corals, we still had some surplus time before our return flight. We exploited that by kayaking on the Atlantic waters. Believe it or not, this is far more dangerous than that on the Charles or the Massachusetts Bay. As usual, birds were our only companions during the adventure, and enabled us to spend quality time far from bustling city life. Our last trip to the sunshine state was aptly concluded by a spectacular sunset over the Biscayne Bay, witnessed from Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park.
