Florida Bay Boat Tour - Everglades National Park

While in Flamingo on our visit to the Everglades in early February, 2013, we bought tickets for the Sunset Cruise at the marina.  The hour and forty-five minute pontoon boat cruise is operated by a concessionaire of the park and explores a small portion of Florida Bay.  Tickets are $32.25 per adult and $16.13 for those ages 5 to 12.  Children under five can ride for free.  The crew consisted of two young men.  We were rather disappointed in the cruise and in the crew's lack of knowledge about the wildlife.  When one guest asked how dolphins breathe, she was told by the mate that "it's not a lung like ours are."  The captain did know the names of the various keys that we passed, such as Bradley, Murray, Frank, Catfish and Oyster Keys.

Tricolored heron preening on a red mangrove branch

Little Blue Heron

American White Ibises

Two ospreys nesting in a solitary red mangrove

Another pair of ospreys nesting on a navigational marker

Mangrove keys

Dolphin swimming alongside the boat

The crew let the boat drift while waiting for the sun to set

The end of a beautiful day on Florida Bay

The concessionaire website is http://evergladesnationalparkboattoursflamingo.com/index.php.
The park website is http://www.nps.gov/ever/index.htm.