Florida National Parks | Must See & Do, Tips for Visiting, & More!

Hey everybody. Welcome to the Waldock Way. I'm Jessica. I'm Emily. I'm Kevin. And today's video is going to be a learning on location. We recently had the amazing opportunity to spend two weeks in the Florida Keys, at which time we visit all of the Florida National Parks, and they were pretty amazing. Pretty amazing. Yeah, I have to agree. It was a pretty awesome trip. So today we're going to share with you all about our National Park adventures, and make sure you stick till the end, because we're going to tell you where we stayed, and some tips for other things you might want to do if you're in the area. All right, Emily, let's start with you. What was your favorite National Park, and your favorite thing that we did? My favorite National Park, probably the Everglades. That was really cool. So what was your favorite thing we did at the Everglades? The airboat. Yeah, the airboat was pretty nice. It was like... Yeah, it went really fast. And it was really cool because it was nesting season, so we saw a lot of mom alligators protecting their nest, right? Yeah, we saw like, I think, maybe three to four nests. Yeah, we saw quite a few. I would say probably more than that, but definitely three to four, for sure. And then after our airboat ride, what did we do after that? We took a tram at Shark Valley, and we saw a few alligators there, and a lot of birds. We did. We saw a lot of really cool birds. And we got to go to the Observation Tower, which when you're at the top of the Observation Tower, you can see... So far. Miles and miles and miles of Everglades. Yep. Which... Well, not miles and miles, because there are a lot of miles in the Everglades. Yeah, there are a lot. But you can... As far as the eye can see, it's Everglades, right? Yes. Yeah. And it was pretty cool. I have to say, I was surprised. I thought, we live in Florida. We've had gators in our front yard. I really kind of thought the Everglades would be like the most... I mean, it wasn't my favorite that we've ever done, but I didn't expect to enjoy it as much as I did. I thought, it's going to be boring. We're just going to hurry up and check it off the list, because we have to do it. But I actually was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. With the Florida fauna and everything, I mean, it was great. It was really cool. The airboat, the tram. Oh, and all the dragonflies were around the tram. Yeah. And speaking of dragonflies, I was surprised at how much we didn't... We took bug spray with us, and we didn't even need it, because we were moving on the tram and moving on the airboat. I thought it would be nasty and buggy, and it wasn't at all. It was comfortable temperature-wise, even in the middle of June. I wanted to have to agree with you on that, because I think I had apprehension going into the trip, just because of the things that I presumed about the Everglades, the wildlife, the bugs, the heat, everything about it. And it turned out to be so much more on the enjoyable side, and not near what I had feared that it would be. And like you said, we're from Florida. I've lived here all my life. Yeah, so we expected that it would be kind of boring for us. But it wasn't at all. No, not at all. We learned a lot. Yeah, absolutely. Learned a lot. Me too. All right, so what about you, babe? What was your favorite national park and your favorite thing we did? I'm going to have to say Dry Tortugas. The favorite thing was twofold. One we got to fly on a seaplane over to the Dry Tortugas, and then got to snorkel at the Dry Tortugas. So I don't think you can beat that. I thought that was pretty amazing. It was really amazing. Especially... Oh, go ahead. Oh, sorry. But that was my first plane ride, and I was like, look at the clouds and the water. That is amazing. Yeah. It was. We also got to tour the fort, which is the largest brick building in the Western Hemisphere. There's 16 million bricks, which, I mean, you think, like, I mean, we've seen a lot of forts. And so you think we've seen it, but it was massive. No, it blows your mind how big it is. Like, it was massive. And the seaplane, I have to admit, I was ridiculously nervous and apprehensive, because I don't do anything that my feet don't get to stay on the ground. I'm not a huge fan of it. But our pilot was amazing. There was no, like, even for a second was I, like, anxious or freaking out. Like, it was amazing. Like, he did an amazing job. On the flight over, we saw sea turtles and sharks. And dolphins. And shipwrecks. Oh, yeah. Was there, like, two? I think there were two or three different shipwrecks that we got to see. And you see very clearly when you're, I mean, flying. It was amazing. Oh, well, he made sure. He would bank really hard to the left and right. He would do circles around it. He would make sure that everybody on the left and the right. And the seaplane only holds 10 people, so it's not a lot of people. And who was the co-pilot over to the Dry Tortugas? Me! Yep, she got to sit co-pilot seat the whole way over to Dry Tortugas. That's taking off from the International Airport. And then landing on the water at the Dry Tortugas and all that. Yeah, she had the best view and got some pretty good pictures. I thought it was amazing. It was really amazing. And I did a ton of research because we, there was two options to get to Dry Tortugas. You can either take the ferry boat over, which is a two-and-a-half-hour ride on the boat over. Or you can do the seaplane. And the difference in price was about, well, at least when we did it, it was about $100 per person difference. And we really just decided that we would be able to see more in the seaplane because you can't really see from the ferry the same way you can from the seaplane. As well as the fact that Emily had never been on a plane before, so it was going to be like a bucket list thing for her. And the winning one for me was the ferry takes two-and-a-half hours and the seaplane takes less than 45 minutes. So you get a little bit more time on the island. That being said, we did a half day. I was going to say, we did a half day. I wish we would have done the whole day. Because they drop you off on an island and then they come back and pick you up and there's really no shade unless you're in the fort itself. And you have no idea what you're getting yourself into. So we thought for safety purposes, just in case, you know, we would do. Well, not in the sensory issues and different things like that because you've got salt water. And sand. And if you're hot and sticky and salty and there's no real shade. And not really, you know. It can put you over the edge. So we were accounting for all that. It was our first go. We were snorkeling for the first time. There was just so many firsts involved. We opted for the half day. We did so well. I wish we had done the whole day. I would recommend doing the whole day. Yeah. I mean, pack a lunch. Although, if you do the seaplane, they give you a cooler with drinks. They also provide you with snorkeling gear. So you don't have to take your own. However, I would say I probably regret that as well. I wish we had taken our own. Because while they provide you with snorkeling gear and it's good, it's not great. But we rectified that before we went to Biscayne Bay. Yeah, we ordered snorkeling gear immediately. And then that's going to lead us into, you said, Biscayne Bay. Which is my absolute favorite. I was blown away with how much I enjoyed that one. I mean, I enjoyed all of them. But Biscayne Bay is 95% underwater. So the best way to enjoy it is to get out on the water. They do multiple different tours. One, they just kind of take you around. They call it their Eco Heritage Tour. You get to go see the lighthouse and see some of the heritage of Biscayne Bay. And then another is a snorkeling tour. And I was like, we've never snorkeled before. Well, you can do private snorkel or you can do it with a group. Which is up to 20 or 25. Yeah, so we took the private. Because, again, sensory, we had never done it. We had no clue what we were doing. And honestly, at Drive Tortugas, for the most part, when we were snorkeling, we could stand. Like we were snorkeling from the shore. And at Biscayne Bay, you go out on a boat. We were on the boat for probably 30, 45 minutes. So we were in open ocean, 14 to 18 foot depths. We had no clue. We had never done it before. I was nervous. I had no idea how any of us were going to handle it. I was kind of really excited. But when we got in, that was like a whole new world. It felt like we were in a new galaxy. It was definitely cool. It's not like swimming in the pool. No, it's not like swimming in the pool. And our captain was amazing. Emily asked the captain to swim with us. And she said, well, normally I don't, but if you want me to, I'd love to. So she jumped in. Well, them two left us alone. And the captain and Emily went off and swam. And she showed her, oh, man, so many things. What did you spot that she went and dove down and got? It was the Christmas tree worms. They look like little gumdrops. And she would dive down and snap her fingers and they would suck into the rock. And they would pop in so we could get pictures of them. It was awesome. And then not only that, but I mean, she told us so many different facts while we were out there. I mean, she was very, very, actually, all things being said, all of our guides, our airboat guide, our guides at Shark Valley Trams, our seaplane pilot, our captain at Biscayne Bay, they were all super knowledgeable, very helpful. I mean, any questions that you have, they can answer. It was all of the things we did were very educational opportunities. There's one thing I have to say about Biscayne Bay, though. What? When they say the term a hidden gem, that would more so apply to this one. In all of my thinking and all the ones that I've researched, I have to tell you, when you're looking at your GPS and you're coming into Biscayne Bay towards Miami, you're in an agricultural and an industrial. Almost kind of semi-industrial, yeah. But it's off the beaten path. There's no stores. There's no gas stations. There's nothing. But you can see Miami in the distance. And you can see Miami in distance. You can see all the agriculture going on. There was a racetrack and the other stuff. There was no one out there. And then suddenly you make a left and then you make a right. And you come up on a curve, and then there's a sign. And it says Biscayne Bay. Well, you turn into Biscayne Bay, and you start following it in. And it's a short little ride up to the parking area. In the visitor center. In the visiting center. And it just blossoms into something totally different because you wouldn't expect it. Yeah, the plants, as you walk, they had little stakes and signs, and it told you what the plants were. It was really, really cool. And then another thing that was really cool is that Biscayne Bay, Everglades National Park, and Big Cypress National Preserve all have a joint Junior Ranger booklet. Oh, yeah, that was awesome. You get the Junior Ranger booklet from any of those three, which Emily did the Junior Ranger program at all of the national parks that we went to, as well as the National Preserve because we did also stop by. We did a scenic drive through this Big Cypress National Preserve because we were right there, so why not? And when you do all three of them, you get the badge for each, and then you get a special patch for doing all three. So that's kind of cool. It's kind of an extra incentive to do all of them in that area. And how could you just drive off and not get all three? I mean, they are that close. They are really close. And that's actually one of the reasons that we stayed where we stayed was because of proximity. But we'll get into that in just a minute. First, I want, Emily, will you share with us one thing that you learned from the national parks when we were there? I learned that, like dolphins, frigate birds can put half of their brain asleep. And that's how they can fly or glide for at least up to two months without even landing. And I just thought that that was amazing for this giant bird that you think takes a lot of energy, which it does, but finds a way to do it so it can be out to sea for at least two months. And that is just amazing. It is amazing. Don't they have like a six-feet wingspan? It's a six- to seven-foot wingspan. I mean, the captain on the boat compared it to a modern-day pterodactyl. And I would 100% agree. That is what it looks like when you see it in the sky. I mean, it is this huge, beautiful, but also mildly scary-looking bird. It's very distinctive, though, between the males and the females, too. Even from the ground or the boat, you could spot way up in the air where you would expect a turkey vulture to be circling. There's this frigate bird. And the males have a big, red chest plume that they use during mating. So you can identify the male immediately. And the white of the female is very pronounced. So you can tell if it's a female. And, yeah, they stay on the wing for up to two months out at sea. I mean, we saw a ton of them at actually all of the national parks. We saw them at Dry Tortugas, Biscayne Bay. Yeah, we saw them everywhere. It was really, really cool. Yep. So what is something that you learned at the national parks? I kind of got my eyes open to the fact that I presumed and expected a whole lot different thing than what happened when we got down there. I was expecting alligators, pythons, and I mean, like, lots of them. And I was so surprised when I'm talking to the guys and we find out that, like, with the Everglades, it was how much? It was like 1.7 million acres, I believe. Yeah, 1.7. But there's alligator concentration of only 1.6 or thereabouts. So you're less than an alligator per acre. And an acre is kind of large. So what you see in your head, which is like alligators everywhere you look, is not the reality of what it actually is. And then the pythons, I was expecting to see them everywhere the way they're hyped up and everything. And I did not see one the whole time I was in the Keys in any of the parks. I heard about them. They had a record catch on right after we left. Yeah, the day we left. An 18-foot female, and she had 122 viable eggs in her. And that was on an actual roundup where they have, like, a rodeo to go catch them and get them out of the Everglades. But, yeah, it was eye-opening. I was expecting, you know, one thing, and I got there and it was so much more pleasant. It was a lot safer than I guess I was thinking it was going to be. Yeah, we thought it would be like... And, like, we saw one crocodile. Yes, and the whole time down there, one crocodile. Yeah, we were just driving like, hey, that's a crocodile. Yeah, that was it. Yeah, yeah, I agree. What about you, babe? So, I think the thing that I learned that kind of surprised me, or maybe I just never even thought to research it, was when we were going down to the Keys, obviously, there was a lot of geographical terms that I brushed up on to be able to research and do with Emily, right? Peninsula, archipelago, an atoll, an island. And it just never even occurred to me to research what a key was because I thought that that was just a nice, fancy word for an island. Like, it's just, you know, whatever. Yeah, it sounded better. But when we were at Biscayne Bay, the captain distinctly asked, like, do you know what the difference is between an island and a key? And I was like, no, because I assumed they were the same thing. And so it was kind of cool to learn that an island is geologically made. And then a key is biological. Yeah, so a key is biologically made. So that is literally the only difference between the two is how they're actually formed. And so I thought that was kind of cool to know the difference in what they were. So we did an Airbnb on Isla Morada because Isla Morada was the most central from Key West also to Biscayne Bay and the Everglades. It was kind of about, the furthest we drove was about an hour and 45 minutes. So that is our suggestion if you're going to do all of the national parks and you're looking for kind of a family-friendly island to stay on that's, I'm not going to say it's cheap, but more reasonably priced than the others, Isla Morada. If nothing else, it's more family-friendly. Yeah, it was definitely family-friendly, and it was more affordable than some of the others, and it gave us the perfect location for everything. For fuel, for places to eat, and also grocery stores. Because the further south you go, the more expensive things get. Or the less available they are. Some of the keys are kind of small. And then some of the things that we did that weren't national parks, that if you're in the area and you're looking for other things to add on, were the Theater of the Sea, which was really cool. What was your favorite? Because I know you're already dying. Turtle Hospital! The Turtle Hospital on Marathon Island, which really was pretty awesome. And there was this little baby turtle that was in its tank and it was like, hello. Hey, they even had a Jessica Turtle. They did have a Jessica Turtle, which was really cool. And then what about you? What was one of your favorite things? Diving Museum. The history of Diving Museum. Yeah, hands down. That was amazing. This private owner, husband and wife, got enthused in diving. And diving bells and the diving helmets and suits and weight belts and stuff. They have the world's largest collection in one place. Like you go back in time and then they have the helmets from around the world section. I mean there were so many cool things. And it went perfect with the ocean unit study that we were doing. Absolutely. To have this huge history of diving. It was amazing. Yes. And then I think another thing that was pretty cool that you kind of have to do if you're going to go to the Keys is just go down to Key West and play tourist for a day or two. We did the historic trolley ride, which was cool because you got to see kind of everything and learn more about the Keys in general. So we also did one of the state parks, which I mean there's tons of state parks around there. There really are. And the two that we really wanted to do were John Penkamp Coral Reef State Park and the Baja Honda. We did the glass bottom boat tour at John Penkamp, which was really, really fun. We all enjoyed that. We happened to be there on World Ocean Day. So there was a lot of extra things going on too, which was really cool. Baja Honda has an absolutely gorgeous beach. So does Fort Zachary, which we had already done the Dry Tortuga. So we kind of like looked at it, but we didn't explore that as much as we would have liked. There's a fort, which is on Key West all the way down. So Fort Zachary is another state park that would be worth checking out. And again, they have gorgeous beaches. Both Baja Honda and Fort Zachary have gorgeous beaches because they're private beaches because it's technically a state park. So there's a charge to actually get in. But that would probably be my top list of things to do if you're... But there is one thing. Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. At the trolley place, when we went to play stores, if you love ocean animals, you should go check out the... there's an aquarium. Oh, yes. We did. We did the Key West Aquarium, didn't we? You had to see it. What kind of turtle was it they were feeding? It was a hawksbill, and that is my favorite type. Because they're called hawksbills because they have a bill like a hawk, and that really sharp bill helps them crunch into coral, which has a special micro... Organisms? Yeah, that it eats. Yeah. I totally forgot we did the aquarium. Thank you for reminding me. You're welcome. Of course you would remember that. So those are our recommendations if you're in the Keys. Definitely hit all the national parks, and then those are some extra places that you might also want to check out while you're there. Okay, so would you recommend it? Do you recommend that everybody goes to Everglades, Biscayne Bay, and Dry Tortuga if they get the chance? I would like to go back already. 100 stars!