Exploring the Everglades: Alligators, Manatees, Swamp Buggy and Airboats | RVacationer

in this episode of our Florida Adventure we drove one and a half hours from Fort Meers to Everglade City to ride the Airboat and Swamp Buggy through the Everglades we purchased a ticket from Captain Jack's Airboat Tours we got the combo tour and it was $106 per person kit on the side of my seat is the radio and the fire extinguisher so if yall look back there and I'm not there you just get on there and say David's in the water again okay they'll come first a run yes y in the combo tour that we bought we got to ride two different airbats in two different bodies of water we also got to ride in a grassland buggy through the swamp it was a bumpy ride but that was it was a lot of fun we got to watch an alligator show and they also had baby alligators that everybody could hold and yeah I held a baby alligator surprise it's also its little belly was so soft we also visited the animal sanctuary [Music] come here Charlie give me baby Now alligators have the third strongest bite in the animal kingdom so if she did decide to jump up here and bite one of us there be no if hands or butts about it you're going to hear bones bre it's a very nasty sound wouldn't wish it on anybody I have witnessed it firsthand as a kid it is not a fun [Music] day a little bit more biting i' say that guy is at least 10t long is this when the female say it the male say it's over [Music] here I'm going go grab a picture right quick this is where we actually went down into the swamp to take the ride this is the actual Swamp Buggy on the Swamp Buggy ride we saw lots of airplants they're part of the pineapple family and are commonly found in the Everglades they grow on trees and absorb moisture from the air they don't need soil to grow and their Roots only anchor them you guys have a nice view of the S grass Prairie that's what the south side of the road look like before the mangrove started spreading about 40 years ago so why did the mang grow spread um short answer is saltwater intrusion okay because they build a dam pretty much we learned that on the last much so all of the water that you see here is fresh water that accumulates throughout the year there's no water from Lake okachobee and big Cyprus so big Cyprus is not part of the Everglades this is actually a separate ecosystem and a separate Watershed all of this rain water flows South towards the Gulf of Mexico it's being filtered by the different plants and grasses so the water never becomes stagnant but by building that Highway out there they slowed the amount of fresh water reaching the coast which allows salt water to push further inland that's why the mangroves take over over there but the road also prevents the salt water from coming to this side and that's why this side remains fresh waterer so that's the long answer so down here we have the seol and the mikasuki Indians these are the traditional structures that they lived in they're called cheekies with a CH cheeky up front with the windows would have been the cooking Hut they would have built the fire on the ground and the smoke would rise and billow out through those windows those are chimneys on there the other cheis around it would have been the sleeping huts and a permanent Camp those would have a wooden platform about 3 ft off the ground that would give them a dry living space but they would sleep in the top part of the cheeky there's a loft up there and during bad storms or hurricanes they could cut the poles and drop the roof on the ground they could use it as a bunker the wind would blow over the top of it this is a replica of a camp that was built by some local families these were built before hurricane Irma in 2017 so they've gone through two Category 5 hurricanes and several other storms and tornadoes so in the 30s and 40s the loggers were hunting big Gators and trapping furry animals out here and they used this Camp to clean and store the Skins this was a real campsite the big skull hanging on the shed was a 14t gator that was average for what they hunted back then nowadays that would be considered a giant gator there's more broken skulls scattered around the camp and then there's the Moonshine still there's a long history of moonshining bootlegging and drug smuggling here in neverglade City but we don't make moonshine anymore we just make hand sanitizer now all the old drug smugglers became airboat Captain who gave up the illegal [Music] activities I'm so cuddly I like [Music] we drove about a mile and a half to take a lunch break at City Seafood they have their own boats that catch their Seafood for the meals it was a delicious place to eat they were right on the water manate park is a seasonal location for viewing non- captive Florida manatees manatees please visit the park in search of warm water during the cooler days the warm water in Manatee Park Canal comes from the Florida Power and Light power plant across the street and is created as a byproduct of cooling off their equipment smart Alex is that what you about to say she can be a little smart alec yeah okay watch your words no wonder L you don't want to hang out with us morning he'll have to be moving fast to catch me didn't catch he's sort of bony [Music] wow oh there's two two of them popped up [Music] would be a just grab a hold of a m [Music] three [Music] [Music] times uhhuh there's a bunch of boats out there and I [Music] spot [Music] [Music] sure our son took this photo from his computer in Alabama we're standing stand in front of the webcam at the Manatee [Music] Park viewing areas inside the park and there was no charge to visit the park there was a few paid parking spots if you look real careful you can find some that aren't you can rent Kayaks from the manatee kayaking company there are quite a few people renting kayaks to get up close in person with the manatees one manate was not very happy he was jumping up and down in the water and making a snorting sound they say this could be because he feels in danger has a young calf it's mating SE season where he just got bumped by a kayak [Music] [Music] That's all folks