An airboat ride through the awe-inspiring Florida Everglades is an adventure you will always remember.
Speeding through the “Amazon of North America” is a surreal experience. The Everglades are completely wild and unpopulated. Dominated by grassland and swamp, dotted with tree islands, forests and rivers, the whole area has a very wild beauty about it, and is a perfect example of what “old Florida” used to look like before development began.
With earplugs to block out the noise from the airboat, you’re left to appreciate the breathtaking beauty of nature at its finest.
Airboat ride through the Florida Everglades
Our airboat in the Everglades
The Everglades provides an important habitat for a number of rare and endangered species, and sure enough, we caught glimpses of endangered wildlife as we skimmed across the glassy water. With a huge thud, we actually ran over an Alligator lurking in the swamp!
Driving down the SW 8 Highway towards Miami, there are no shortage of companies advertising airboat rides. While not the most commercial, and with shorter tours, Miccosukee Indian Airboat Rides was phenomenal value for money and turned out to be the highlight of our afternoon.
At $16 per head for half an hour (compared to the $35 per head we were hoping to book for a 45 minute ride), our Native American driver “Elvis” was incredibly informative, and knew the Everglades like the back of his hand.
Sprayed with swamp water each time Elivs took a sharp turn became part of the thrill of our wild ride. We passed through the untamed “River of Grass” at high speeds and stopped at an authentic, Miccosukee hammock-style Indian Camp which is over 100 years old.
The Miccosukee Indians residing in Florida were targeted by the US Government for relocation during the three Seminole Wars between 1817 and 1858. About 50 Miccosukee Indians managed to avoid capture by hiding in the Everglades, and were completely self reliant until the early 1900’s when they were forced out.
Hidden in the Everglades: Miccosukee Indian Camp
No kidding!! …
Think I’ll maintain my distance!
Speeding through the Everglades with the wind in our hair…or in dad’s lack of! (He’ll kill me for that comment!)
Mike appreciating the breathtaking beauty of nature at it’s finest!
Perfect for the whole family!
23 Comments
I’ve never been to the Everglades, but I would love to go! Looks like a great adventure :)
You should definitely plan a trip – it’s amazing fun! So much adventure in Southwest Florida, especially in the Everglades!!
Megz, yes, you are correct – I will kill you!!
Love you very much
Dad
Ooooooh…my blog’s first death threat…I’ve made it!!!
Love you too :D!
Wow! an awesome experience, would love to do that.
You’ll love it!! Should definitely plan a trip to the everglades!
So fun! I did something so similar right near New Orleans! But we didn’t have earplugs- we had to wear huge things over our ears!
Lol like ear muffs? They would have made for awesome photos!! :D
Looks like a lot of fun. We were thinking of doing an airboat tour when we are back in FL in a couple of weeks. How far out of Miami was this one? Was it super loud? My husband and I did one in New Orleans in the bayou once and the guide actually jumped in with the gators (crazy but fun). We want to take our daughter but she isn’t sure if she can handle how loud it might be.
Really is such a great activity! This was 40 minutes outside of Miami up the US 41. As you drive towards or out of Miami you can’t miss it – US 41 is one huge long stretch of highway, and there are 10-20 billboards advertising airboat rides on the side of the road when you get into the everglades :)
We were given earplugs so I didn’t think it was too loud at all … although my husband didn’t want to wear them at first but quickly changed his mind after the boat started up! There was a little 4 year old behind us who was fine with it – you could maybe buy her some cute, cheap little ear muffs to wear for the ride :) Definitely need something to cover your ears though :)
We will be in miami next week and thinking about doing one of these! What do you think about doing it with a one and a three year old? Totally crazy? :)
If they’re adventurous kids I don’t think it will be a problem at all. There was a 4 yr old sitting behind us on the ride and at first I think he was a bit scared but he really got into it and loved it. It’s super loud without earplugs (which they provide) – I don’t know what the deal with earplugs fitting a 1 year old would be but sure it would be fine :)
This sounds/looks soooooo cool! We missed going to Everglades when we were in Florida at the beginning of this year. This HAS to be our reason to go back.
Great excuse to come back for a second visit!!
Nice. Was that along the Tamiami Trail or down Ingraham HWY down to Flamingo Campground? There’s a really nice Farmer’s market on ingraham.
Tamiami Trail :) Will have to check out Ingraham the next time we’re down that way – love making it to local Farmers markets! Thanks Don!
Hi!:) Great post! Did you guys see a decentammount of wildlife on this tour?
We saw a lot of crocodiles, and a lot of birds. We love hiking in the Everglades for wildlife, but it’s definitely a pot luck thing – some hikes we’ve been out and seen nothing, though some we’ve run into black bears and once even a panther.
The boat tours usually guarantee crocodile sightings because they know the waters and they know where they like to lurk – definitely recommend the tour; we loved it and my dad still talks about it when we go back home to Australia!
Cool! That all sounds great! It looks like that is the cheapest airboat option. I’m hoping to take my daughters!
In Nov 2014 I enjoyed an airboat ride around the Everglades too. Great fun and an unique place to see lots of nature. We drove from Miami North beach where we stayed
So glad to hear you enjoyed the experience as well Molly! Really nice way to enjoy nature after having been exploring a city like Miami :)
Beautiful photos. I was curious, at the Miccosukee camp, are there any historical interpreters, to fill you in in what exactly you are seeing or was that all on your guide?
Thankyou Ira! It was up to our guide to provide historic insight :) He had a fantastic knowledge and understanding of the culture and tribe history though as well as information on the wildlife so we were really impressed :)
Had a really fantastic time.