May 4: Everglades National Park

We did a 7:00 am pole boat tour this morning.  To say we were disappointed would be a major understatement—it cost us over $200 for a one hour tour with no sight of wildlife. It was a beautiful, tranquil river that was not spoiled by humans but the tour wasn’t worth the money.

After breakfast, headed to Shark Valley Visitor’s Center in Everglades National Park and rented bikes.  We rode through the Everglades for about 7 miles until reaching an observation tower, which overlooks the entire park.  We saw plenty of wildlife including birds, gators and turtles.  The view from the tower was spectacular.  We rode the 7 miles back to the visitor’s center and almost died of heat exhaustion.

We left at about 2:00 pm hoping to travel about an hour north.  The routine trip became stressful as we almost ran out of gas right outside of Naples.  Fortunately, we just made it and added $100 worth of diesel.  From here, we found a beautiful campsite for about $50 and spent a quiet night.