All Day Everglades

All Day Private Everglades Tours

(8-9 hours – Private Tours Only)

There are 4-5 parts to the All Day tour:

1.    Airboat to a Miccousukee tree island.  Other tours end here.  

2.    Stops in Big Cypress Preserve where wildlife increases dramatically  

3.   90 min boat ride thru the Ten Thousand Islands to the Gulf of Mexico  

4.   A stone crab lunch during stone crab season thru April 

5.  Usually stop in Fakahatchee state park for birds, a boardwalk, and manatees.  Especially good November-January. 

Most visitors and sightseeing tour operators only go to the first few airboats or Shark Valley and turn back to Miami. 

Miami Native Tours brings you to FOUR PARKS w an airboat ride to a Miccosukee tree island and a spectacular boat ride through the 10,000 Islands to the Gulf of Mexico. Tour includes transportation to and from your Miami or Miami Beach hotel. 

Parks visited:

  • Everglades National Park 
  • Big Cypress National Preserve
  • Ten Thousand Islands NWR
  • Fakahatchee  State Park (time permitting)
  • Miccosukee Reservation
Roseate Spoonbills in Big Cypress
  • A 90 minute boat ride through the Ten Thousand Islands to the Gulf of Mexico.  Always the highlight of the day.  Check tide table for best time for maximum wildlife seen.  
  • All boats captains have 5 and 6 generations of history to the area
Hope to see:
  • Dolphins
  • Manatees (mostly Nov-April)
  • White Pelicans October - March
  • Rays
  • Land and Sea Turtles
  • Roseate Spoonbills
  • Wide variety of wading birds and song birds
  • 2-3000 year old Calusa shell mounds
  • Rare Sawfish

Boardwalk in Big Cypress National Preserve

30 minute hike on a Big Cypress Boardwalk with a beautiful cypress canopy and an opportunity to see various epiphytes and orchids. 

A great bird spot for wading birds and raptors in the fall, and songbirds all year round.

Stop at Clyde Butcher Photo Gallery, considered the Ansel Adams of Florida, which features a cypress swamp trail behind gallery. 

There are several stops for gators and birds in Big Cypress, depending on water levels and migration. Gators seen are dozens in the summer, hundreds in the winter. 

Big Cypress boardwalk light

Lots of Backroads in the Everglades

Depending on the season and the water levels the best opportunity to view a wide variety of wildlife is traveling the backroads of the Everglades and Big Cypress.  The “Old Florida” you seek still exists on these backroads. Excellent opportunity to see and photograph alligators, turtles, snakes and birds up close without leaving the tour van. 

Airboat ride to a Miccosukee tree island

  • Airboat ride to tree island where Miccosukee lived for generations fleeing the US Army.
  • Tour highlights the unique history of the unconquered Miccosukee tribe
  • How they differ from Seminoles even though both came into Florida fleeing Andrew Jackson and the Indian Removal Act. 

If your dream Everglades tour is you taking a selfie with a baby alligator having its mouth taped shut, I am NOT your ideal guide.  

Rates (minimum 4 people)

  • Adults (4 People) – $225 each
  • Adults (5-6 People) – $205 each
  • Adults (7-11 People) – $195 each
Book Now Miami Native

Florida may have the most interesting Native American history in the country.  The tour details 5 tribes:

Calusa

Tekesta

Seminole 

Miccosukee

Black Seminoles

The Calusa mound pictured built 3000 years ago is an important part of the tour.  

 

Options and/or Upgrades to your Everglades tour: 

Dawn Patrol usually means seeing more wildlife and beating the blue hair invasion from Naples that crowds our stone crab restaurant

The itinerary is set by guests, pickup time, lunchtime, the order of the tour. 

I do not charge extra if the group uses a third party for:

  • Swamp walks
  • Swamp buggy rides
  • Private airboat
  • Kayaks
  • Fishing guides

Important: Third parties must have a Big Cypress permit, as I do.

Third parties for swamp walks and swamp buggies take guest to places I can not and don’t want to do.

Swamp walks are usually led by hunters. Swamp buggies by old time Gladesmen, similar to my boat captains.

  • DOWNGRADES:

Once or twice a month during the winter a strong SW or NW wind makes conditions for the boat trip thru the Ten Thousand Islands less than ideal. I usually know 3-5 days ahead of time and can offer additional options:

  • Downgrading to the 5 hour tour
  • More time spent in Big Cypress
  • Rescheduling

The days before and after the strong winds are usually very good days, so my preference is to to reschedule if possible.