Pole boat in Big Cypress Swamp

In need of an adventure, I looked up information about deep sea fishing, scuba diving, or taking a tour of the everglades. After consulting with Riva we decided the Everglades would give us plenty of photo opportunities.  The storm fronts moved through the area on Wednesday bringing cooler air and rain to raise the water levels.  I looked into taking a kayak but being the tasty morsel that I am, I could just see me getting tipped into the water by an alligator. Irrational I know but the $675. deposit also seemed a bit irrational. I looked through all the sights and decided on a Pole boat 3 hour ride in the National Big Cypress Swamp. 

A pole boat is a flat bottom boat with a guide that can get in very shallow, vegetation choked waters. We booked our tour to start at 8:30 AM, Riva stayed over on the boat and we were up before sun rise and on the way. The tour meets in front of the Skunk Ape Research Headquarters... There are exhibits of various reptiles that have nothing to do with the everglades, peacocks, Black vultures, 8 exotic birds and orchids. We arrived early, spending a delightful time with a White Cockatoo. 

Tommy our guide arrived, we followed him to the park, and in the cool partly cloudy morning started out on our adventure.

large wire sculpture a of a stick bug 

skunk ape looks like a gorilla - they have
a plaster cast of his foot print in a plexiglass box
that did not photograph 

chicken running around the yard

Riva and the Cockatoo

Black Vulture

our Pole boat-Pole boats have been used for centuries by the Native Indian tribes and the Glades men culture to hunt, fish and navigate the shallow marshes of the Florida Everglades.

Big Cypress borders the wet freshwater prairies of Everglades National Park to the south, and other state and federally protected cypress country in the west, with water from the Big Cypress flowing south and west into the coastal Ten Thousand Islands region of Everglades National Park. When Everglades National Park was established in 1947, Big Cypress was originally intended to be included; however, because the land had not been purchased from its private owners, Big Cypress was ultimately released from the park system
The Big Cypress Swamp water is supplied entirely from rain.The fresh waters of the Big Cypress Swamp, essential to the health of the neighboring Everglades, support the rich marine estuaries along Florida's southwest coast. Protecting over 729,000 acres of this vast swamp, Big Cypress National Preserve contains a mixture of tropical and temperate plant communities that are home to a diversity of wildlife, including the elusive Florida panther.
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The preserve is the most biologically diverse region of the terrestrial Everglades, and while dominated by a wet cypress forest is host to an array of flora and fauna, including mangroves, orchids, alligators, venomous snakes like the cottonmouth  and eastern diamondback rattlesnake , a variety of birds, and the Florida panther,  and the Florida Black Bear.

The preserve is also home to nine federally listed endangered species including the West Indian Manatee, the eastern indigo snake, and the Florida Sandhill Crane.