Post 23 Everglades and the Florida Keys

- March 13, 2026

Everglades and Florida Keys January 27-30

Our accommodations in the Everglades was at the National Park where we spent 5 nights enjoying lovely weather and scenery. Outside the NP, the surrounding area is largely agricultural and home to many tropical tree and plant farms.

Our first stop in the area was Biscayne Bay National Park, on the east coast a bit south of Miami. Just offshore from Miami down to the end of the Florida Keys lies a coral reef that is both state and federally protected, hence the National and State Park presence. Biscayne offered an informative visitor Center, guided kayak trips, snorkeling and hiking trails along the water.

On our way back to camp, we stopped in at the Everglades Visitor Center and took an evening walk on the Anhinga Trail, a beautiful mile long boardwalk over the marsh. We saw lots of birds and a few 'gators.

On day 2 we chilled at our site, did some quick grocery shopping and visited a local winery/brewery.

Our campsite was about 7 miles into the park, but the park road goes another 34 miles to the town of Flamingo on the southern coast. We spent day 3 driving to Flamingo, making several stops along the way for short hikes and points of interest.

Through all the different exhibits and signs, we learned a lot about the Everglades. Lake Okeechobee is a huge lake north of the Everglades. We've heard it has great bass fishing. During the rainy season, the Everglades obtains its water from the lake overflowing its southern shore. The water spreads out over thousands of acres, forming a huge river only a foot or two deep. We were there during the dry season so, what is water in the wet season, is a sea of grass when dry.

There are many "islands" in the sea of grass that are called hammocks. They are home to pine and hardwood forests. The hammocks are only a few feet above the grass but stay dry due to the shallow waters of the river.

We spent a cloudy, chilly, drizzly day 4 exploring some of the Florida Keys. The John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park in Key Largo has a small museum with several tanks of coral and local fish. The displays explained their efforts to protect and restore the reef and included exhibits about invasive species, both plant and fish. They are especially concerned about Lionfish. It's a good eating fish and they encourage individuals and restaurants to put it on their menus. They even offered a lionfish cookbook in the gift shop. There also was an interactive map showing the hundreds of shipwrecks along the reef. Great snorkeling and scuba diving amongst the ship remains!

We drove as far as Islamorada Key where we stopped to sample the beer at both of the local breweries.

Islamorada Brewery is also a distillery so we sampled their frozen key lime pie daiquiri. Delicious! In all the excitement, Anne knocked over the drink! We couldn't let it go to waste, so we sucked it up with straws!😂 We took one home for the freezer.

We found the Keys to be a bit honky-tonk, somewhat run down and touristy. But, then again, we can see why it's a tourist destination. It's a shallow coastline with great water sports, outside dining and entertainment, souvenir and t-shirt shops all with a Jimmy Buffet vibe. We can say we've been but, there are other locations we liked more.

Every day as we came and went from our campsite, we passed a farm stand called Robert is Here. It was a place that caught your eye and was a bit vague about what was inside. We kept meaning to stop in and finally did on our way out of town. Inside it was an actual farm stand with a bakery and petting zoo. That day they were also hosting a chainsaw sculpture festival. It was great to see so many women wielding chainsaws and producing beautiful pieces. The key lime tartlets were to die for!