Adventure Date: 06/07/2023 – 06/11/2023
Like the headline says…mosquitoes were everywhere here! Given that the Everglades is mainly wetlands, I expected mosquitos, but I was not expecting just how crazy the bites were. We decided to stop by here on our way up from Key West to the Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood area since it was on the way anyways. First stop was the Ernest F. Coe Visitor Center at the southeast entrance for a bathroom break, national park swag (keychain and magnet), and explore the educational displays.
After the visitor center, we headed down the highway towards Flamingo at the end while making some stops on the way. One of those stops was Mahogany Hammock. We didn’t have to go far until we were swarmed by mosquitoes and getting our blood sucked left and right. We went back to the car pretty fast after the onslaught and continued on.
When we got to the Guy Bradley Visitor Center, it was closed due to ongoing renovations so we stopped into the makeshift visitor center instead for visitor information. We were informed that even though the visitor center was closed, we can still walk around outside of it and to also go walk around the marina to see if we can spot any alligators or manatees. So we did just that, walked around the visitor center grounds and then headed over to the marina!
At the marina, we did see an alligator, but it disappeared under the mucky waters around the boat docks. As we waited to see if the alligator would surface, we saw another creature, the manatees! It was our first time seeing manatees up close and in the wild so we spent some time observing them before we decided it was time to head out to our hotel in Hollywood, Florida by the beach.
Check out the map below for the spots that we stopped at while in the Everglades if you want to know locations!