Everglades National Park
Our third and final Miami tour was a visit to the Everglades National Park which is a 1.5 million-acre wetlands reserve, on the southern tip of the U.S. state of Florida. The Everglades is the last remaining subtropical wetland ecosystem and it is home to endangered, rare, and exotic wildlife. During the wet season, Lake Okeechobee over flows, releasing water into a very slow moving, shallow river, dominated by sawgrass marshlands and it is often referred to a grassy, slow-moving river because it is made up of coastal mangroves, sawgrass marshes and pine flat-woods.
As we were being driven to the Everglades storm clouds appeared in the sky and heavy rain fell but when we arrived at the park the rain had eased off and we climbed into covered airboats to enjoy a tour around the many swampy waterways. The flat-bottomed design of the airboats, with no operating parts below the waterline, allows for easy navigation through shallow swamps and marshes of this huge intricate water system. Airboats also known as a fan boats, are propelled by a huge aircraft-type propeller mounted on the back of the boat and powered by either an aircraft or automotive engine. The airboat is pushed forward by the propeller, which produces a rearward column of air behind it. They are commonly used for fishing and ecotourism and are very fast compared to comparably-sized motorboats, travelling at speeds of around 65 kilometres per hour 'though they can go as fast as 150 if needs be.
One thing we would add to this description is that airboats are NOISY. We wished that we had bought ear muffs or plugs as we had to cover our ears (from the sonic pain) whilst we were travelling at speed. However, whenever we stopped to look at wildlife our guide turned the engine off and we could hear the commentary.
We had a few hiccups to begin with: we had travelled only 5 metres when our airboat returned to the wharf because the guide noticed that the petrol tank was almost empty so we transferred to another boat only to discover that the PA system was not functioning so we could not hear the commentary. Our guide compensated by stopping the engine and joining us in the boat each time she wanted to share facts or a point of interest about the wildlife. A better system would be to give everyone audio ear plugs connected to the driver-guide seat outside and at the back of the airboat. The driver-guide wore industrial ear protectors. We were a little disappointed in this world acclaimed tourist venue and found the sonic boom something we should have been warned about OR better still have been provided with ear stoppers.
However, after accepting that this was as good as it gets, we enjoyed the sights of the Everglades. 
We were intrigued with the waterlily pod-buds with huge water droplets still pooled on the huge glossy mist-green 
leaves, following the sudden afternoon storm. Their flower-pods held by long thick stalks, lay on the mill-pond waters waiting to burst forth into beautiful blooms.
We sped and sometimes floated along the many natural waterways, which are lined with sawgrass reeds and other varieties of grasses, such as muhly grass which were used for basket weaving by the indigenous Americans. Other common species of native grasses, which our guide pointed out to us, included blackrush, arrowfeather, Florida bluestem, and Elliot's lovegrass but we learnt that there are over 100 species of native grasses in the Everglades wilderness area. None of these grasses grows any higher than 1.3 metres and they have adapted to living with both a dry season, which runs from November through April, and a wet season, which runs from May through October. Everglades grass species have also adapted to fires that typically occur during the dry season. Though the grasses may appear to have been obliterated after a wildfire, they quickly re-establish themselves once heavy rains begin to fall again in the late spring. This is not unlike our Australian native plants that regerminate after a bushfire.
Our guide also told us that the Everglades area is home to 120 different types of trees. We saw a variety of 3 types of mangroves as well as Butterfly Pea, White Fragrant Water Lily and wild Pond Apple trees. We saw quite a few Pond Apple trees growing along the river banks amongst the grasses. They tolerate salt water but just don't thrive in dry soil. Native Indians and early settlers to the Everglades used to eat ate the wild apples off these trees, but it is now considered unsavoury for humans to eat. The fruit looked like a delicious yellow apple but its seeds can cause people to become unconscious. Today scientists are carrying out medicinal research with the wild Pond Apple seeds to determine whether they have potential benefits in curing some types of leukaemia and other cancers
We passed under many apple-laden trees on our airboat ride. They can grow up to 9 to 12 metres tall and are 3 to 6 metres wide so they often hang over the waterways. They are also a favourite resting place for Wood Stork, Snail Kite, Great Blue Heron, Great Egrets and other large water birds who occupy the tops of the trees. We also saw smaller birds sitting on the lower branches. During our airboat trip, we saw quite a few wading birds as well as tiny fast moving ones which we couldn't photograph, and several large birds of prey. The white Ibis is the most common wading bird found in the park. Unlike wading birds that prefer to eat fish, the ibis dines mostly on crayfish. This attractive white bird has a long, slender, curved beak that it uses to probe the mud in search of food. One of the most common herons we saw on our visit was the green-backed heron. It's a relatively small wading bird but its' fishing antics are fun to watch. It slowly stalks in shallow water, or hangs from a low tree branch, before using a precision dart-like jab to spear its' target.
Many other animals live in the Everglades including the raccoon, skunk, opossum, red fox, bobcat, white-tail deer and the symbol of this wild, vast ecosystem, the Florida panther. We saw none of these from our boat but most of these animals hunt at dusk or during the night so we didn't expect to see them either.
We did see many aquatic insects, like butterflies and dragon flies and we saw snails and lizards - all part of the animals and plants that form the food chain! These animals are, in turn, eaten by larger predators such as fish, which are then eaten by turtles, snakes, birds, or even alligators.
Speaking of alligators, that's one reason we came on this tour, to see alligators! They didn't look as gruesome as crocodiles but I sure wouldn't like to fall into the water here. There are over 200,000 alligators in the Everglades—but over 1.5 million in the state of Florida!
Surprisingly, the Everglades wetlands are the only ecosystem in the world where alligators and crocodiles co-exist side by side. Although alligators only thrive in fresh water because they can't digest salt, but crocodiles can live in both fresh and salt water. The Everglades is unique because fresh water in the Florida Bay meets the salt water of the Gulf of Mexico, creating a perfect ecosystem for both animals to live together. We saw several alligators lurking under the grass mounds or beneath lily-pads and other that slipped past our boat with one eye on our cameras- obviously not camera-shy. Most of the alligators seemed slender in comparison to the crocs we saw in Kakadu.
Here are some photographs we took and some interesting facts about gators that our guide shared with us. ("gator" is an American nickname for alligator):
1) Alligators do not eat human beings! However, they will 
protect and defend themselves, attacking humans if they 
get too close or endanger their young.
2) Gators are territorial and frequently get into fights defending their space. As a result, some alligators carry scars or may be missing a tail, leg or eye from a fight.
3) They are solitary reptiles, so you'll rarely see alligators in groups except during the spring mating season.
4) They lay 30-40 eggs which incubate for approximately 60-65 days and produce hatchlings 8-10 inches long.
5) A whopping 68 percent of an alligator is pure muscle.
6) Male alligators can grow up to 3.6 metres and weigh 180-226 kilos, while female alligators usually grow to 2.7 metres and weigh about 136 kilos.
7) The jaws of a gator have over 1,000 pounds of closing pressure.
8) Each alligator has approximately 80 teeth at any time. When they wear down or are lost in battle, they are replaced with new teeth. An alligator can go through 2,000 to 3,000 teeth in a lifetime!- WOW
9) Gators live approximately 30-35 years in the wild. Past 50 years in captivity.
10) Their main diet consists primarily of fish, but they will also feed on turtles, mammals, snakes and birds.
11) Often you'll see only the gator's head in the water, not its body. This allows them to more easily strike their prey, such as fish, without being detected.
12) Alligators regulate their temperatures by moving out of the sun and into the shade, where they rest with their mouths open to release stored heat. They also cool off by going into the water.
When our airboat trip ended we went to watch an Alligator Show. It was rather disappointing as the alligators looked bored, their pool was only small and the commentator spent more time talking about his volunteer work and the need for funds and a tip than performing any show activity. He did one action of grabbing the docile alligator and staring down its' open jaw before closing the jaws with "his bare hands" and then it was all over – nothing like Crocodile Dundee's show or even Steve Erwin's Zoo show that we saw last year. The Everglades is looking very tired with the wharves and boats needing updating and the toilets and tourist shop needs revamping because we felt a little underwhelmed by the overall experience. Maybe it was because it was at the end of a long day but the buildings and boats do need an upgrade. 