Fresh air hitting your face. Beautiful views. Wildlife sightings. If you’ve never been an airboat tour, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience you won’t ever forget. Airboat tours are fun and give you an amazing view of the Everglades.

For this article, we wanted to share with you some reasons you should go on an airboat tour the next time you’re in Florida or in the Everglades.

• Any age can enjoy these rides.
• You’ll learn a lot about wildlife, plant life, and the Everglades from the airboat captain.
• The airboat is safely equipped in case of any emergency. Life jackets and ear protection are provided.
• Airboats are properly maintained and inspected throughout the year, so they are working properly.
• You get the chance to possibly see alligators, birds, turtles, fish, and other wild life.
• You’ll get to go fast on the water.
• There’s never a bad time to go on an airboat ride. The weather is always comfortable!
• You will have breathtaking views of the Everglades.
• You get views of the Everglades you can’t get anywhere else.
• You get a private tour.
• Airboats can go in places big boats cannot go.
• You can enjoy this experience with family and friends.
• You will see different things each time you go out on an airboat.

Explore the Everglades by Private Airboat

Captain Mitch has been involved in airboat tours for more than 30 years in the Everglades. Captain Mitch and his team are filled with so much knowledge of the area – you will learn so much while having fun exploring the Everglades’ ecosystem. Whether this is your first time on an airboat or your 50^th time, we know you’ll have a memorable experience.

Florida resident? Tourist? Doesn’t matter! Airboats are fun for everyone!  Come check out this magical national park.To book an airboat tour, call Captain Mitch’s Airboat Tours at 800-368-0065 or click our Private Everglades Airboat Tours page.

In an earlier article, we discussed the Hole-in-the-Donut Wetland Restoration Project happening in the Everglades. A big part of this restoration is getting rid of the invasive species the Brazilian pepper. This plant is hurting the plant life around it, so it’s essential it is removed so native plants can thrive. It is one of the most invasive plants in the state of Florida.

The Brazilian Pepper is also known as the schinus terebinthifolius.  It is native to Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay.  This plant is an evergreen that is bushy with multiple stemmed trunks and branches. Its leaves are 3-inches long. It produces white flower clusters and red berries.

The Brazilian pepper plant made its way to North America in the 1840s. it was brought here to be an ornamental plant in people’s yards and properties. However, this plant has become invasive and spread itself into farmlands, pinelands, roadsides, hardwood hammocks, and mangrove forests.

It is an aggressive plant and it keeps native vegetation from growing. How? It produces a chemical that suppresses the growth of other plants. The Brazilian pepper is fire resistant and salt-tolerant.

This plant isn’t even good for humans as its chemicals can also irritate skin and the respiratory system through its leaves, berries, and flowers.

Researchers continue to look for ways to manage and tame this invasive species. Around 200 insects eat this plant, so there is a chance these insects will be released to help control the plant and its growth. Herbicides are also helping to control this plant.

This plant is a living organism, but it is not native to the Everglades, so it’s causing a lot of problems for native plants. We want the native plants to survive here, so it is important to reduce or eradicate the invasive species in order for the survival of the native ones.

Explore the Everglades in an Airboat

Come and check out all the beautiful native species in the Everglades on an airboat ride. You’ll get to see lots of wildlife and plant life as you zip on by in the water. To book an airboat tour, call Captain Mitch’s Airboat Tours at 800-368-0065 or click our Private Everglades Airboat Tours page.

With Thanksgiving almost here, we thought it was appropriate to do a species profile with the star of Thanksgiving in its name: The Turkey Vulture.  Here are some facts about the turkey vulture who lives in the Everglades.

• It has a bald, red head.
• Its underwings have a silver color.
• While in flight, its wings are in a “V” shape.
• This type of bird is a scavenger.
• It feeds mostly on dead animals.
• It had a black body/feathers over most of its body.
• They have long wings and tails.
• They are smaller than an eagle but larger than a red-tailed hawk.
• They grow to 25-32 inches in length.
• They weigh around 70 ounces.
• Their wingspan is around 66 to 70 inches.
• They are spotted gliding in the air a lot.
• They roost in larger groups.
• They are usually found on roadsides, landfills, suburbs, farms, trash dumps, and construction sites.
• At night or in the cold, they can be found in dead trees, poles, and posts.
• They can easily be spotted while driving.
• The oldest turkey vulture recorded was 16 years old and 10 months in Ohio.
• It has been spotted in Canada all the way down to South America.
• It only makes grunts or hisses for sounds because unlike other birds the turkey vulture does not have a syrinx, which is a vocal organ birds have.
• The turkey vulture nests in caves, hollow trees, or thickets.
• On average, these birds have two offspring per year.
• This bird has few predators.
• The turkey vulture is protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918.

See the Everglades in an Airboat

You’ll never know what you will see on an airboat tour in the Everglades. You may get a glimpse of a turkey vulture gliding above you. Come down to the Everglades to see this bird and hundreds of other species.

Airboats give you a glimpse of the Everglades like no other. To book an airboat tour, call Captain Mitch’s Airboat Tours at 800-368-0065 or click our Private Everglades Airboat Tours page.

As you probably know by now, the Everglades is going through a number of restoration projects that are costing in the millions. Why? The Everglades is being restored to its natural state. Many projects are working on getting the water in the Everglades to flow in the proper direction again.

For this article, we wanted to discuss the Hole-in-the-Donut Restoration Project, which is a 6,300-acre restoration. For this restoration, the Park, along with Miami-Dade County and the National Park Foundation have partnered up to restore these acres of former agricultural land in the Park known as “Hole-in-the-Donut.”

Through the Miami-Dade County, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, Florida Water Management Districts, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, this restoration project came about as an In-Lieu Fee Project and mitigation bank. Using mitigation funds from credits applied to permitted development projects in Miami-Dad and Broward Counties, the Park started the wetland restoration and exotic plant removal.

This is a large project that will restore 6,300 acres of short-hydroperiod wetland, but also help the habitats around Hole-in-the-Donut that are suffering from the Brazilian pepper invasion. This project has been more than a decade in the making.

In this project, invasive plants will be removed, restoration, monitoring, and management will occur, and mitigation will be provided for permitted development activities in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

As the area becomes restored, more naturally-occurring plants, like sawgrass, are multiplying and replenishing themselves. Birds and animals are returning more and more back to this area.

As of right now, 5,328 acres have been restored.

Through restoration projects like this one, the ecosystem can return back to normal in the Everglades, and more plants and animals will begin to thrive.

Explore the Everglades in an Airboat

Restoration is crucial to the survival of the Everglades. Without restoration, the wetland would disappear. Come explore this majestic land by airboat. Airboats can bring visitors to places beyond where a walking or biking trail can reach. To book an airboat tour, call Captain Mitch’s Airboat Tours at 800-368-0065 or click our Private Everglades Airboat Tours page.