Kayaking on the Turner River

Waves, Swamps, & Bayous: Southeastern Waters - Part 8

Friday, 16 November 2018

Today we had a mid-day 4-hour kayak tour on the Turner River in the Big Cypress National Preserve, one of the preserved areas adjacent to the Everglades National Park. Our tour started in the freshwater swamp along the Tamiami Trail (US 41), and we went a little ways into the red mangroves that at this time of year are still freshwater, not saltwater.

We saw quite a few birds along the way, including this great blue heron.

Aligators were also present. This one is “Shy”, a ‘gator that prefers to stay mostly hidden.

Larger ‘gators seem to know that they won’t be disturbed, and don’t make much effort to conceal themselves.

The area has much stunning flora. This is swamp lily.

Bladderwort is an insectivorous plant, which we also saw in the Okefenokee.

There are a number of orchids here including the night-scented orchid.

The red mangroves became the dominant tree species as we went further into the swamp towards the coast.

The mangrove “tunnels” were so narrow and low-hanging that we had to take our kayak paddles apart and use only one half as a canoe paddle. In a number of places we just used our hands to pull ourselves through the mangroves.