Sawgrass Recreation Park- Weston Florida.
If you have never experienced an airboat ride through the Florida Everglades, well, this one’s for you. I’m a little embarrassed to say that I’ve been a Florida resident for over 30 years and can you believe that I have never in all those years went on an Everglades airboat ride? That being said, I was able to partner with Groupon for this experience at Sawgrass Recreation Park to share all the details of this fantastic adventure!
We arrived early in the morning for our adventure and I was amazed that there was already a nice size crowd that was loading onto the dock for the first ride of the day. We stopped in the welcome center to redeem our Groupon while browsing through a cute gift shop with fun t-shirts and souvenirs.
The Sawgrass Recreation Park has an interesting story.
Back in the 1950’s, it started as a fishing camp. Over the next 30 years it transformed from a fishing camp, into a one boat airboat attraction in the 1970’s and then became one of South Florida’s top destinations for locals and visitors. In 2005, shortly after Hurricane Wilma hit, the Soverns’ family acquired Sawgrass Recreation Park. Since then, the park has expanded the exhibit areas to allow for the adoption and rescue of more reptiles and mammals. Sawgrass has also expanded community relations. They offer an annual scholarship to a local student, and cultivate partnerships with local schools to educate students about the Florida Everglades.
As we boarded our airboat, our friendly tour guide was prepping us about what to expect on the ride. He did mention that the gators and other wild life are on their own timeline and we may or may not get to spot the highlight of the tour which would be a wild alligator. Despite that, we were eager to experience the thrill of the boat gliding through the Everglades.
We started off slow and then throttled to about 40mph which felt quite nice on the cloudy, breezy day. We had several stops which our tour guide shared some interesting and educational facts about the Everglades. The entire ride was approximately 45 minutes. Although we did see some native birds, we didn’t spot an alligator on this trip but after we disembarked the boat, we entered into the exhibit area in which we did see several alligators, a giant tortoise and other creatures.
My daughter was so excited during the entire ride, she could barely contain herself and had a smile the entire time. My family absolutely loved the tour and the thrill of riding through the marshy Everglades. If you are looking for a good ol’ classic adventure, grab your Groupon HERE for a thrilling ride through the Florida Everglades.
