On the Paradise Coast, you’ll see and experience the area’s pristine surroundings and magnificent wildlife in a variety of interesting and adventurous ways. Expert, informed guides, numerous, divergent paddling routes, well-equipped eco-cruise boats and nature-based education opportunities represent the core of the Paradise Coast’s unparalleled tours and eco-adventure menu.
What’s your choice? Kayak or canoe? Either vessel is ideal to explore the many coastal estuaries, rivers, creeks, canals and lakes throughout the Paradise Coast. Whether it’s an adventurous daytrip or a longer paddle that includes overnight camping on uninhabited beach islands, the
Paradise Coast Blueway, a GPS-coordinated network of routes through the mangroves and Gulf waters that hug the area’s shoreline, is a paddler’s mother lode. You’ll glide slowly by awesome, pristine scenery in the Blueway’s completed first phase, which winds north from
Everglades National Park through the
Ten Thousand Islands National Wildlife Refuge. If you want to incorporate education and adventure in your paddling experience, the
Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve conducts guided kayak trips on the two-mile Shell Point Canoe Trail, a laid-back paddle around mangrove islands and across shallow stretches of bay. A must see is
Rookery Bay’s Environmental Learning Center, where exhibitions and a 2,300-gallon aquarium display more of the area’s natural attractions.
Your personal eco-education tour on the Paradise Coast should include a cruise on the
Dolphin Explorer, which allows passengers to serve as Citizen Scientists, assisting dolphin researchers with the ongoing 10,000 Islands Dolphins Project. Many other cruises on the Paradise Coast combine sightseeing with dolphin watching as well as manatee watching.
Countless eco-tours are offered throughout the world-famous Everglades, whether you want a guided tour on foot or by kayak, canoe, boat, bike, biplane or even swamp buggy.