The Everglades Is One of America's Most Overlooked National Parks—Why You Should Visit

"Exploration by shallow-draft houseboat on this broad inlet offers intimate encounters with bay ecology: the houseboat used was "not perhaps the most elegant of vessels—basically a box on pontoons—but its shallow draft made it ideally suited to conditions out on the bay," featuring fore and aft decks, a couple of bedrooms, a bathroom and a galley kitchen and the heady promise of being captain of one’s own boat. Navigating among low mangrove islands and anchoring in inlets, visitors may see manatees, bottlenose dolphins that swim alongside the vessel, and vast congregations of birds—white terns, black skimmers, pelicans, cormorants, herons, curve-billed ibises, sandpipers and whimbrels—with one observer noting a 'beautiful roseate spoonbill tiptoeing across a mudflat, its bill like a spatula, its body flushed pink.' Local skippers provide friendly local color: Captain Nick Segwick, a long-time bay resident, mused, 'There is a feeling of freedom down here.' At sunset the bay becomes a mirror for an immense sky, with stars trembling on the water’s surface." - Stanley Stewart Stanley Stewart Stanley Stewart is a multi-award-winning travel writer and author of three acclaimed books. He is a regular contributor to The Sunday Times and The Daily Telegraph. His work has taken him to more than 50 countries. Travel + Leisure Editorial Guidelines