Chokoloskee & Everglades City

January, 2008

WHAT'S NEW -- Everglades Area Tours

At low tides, on the oyster bars, the Oyster Catchers have been common, but the Rosette Spoonbills have been hiding from us since the storms the first of the year. However, we sighted them again on the last Mangrove Tunnel Float Trip. The Peregrine Falcons have been working the barrier island beaches hard. Last week, we witnessed one take a Royal Tern while on one of the Boat Transported Kayak ECO Tours and another take a Belted Kingfisher while on a Tunnel Float. On the last Gopher Creek Birding Tour, we sighted a Short Tailed Hawk on the wing. As we were leaving the creek, it was perched on a mangrove right above us! Manatees are common, but the alligators have for the most part retreated inland for the rest of the season.

New!! Sunset Kayak Tours - We have had many guest staying in town down want us to take them on sunset paddles. We are finally able to offer them. Watching flocks of White Ibis, Brown Pelicans, Double Crested Cormorants and Snowy Egrets coming to their roosts as the sun sets over the bay is quite spectacular . Reservations are required, but late comers are always welcomed. The cost is only $59.00 per person and you will be back in time to enjoy a fresh seafood dinner.

We Have Moved!!! Everglades Area Tours.com is pleased to be located at the Historic Rod & Gun Club in Everglades City. This magnificent building is a landmark in Collier County. :Located directly on the Barron River, they offer fine waterside dining, lodging, dockage for you boat, guided fishing and now our tours. Come and enjoy breakfast before your morning tour or lunch afterwards. Many of our guest will enjoy lunch before their afternoon tour, but I enjoy working up an appetite and then having dinner (Hint: the Grouper Roxy is really special!) For more information, visit their website, The Everglades Rod and Gun Club.
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Audubon Society - Collier County Everglades Area Tours.com is please to be working with the Audubon Society in 2008. Members receive Audubon special rates on all our tours, however, selected dates and tours have been planned for Society members. Please let us know if you are an Audubon member at the time of booking. Collier Audubon.

Jan 1st Winners Please congratulate the winners of this month's drawing for the free Kayak ECO Tour, Sandra Beddow, Katherine Hemmat and Tina Sutton.

NEW - Online Reservations. We are pleased to be able to offer online reservations for our kayak related tours. Now you can book a tour when it is convenient for you - 24/7. Of course, please never hesitate to call us directly to book your tour.

4th Annual Everglades Kayaks Paddle-In will be Feb 23rd. Last year we had about 170 participants. It a free, fun social event. This year we will be launching from the Gulf Coast Ranger's Station at the Everglades National Park Headquarters. (Note: It is a shame, but the owner's of the Smallwood Store no longer allows kayaks to launch from their property). Timed with an outgoing tide, we float to a outside barrier island where conch chowder, BBQ pork sandwiches and pastries are served. We will have a fish fry at a local restaurant later that evening. It is great opportunity to meet new friends and see some old. Rental kayaks will be available, if you need them. Lodging in town is limited, so I would book early. This is a free event, but we ask you for a donation to help support the Museum of the Everglades.

The Everglades City Seafood Festival is February 2nd and 3rd. We will doing the morning tours only those days so we can enjoy the music and festival in the afternoon!

The 4th Annual Southwest Florida Birding Festival at Rookery Bay is January 18 - 20th. This should be a great event, as well. Click here for more info. (Hint: The Rookery Bay Education Center has the Wild Florida video playing continuously if you missed on TV.

Guided Kayak "Float" Tours. Using the transport boat to take us to the head of the tidal rivers, passes or a remote Gulf of Mexico, we deploy the kayaks to float and drift along with the tidal currents down river to end up on remote island beach where boats picks you up again. The waters are sheltered and typically very calm. Since the water flows in the direction of our travel, we are actually floating along with the tide for a large part of the trip with minimal paddling. Below are some of our favorite trips. As we are taking advantage of the tidal currents, these trips are not always available, they are sure are special. Please be sure to review our SPECIAL TOURS page.

Gopher Creek Birding Tour (2/14, 2/21, 2/27, 3/26) ... Gopher Creek is one on the more unique areas within the western Everglades National Park. A creek that runs from the Gulf waters through the mangrove wilderness into the backwaters of the Wilderness Waterway, it is a super-highway short cut for both fish and wading birds. While the place is always rich in fodder for the birds, sometimes the place is like "fish soup", alive with wading bird feed. The area is always teeming with life and is a great place to bird most any time. However, when the area is "soupy", the concentration and variety of water fowl is amazing. The birds are generally distracted in the Creek as many are intent on feeding. It is great place to view their activity and a wonderful place to photograph. The tour on 12/11, we saw rosette spoonbills, least bitterns, a mess of tricolor herons, a short-tailed hawk, frigate birds in addition to dolphins, emanates and alligators. For more information, please see our SPECIAL TOURS page

Mangrove Tunnel Kayak "Float" Tour (1/29, 1/30, 4/23). This trip is one of the most complete everglades estuary experiences that we can offer. The Everglades has one of the largest mangrove forests in the world. Some of the most spectacular areas are within mangrove tunnels and canopies of the tidal creeks that meander their way through the estuaries. We use a transport boat at the beginning of this trip to deliver you and your experienced naturalist guide to our starting point. At the end of the trip, the boat returns to recover the kayaks, pick you up and return you to "civilization".

Timed with a flowing tide, we launch the kayaks in an estuary bay. Moving along with the tidal flow we enter a lush mangrove forest via a tidal creek. The flow of water through creeks moves you along through the "tunnels" formed by the mangroves above you. The creeks are alive with rolling tarpon, feeding snook, jumping mullet and other fish. Various crabs, snails and birds call the area home and with the sunlight twinkling through the mangrove canopy, the scene is truly surreal.

Floating along, we exit the tunnels and enter a series of small, sheltered saltwater bays that commonly are the feeding and resting places of rosette spoonbills, herons, egrets and other wading birds. If we are quiet as we slip into the bay, the birds will go about their business barely taking notice of us as we float by.

As we continue our drift, you will notice that the water begins to get deeper and the interconnecting creeks wider. We are entering manatee country. Take a few moments of quiet to take in the inspiring sound of the silence. Listen closely. The first hint of a manatee is usually the sound that they make as the exhale on the surface.

You will notice the creeks gathering into ever larger ones as we continue to float with the tide. They eventually flow together into a tidal pass that leads to the Gulf of Mexico. As we drift along the pass, you will see nesting ospreys high in the trees and hopefully a soaring bald eagle. Manatees and sea turtles also are commonly seen drifting out towards the Gulf in theses passes.

The flowing waters of the pass takes us through the 10,000 Islands and finally to a barrier island or "key" on the edge of the Gulf of Mexico. On the island enjoy your lunch, explore the island's beach or soak up the sun until your captain arrives in the transport boat to pick you up for the return trip back to port. There are portable toilet facilities, maintained by the National Park Service, on many of these keys.

The cost for this very unique trip is $189 per guest. Trips are limited to six guests and advanced reservations are required.

Sea Kayaking Trips Six hour day trips and multi-day kayaking adventures. The Two Day - One Night Adventures leave every Saturday and the Three Day - Two Night trips leave on Friday. Come enjoy spectacular sunsets, crisp sunrises, star filled sky and the Milky Way ... every night. These trips are very special. For the schedule and more complete information, CLICK HERE

Have you ever seen a crocodile? The next trip is scheduled for The January and February trips are booked. However, we are also doing this trip March 17, 18 & 19, as well, To read more -- CLICK HERE. Additional day trips will be scheduled.

Watch for Everglades Area Tours on the PBS Wild Florida series. Capts. Laura Lee and Charles Wright recently did a shoot for the PBS series Wild Florida with host Hunter Reno. The show focuses on the habitat of the mangrove estuaries. Capt. Laura Lee is a leads many of the Kayak ECO Tours. It is very easy to get absorbed in her passion for the Everglades.

Watch for us on the Weather Channel as well. Weatherventures schedule for October:
Beginning Oct. 1, the show airs weeknights 7:30 p.m. ET (re-airs 11:30 p.m. ET) The show re-airs throughout the fall and early winter

A Taste for Adventure - Collier County is also airing on the Travel Channel. Watch for us there as well!

MAKE A RESERVATION NOW!

Find out how you can enter to win a
FREE TRIP! Click Here!

Chokoloskee Charters
Capt. Charles Wright
PO Box 824
Chokoloskee, FL 34138
Phone: 239-695-9107
Alt: 239-695-9106
Fax: 239-695-9108
Email: captwright@chokoloskeecharters.com
Website: http://www.chokoloskeecharters.com/