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FLAMINGO |
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The Flamingo section of the park - at the end of the main park road
and perched on Florida's southern tip - holds virtually everything that
makes the Everglades tick: spend a day or two in this southerly portion
of the park and you'll quickly grasp the fundamentals of its complex
ecology. From the main park entrance (always open; cars $10, pedestrians
and cyclists $5), the road passes the main visitor center in the Pine
Island section of the park (daily 8am-5pm; tel 305/242-7700) and
continues for 38 miles to the tiny coastal settlement of FLAMINGO , a
former fishing colony now comprising a marina, hotel and campground. A
century ago, the only way to get here was by boat - the place was so
remote that it didn't even have a name until the opening of a post
office made one necessary. Then "Flamingo" was chosen, supposedly
because of the abundant roseate spoonbills - pink-plumed birds that the
locals failed to identify correctly as they killed them for their
feathers.
Flamingo now does a brisk trade servicing the needs of sports fishing
enthusiasts. On land, the visitor center (summer daily 9am-5pm, but
staffed intermittently; rest of year daily 7.30am-5pm; tel 941/695-2945)
and the marina of the Flamingo Lodge ( ), the park's only hotel, are the
centers of activity. From the marina, the informative Backcountry Cruise
. ($16; reservations at 941/695-3101) makes a two-hour foray around the
mangrove-enshrouded Whitewater Bay; the Florida Bay Cruise ($10; same
number), a must for bird watchers, is a ninety-minute trip through the
marine feeding and nursery grounds of Florida Bay.
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