Southeastern Florida Adventure Guide

By Sharon Lloyd Spence

The most detailed guide to the southern Atlantic coast of the Sunshine State a magnet for hundreds of thousands of tourists. The Adventure Guide to Southeast Florida takes you beyond the high-rise condos and urban sprawl to find natural, beautiful South F

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hunter Publishing
• Release date: Oct 24, 2009
• ISBN: 9781588430922

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Southeast Florida Adventure Guide

Sharon Lloyd Spence & Warren Lieb

Hunter Publishing, Inc.

Web site: www.hunterpublishing.com

E-Mail: [e-mail]

IN CANADA:

Ulysses Travel Publications

4176 Saint-Denis, Montrèal, Quèbec

Canada H2W 2M5

514-843-9882 ext. 2232 / Fax [phone]

IN THE UNITED KINGDOM:

Roundhouse Publications

The Boundary, Wheatley Road, Garsington

Oxford, OX44 9EJ England

01865-361122 / fax [phone]

©Sharon Lloyd Spence and Warren Lieb

www.hunterpublishing.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.

This guide focuses on recreational activities. As all such activities contain elements of risk, the publisher, author, affiliated individuals and companies disclaim any responsibility for any injury, harm, or illness that may occur to anyone through, or by use of, the information in this book. Every effort was made to insure the accuracy of information in this book, but the publisher and author do not assume, and hereby disclaim, any liability for any loss or damage caused by errors, omissions, misleading information or potential travel problems caused by this guide, even if such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident or any other cause.

Introduction

History

Geological Beginnings

Signs of Humanity: The First Adventurers

The Search for the Fountain of Youth

Spanish & English Play Tug of War

Florida's Americanization 1800-1865

Indians vs. the White Man

Preparing for Statehood and Another War

Post-War Changes

A Boost from World War II

Florida, Present & Future

Geography & Climate

Geographic Beginnings

Wetlands

Hurricane Categories

Weather

Flora & Fauna

Ways You Can Help Protect Sea Turtle

Birds

How to Use This Book

Where to Stay / Where to Eat

Key to Hotel & Restaurant Prices

On Foot

Safety Tips for Walking and Hiking

On Wheels

Bike Safety Tips

On Water

In the Air

A Special Feature of This Book

Information Sources

State Agencies

Convention & Visitors Bureaus

Chambers of Commerce

•Miami Area

• Greater Fort Lauderdale Area

• Palm Beach, Martin, St. Lucie & Indian River Counties

Miami & Surrounding Areas

Getting Here

Getting Around

Rental Car Agencies

Major Roadways

Public Transportation

Personal Safety

South Dade

Getting Here

Adventures

On Foot

Chekika State Recreation Area, Homestead

South Dade Greenway Network, Everglades Trail

Golf

Tennis

On Wheels

Biking

On Water

Biscayne National Park

Canoeing & Boating

Fishing, Lobstering & Crabbing

Diving & Snorkeling

Marinas

In the Air

Other Adventures

Sightseeing

Fruit & Vegetable Stands

Festivals & Events

Where to Stay

Florida City

Kendall

Camping

Where to Eat

Haitian

Thai/Chinese

Mexican

Vietnamese

Indian

Italian

American

Tourism Information

Coral Gables & Coconut Grove

Getting Here

Adventures

On Foot

Tennis

On Wheels

Bicycling

On Water

Marinas

Pleasure Boating

Swimming

Other Adventures

Horse Shows

Sightseeing

Coral Gables

Coconut Grove

Festivals & Events

Where to Stay

Coral Gables

Coconut Grove

Where to Eat

American

Continental

French

Italian

Spanish

Tourism Information

Key Biscayne

Getting Here

Adventures

On Foot

Golf

Tennis

On Wheels

Key Biscayne Bike Rental Shops

On Water

Boating

Fishing

Diving & Snorkeling

Windsurfing

Swimming

Other Adventures

Sea Turtle Nesting

Sightseeing

Festivals & Events

Where to Stay

Where to Eat

Cuban/Latin

Italian

Health Food

Casual Seafood

Continental

Information

Downtown & Greater Miami

Adventures

On Foot

Golf

Tennis

On Wheels

On Water

Cruises

Port of Miami Cruise Lines:

Pleasure Boating & Sailing Charters

Jet Ski Rental

Snorkeling Trips

Lake Fishing

Other Adventures

Miami Area Sports Arenas

Sightseeing

Entertainment

Festivals & Events

Where to Stay

Downtown

North Miami Area

Camping

Where to Eat

Spanish

Mexican

Cuban

Nicaraguan

American

Tourism Information

Miami Beach

Getting Here

Adventures

On Foot

Golf

Tennis

On Wheels

Bicycling

On Small Wheels

On Water

Boating, Fishing, Diving

Water Taxi

Swimming

In the Air

Sightseeing

Lincoln Road: II Blocks of Style

The Holocaust Memorial

Museums

Ticket Information

Festivals & Events

Where to Stay

Where to Eat

American

Italian

Mexican

Seafood

Tourism Information

North Miami Beach

Adventures

On Foot

Golf

Tennis

On Wheels

On Water

Fishing

Mini-Cruising

Kayaking

Scuba Diving & Snorkeling

Jet Ski Tour

Sightseeing

Shopping

Where to Stay

Where to Eat

Tourism Information

Meet Jeffrey Bingham, Instructor, Water Ways Kayak, Hollywood.

Meet Alice Ursula Butler, President/Pilot Instructor, Rotors in Motion, Hollywood.

Meet Captain Dan Coltrane, Everglades Holiday Park airboat captain

Meet Captain Carolyn Williams and Captain Nadine Nack, Owners/Instructors, Southeast Yachting School & Charters, Inc., Ft. Lauderdale.

Greater Fort Lauderdale

Getting Here

Rental Car Agencies

Other Transportation:

Getting Around

Hollywood

Adventures

On Foot

On Wheels

Biking & Skating

On Water

Canoeing

Kayaking

In the Air

Helicopter Flying

Other Adventures

Spectator Sports

Davie

Adventures

On Foot

On Wheels

On Water

Boating & Fishing

Airboating

On Horseback

Fort Lauderdale

Adventures

On Foot

Hiking

Golf

Tennis

On Water

Boating

Scuba Diving & Snorkeling

Deep-Sea Fishing

Speedboats & Parasailing

Sightseeing Boats

Swimming

Sightseeing

Museums & Culture

Performing Arts

Festivals & Events

Where to Stay

Camping

Public Campgrounds in Broward County and Greater Fort Lauderdale:

Camping in the Everglades:

Members of the Florida Association of RV Parks & Campgrounds:

Where to Eat

Chinese

Seafood

Mediterranean

French/Continental

Other Restaurants

Tourism Information

Pompano Beach to Deerfield Beach

Adventures

On Foot

Hiking

Golf

Tennis

On Wheels

On Water

Waterskiing

Scuba Diving

Area dive shops:

Fishing

On Horseback

Other Adventures

Sightseeing

Festivals & Events

Where to Stay

Where to Eat

Tourism Information

Meet Rusty Harr, Curator of the Preserve, Lion Country Safari, West Palm Beach.

Meet Eric Bailey, Owner, Canoe Outfitters, Jupiter.

Meet Calixto Garcia-Velez, Director of Polo Operations, Palm Beach Polo & Country Club.

The Palm Beaches

Getting Here

Getting Around

Car Rentals in Palm Beach County

Boca Raton

Adventures

On Foot

Beachwalking: Boca Area Beaches

Golf

Public Courses

Tennis

Public Tennis Courts

On Water

Fishing

Snorkeling

Canoeing & Kayaking

On Horseback

Polo

Sightseeing

Museums & Culture

Performing Arts

Festivals & Events

Where to Stay

Camping

Where to Eat

Continental

French

Tex-Mex

Italian

Mediterranean

Tourism Information

Palm Beach to Jupiter

Adventures

On Foot

John D. MacArthur Beach State Park

Walks through other gardens and nature centers:

Beachwalking

Lake Worth

Palm Beach

Juno Beach

Jupiter

A Major Climb

Turtle-Watching in Juno Beach

Golf

Tennis

On Wheels

Biking

Bike on Your Own

Lion Country Safari

On Water

Boating & Fishing

Boat Rentals

Fishing Guides & Charters

Cruising

Canoeing

Scuba Diving & Snorkeling

Dive Shops

Waterskiing

Windsurfing

Fountain Fun

In the Air

On Horseback

Other Adventures

Auto Racing

Baseball

Croquet

Dog Racing

Trap & Skeet

Sightseeing

Museums & Culture

Performing Arts

Entertainment

Festivals & Events

Where to Stay

Palm Beach

Palm Beach Gardens

Palm Beach Shores

Singer Island

West Palm Beach

Juno Beach & Jupiter

Camping

Where to Eat

Mediterranean

American

Tex-Mex

Italian

Tourism Information

Meet Bernie DeHart, Cove Kayak Center, Stuart.

Meet Captain Barry Ross, owner Blue Dolphin Charters, Stuart.

Meet Mark Chapdelain, President, Balloons Over Florida, Stuart.

Meet Terry O'Toole, Park Ranger, Sebastian Inlet State Park, Sebastian.

The Treasure Coast

Hobe Sound to Ft. Pierce

Adventures

On Foot

A Photo Safari

Golf

Martin & St. Lucie Counties:

Tennis

Martin and St. Lucie Counties:

On & In the Water

Swimming

Martin County Beaches, South to North:

St. Lucie County Beaches, South to North:

Boating & Fishing

Pirates Cove Resort and Marina

Saltwater Guides

Fishing - River, Inlet, Flats, Refuge

Fishing Clubs

Freshwater Guides

Pleasure Boating & Cruising

Boat Rentals

Bait Shops

Sailing

Chapman School of Seamanship

US Sailing Center of Martin County

Kayaking

Canoeing

Scuba Diving

Reef Research Team

Dive Shops

In the Air

Other Adventures

Baseball

Jai-Alai

Sightseeing

Museums & Culture

Theater & Performing Arts

Festivals & Events

Where to Stay

Jensen Beach

Stuart

Camping

Where to Eat

American

Seafood

French

British

Tourism Information

Vero Beach & Sebastian

Adventures

On Foot

Hiking/Birding

Golf

Miniature Golf

Tennis

On Water

Surfing

Fishing

Boating

Boat Rentals:

Pleasure Cruising

The Lady Dolphin

Other Cruises

Kayaking

Diving

In the Air

Other Adventures

Sightseeing

Museums & Culture

Where to Stay

Camping

Where to Eat

Tourism Information

Introduction

I looked for adventure in Southeast Florida and almost missed it. With bumper-to-bumper traffic on six-lane highways, the scene was dizzying: Publix grocery stores, Eckerd Drugs, Barnett Banks, Radio Shacks, Burger Kings, McDonald's, Pizza Huts, Kentucky Fried Chickens, and Wal-Marts. Mirrored high-rises, gated neighborhoods, country clubs, trailer parks, and strip malls hawking T-shirts, bikinis and ball caps. Could I find adventure in Southeast Florida?

While researching this book, I came across a quaint tourism promotion published in a 1925 issue of The Miamian: Go to Florida where enterprise is enthroned - where you sit and watch at twilight the fronds of the graceful palm, latticed against the fading gold of the sun-kissed sky.

Does this dreamlike paradise still exist? Is there a sun-kissed Florida sky not silhouetted with condos, telephone wires, and neon signs? Are there adventures beyond trendy restaurants, luxury hotels, hip nightclubs, and designer boutiques?

Fortunately, friends and contacts put me in touch with a group of adventurous Floridians. Scuba divers, skydivers, helicopter pilots, deep-sea fishermen, polo players, kayakers, bikers, surfers, balloonists, and park rangers. Outdoor lovers who appreciate Florida's parks, birds, beaches, oceans, rivers, and nature preserves. Thrill-seekers willing to share Florida's adventurous side with visitors like me and you.

When the student is ready the teacher appears. I was ready to dive deeply, soar high above the clouds, venture by foot into forests, by boat into rivers. Get wet, get dirty, get involved, my teachers encouraged. So I did.

Some of Southeast Florida's adventurers who inspired me:

Ed Bailey, who loves every bend in the Loxahatchee River he's spent a lifetime canoeing; Terry O'Toole, who knows the area's best surfing beach and where great horned owls nest; Alice Butler, who teaches people to fly a helicopter in one amazing hour;Vesna Galesic, who shares the joys of in-line skating in South Miami Beach; Jeff Bingham, who has discovered most of Florida by kayak; and Todd Carter, who reveals the Zen of wall climbing in just one lesson.

Along the way I discovered that adventure can be deeply personal, sometimes grabbing you by surprise. Some of my own unexpected adventures:

Immersing myself in Florida's color palette: relishing a sapphire sky, an emerald ocean, and a crimson sunset, while snuggling into a yellow lounge chair under a poppy-red umbrella.

Getting soaked while striding through crashing waves at twilight.

Canoeing alongside mangroves hoping to see a manatee, and having an entire family surface next to my canoe.

Paddling a kayak near a 1, 500-passenger luxury cruise ship and feeling happily small.

Reeling in a six-foot sailfish, then setting it free.

Envying the gracefulness of a pink flamingo balanced on one leg.

Discovering there are 2, 700 varieties of palms, 700 of which thrive at Fairchild Tropical Garden.

Being awed by a great blue heron flying gracefully across my kayak.

Climbing 109 circular stairs to the balcony of the Bill Baggs Cape Florida Lighthouse and feeling exhilarated.

Looking into the eyes of a living conch and putting it back into the ocean.

Gazing into a river and seeing fish staring back.

Realizing a great white heron is an angel with a beak.

Learning it's adventurous to daydream and just be, instead of do .

Finding adventure in Southeast Florida isn't always easy, but it's there if you make the effort. Don't just laze away your vacation. Grab an adventure: it may change your life.

History

Geological Beginnings

Florida's emergence from the ocean as a 4, 298-square-mile, finger-shaped peninsula of streams and springs, rivers and lakes, lagoons and swamps goes back hundreds of millions of years. South Florida began life as an arc of volcanic mountains buried 13,000 feet beneath the sea. Limestone sediment was deposited on the underwater plain, caused by erosion of the mountains, whose weight made the land sink even deeper. Over one hundred million years, thousands of feet of limestone were formed, composed mostly of the skeletons of microscopic sea animals. Centuries later, fine sand and clay washed down from the northern mountains, settling over Florida's plateau. The limestone layers arched, and sections of Florida rose 150 feet above sea level. Wind and waves extended Florida's peninsula along the emerging coral reefs, forming marshes and lagoons. This was during the Late Tertiary period.

During the Pleistocene era, an ice sheet covered much of Canada and the northern United States. At this period of development Florida became cool and rainy. Because so much of the earth's water supply was stored in these ice glaciers, the world's sea level was lowered, leaving much of the Continental Shelf exposed. Florida became twice the size it is today.

Herbivorous animals seeking to escape the great ice sheet trudged southward seeking green pastures in warmer territories. Three-toed horses, giant pigs, rhinoceroses, camels, mammoths, sloths, armadillos, and peccaries found a home in Florida.

These docile vegetarians soon became meals for carnivorous beasts of prey: sabre-toothed tigers, four-tusked mastodons, wolves, and lions, who devoured the leaf eaters.

During the Pleistocene and Holocene periods, the northern ice sheet melted and reformed. Sea levels rose and fell, carving bluffs and terraces into the land. The climate became drier, and winds scattered sand dunes onto the newly formed terraces.

Today Florida's landscape is still sculpted by rain, rivers, waves, and wind, continuing to change geographically as the east coast builds up and the west coast gradually sinks.

Signs of Humanity: The First Adventurers

Florida's first human inhabitants arrived about 8000 B.C. There are few clues to the history and lifestyle of these early Floridians except tools and other household artifacts unearthed by modern archaeologists. Written records about life in Florida began with the arrival of Spanish explorer and adventurer Juan Ponce de León in 1513.

The Search for the Fountain of Youth

Juan Ponce de León, whom Spain had made Governor of Puerto Rico, was enthralled with tales told by Puerto Rican Indians. They spoke of a land called Bimini to the northwest, where land was abundant with gold and a magical fountain flowed with water, restoring youth to the aged and health to the sick.

Although drawings of the time show Ponce de León as a robust 50-year-old, the adventurous and capitalistic entrepreneur was eager to see these miracles for himself. On March 5, 1512, he set sail with the Santa Maria de la Consolacion and the Santiago . After three weeks of journeying through the Bahamas, he sighted Florida's coast at a point just north of where St. Augustine is today, and on April 2 he landed to claim the country in the name of King Ferdinand V of Spain. He never found Bimini, but was delighted with the tropical paradise he did discover.

Ponce and his crew had celebrated Pascua Florida (the Feast of Flowers, or Easter) aboard ship before sighting land. So, when he arrived in Florida, he prayed, Thanks be to Thee, O Lord, Who hast permitted me to see something new. Then he christened the land in honor of the holiday season - La Florida. The name stuck.

Although he sailed southeast down to the Keys, and up the west coast to Pensacola during a six-month search, Ponce de León never found gold or the fountain of youth. But he returned in 1521 with two shiploads of colonists, horses, cattle, farm tools and seeds to settle the land he would now govern.

Ponce de León and his settlers never found peace in paradise. Florida's Indian natives resented their intrusion and defended their homeland, attacking the Spaniards with stones and arrows. Illness and wounds from Indian battles forced Ponce de León and his entire colony to flee for Cuba after just five months, where the Spanish explorer soon died. His quest had been in vain.

Other Spanish adventurers had heard of La Florida and were eager to colonize it, despite stories of Indian battles. In 1539, Hernando de Soto landed between Fort Myers and Tampa. He traveled north, discovering the Mississippi and fighting with Indian tribes, which eventually led to his death as well.

During his travels, de Soto met Juan Ortiz, a Spanish soldier who had accompanied an earlier explorer named Panfilo de Narvaez into the Panhandle area. Ortiz' reports of his experience with the Indians were detailed, and have provided historians most of what is known about early Florida natives.

Although Spanish explorers discovered neither gold nor fountains of youth, their tales of adventure and discovery spread throughout Europe.

Florida's reputation as a land of riches attracted other nations who wanted their slice of the pie. In 1562, the French dispatched Jean Ribault to establish a colony for religious freedom. Two years later, fellow Frenchman René de Goulaine de Laudonnière established Fort Caroline at the mouth of the St. Johns River, which is near present-day Jacksonville.

The Spanish were furious at this French intrusion, and King Philip promptly commanded Pedro Menendez de Aviles, captain general of the armed fleet, to destroy the French colony. In August 1565, Menendez arrived at a harbor he called San Augustin, and the following month established the first permanent European settlement in what is now the United States.

Menendez and his troops massacred the French, renamed Fort Caroline to San Mateo, and converted it into a Spanish outpost. Spanish missionaries, Jesuit and Franciscan friars, then set about converting the Indians to Christianity, trying to save their heathen souls, amidst all the murder committed by their Spanish leaders in God's name.

Meanwhile, in Europe, the French made plans to avenge the loss of Fort Caroline. Dominique de Gourgues launched an expedition, captured San Mateo and hanged the Spaniards. Triumphant, he returned to France.

England was eager to