Florida National Parks: Dry Tortugas & Everglades

I’ve always loved traveling, but in recent years, I’ve really been on a mission to visit our National Parks. There are soooo many amazing places to see in this country and I can’t wait to see more!

Last year for Spring break we went on an EPIC Utah adventure! This year, I wanted to pin a couple more parks on my map, so we settled on two of Florida’s National Parks – Dry Tortugas and the Everglades. Biscayne National Park is also located in Florida, but after a 5hr boat ride roundtrip to the Dry Tortugas, I didn’t want to push my luck with my kids, so we’ll have to save that one for another time.

Dry Tortugas National Park

Here is my honest review: It was just meh.

Here’s why: I think we are a bit spoiled. I think we have seen and done so many awesome things, sometimes it’s hard for other places to live up to those standards. There are only two ways to get to the Dry Tortugas – sea plane or by ferry. The ferry was more cost effective for us as a family of 4, but it’s a really long boat ride (2.5 hrs each way). And unfortunately for us, once we got there, they had one of the beaches closed. That means all the visitors were jammed onto one small beach to snorkel. The snorkeling wasn’t great. My husband and kids didn’t see much, so I didn’t even bother going in. I could have spent more time walking around the fort taking photos, but my kids weren’t all that interested. The boat ride on the way back was rough. The ocean had 4-6ft swells and people were getting sick. It felt like a nonstop rollercoaster. Just take the dramamine, we didn’t get sick, thank God!

All in all, I’m glad we did it, but it was a longggg day. If money isn’t an issue, I’d say take the sea plane!

Everglades National Park

The Everglades are HUGE! And I didn’t get much time in this park. Only a few hours. So I’ll definitely have to return to see other areas (Maybe when I come back to do Biscayne!). We did an airboat tour at the Everglades Alligator farm, which my kids LOVED (highly recommend!); stopped at the sign for some quick photos, and then walked the Anhinga and Gumbo Limbo trails. We saw some real, live, out in the wild alligators along the trail and my day was made! I’d love to come back at some point and check out Flamingo, Shark Valley and maybe also Big Cypress.