The inaugural Lost Shaker of Salt Adventure offered by Margaritaville Travel Adventures in October 2012 was so wildly popular that we are offering three trips during the 2013-2014 season. Margaritaville Travel Adventures, one of Dragonfly Expeditions’ sister companies, is the travel arm of singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville Holdings and allows fans, for the first time ever, to enter the world of Jimmy Buffett through travel. (more…)

When Wynwood started to rise as an emerging neighborhood several years ago – well before its current headline-grabbing hipness – we developed a tour that explored some of the area’s remarkable studios and galleries. But the ongoing transformation of this formerly downtrodden collection of industrial warehouses has warranted a new approach of how we like to show and interpret this district. We therefore decided to launch our new tour “Walking Through Wynwood – An Artistic Revival.” (more…)

Brazilian journalist Christine Engelberg joined us on our famous Everglades Backwater Tour in the fall of 2012. The article she wrote about her experience was published in the March issue of TOP Magazine; click on the photo below and zoom in to read “Miami through Clyde Butcher’s Lenses.” For all non-Portuguese speakers, here is a little summary: As she asks in her article, “How about getting to know Miami from a different perspective than do most of the tourists who visit the city?” Engelberg agrees with Condé Nast Traveler and National Geographic when they recommend the Everglades Backwater Tour as one of the most interesting eco tours available. She considers it an excellent option if you want to learn about the biodiversity of this wild ecosystem. The cypress trees and wild birds made Engelberg feel in touch with nature while trekking through the swamp. Impressed by the beauty of Clyde Butcher’s photography, which she viewed in the Big Cypress Gallery as part of the tour, she chose one of his images to illustrate the article.

What do alligators, bacon-wrapped Oreos, and hillbillies have in common? They were all part of my weekend canoe trip down the Ocklawaha River near Ocala, FL. Exploring Florida’s waterways is part of my continuing discovery of the Sunshine State. I encountered my first alligator while kayaking on the “wild and scenic” Loxahatchee River, I helped locals clear trash from the mangroves in Biscayne Bay, I celebrated my first Florida Fourth of July by swimming in the Atlantic, and I experienced the Gulf by catamaran. Last month I had the opportunity to canoe an 18-mile portion of the Ocklawaha River.

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The Travel Channel recently aired a special about the Everglades called “Park Secrets” in which they featured our popular Miccosukee Indian Heritage Airboat Tour. Appearing in the short clip is John Tigertail, a long time friend and partner of Dragonfly Expeditions. His family of the Miccosukee’s Panther Clan takes our guests via airboat to a hunting camp and a family camp. Participants explore the two tree islands, learn about the Miccosukee way of life, and have a chance to see and interact with the various animals (like alligators and turtles) kept on the islands for release. Charles Kropke, also speaking in this segment, brings up the little-known fact that the Everglades is not actually a swamp, but an immense, slow-flowing river. Click the image above to watch the Travel Channel clip!

If I had to describe Jhon Garcia in one word, that word would be “worldly.” Jhon is Colombian and grew up in the Andes Mountains, thousands of feet above sea level and far from any ocean. But instead of on ancient sediments, his current home now sits on the sandy soil of South Florida. After living in Bogotá, Columbia where he worked in the ecotourism industry, Jhon originally moved to Florida to study anthropology, a science that allows him to combine his many passions, at FIU. He also studied art and music in a local conservatory, the New World School of the Arts. Jhon plays two Andean instruments, a type of flute called a quena and a small guitar made from an armadillo shell called a charango. In 2011 he produced his own album with a few local musicians. After living in the US for many years, Jhon feels that most artistic forms of the western hemisphere resonate within him.

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This past March, just on the front side of the insanely-busy portion of our corporate tour season, I was presented with an opportunity to help out a friend and her adorable family and to disconnect from the stress of phone calls, texts, and emails. She was looking for someone to help them sail their CSY 44′ sailboat from Islamorada in the Florida Keys to Fresh Creek on Andros Island in the Bahamas. The biggest challenge facing us was not only to cross the Gulf Stream – but to do it with two children under two years old on board!  My official title was “First Mate/Nanny.” The family was familiar with the environment because they live on the boat, but it would be the first time crossing the Gulf Stream for the kids and for me. Especially during the winter months, strong northern winds can make it difficult to cross the south-to-north-flowing Gulf Stream. (more…)

As those of us who live in the Miami-Dade area are well aware, each and every one of the neighborhoods that make up Miami has its own special flavor. Quaint Coral Gables could not be more different than saucy Little Havana, laid-back Coconut Grove, or sexy South Beach. Dragonfly Expeditions’ city tour, Miami Magic City Bus and Walking Tour, introduces guests to several of Miami’s communities and shares the stories behind each neighborhood’s drastically different development. Paul De Windt, publisher of a newspaper called The Daily Herald, joined us on a city tour last September. The Daily Herald, which is distributed in several places throughout the Dutch Caribbean, featured De Windt’s article in the “Business, Culture, & Leisure” section. De Windt’s work provides a snapshot of each area to which he was exposed during his visit to Miami. In addition, his closing sentence evinces the fact that our tour clearly imparts a true sense of place to a visitor, which is one of Dragonfly Expeditions’ most sought-after goals. Keep reading to see De Windt’s article.

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At the beginning of this year I came across an article in the Miami Herald describing a “Hike to the Big Trees” in the Big Cypress National Preserve.  This ranger-guided trip is offered by the National Park Service only a few times a year, so Charles and I rushed to get a spot on the last available trek in early March.  Neither one of us had been on the southernmost section of the Florida Trail before, where the hike took place. This aspect and the possibility of seeing some of the remaining giant cypress trees that had escaped the logging period of the 1920s to the 1950s were highly intriguing to us. We gathered with 15 fellow hikers at the Oasis Visitor Center and the weather conditions turned to be out ideal for this venture. The sky remained overcast and I didn’t sweat a single drop the entire day – a rare occasion in the Florida wilderness! Contrary to the temperature, the state of the trail was much more challenging. (more…)

On the right-hand side of our monthly newsletter is a list of organizations we are proud to call partners. These companies and organizations are either Dragonfly Expeditions’ sister companies or local not-for-profit organizations that we support financially, with our time, and in other ways. One of these is The Nature Conservancy (TNC), an incredibly successful environmental organization that is dedicated to protecting endangered landscapes around the globe. We donated one of our most popular activities – the Everglades Backwater Tour – to The Nature Conservancy of Florida as the prize in their 2013 sweepstakes. (more…)