Dragonfly Expeditions searches for the best candidates to act as guides.  We are proud to have among our leaders: published environmental and historical authors, renowned photographers, archaeologists, professors, journalists, biologists, ecologists, entomologists, botanists and historians.  A general theme within our family is volunteer work and activism.  In the past, volunteer groups gathered and hauled 2 dump truck loads of trash out of the Burns Lake area in the Everglades and volunteered annually at Clyde Butcher’s Labor Day Muckabouts to support the Big Cypress Preserve. Over the last three years, our guides and staff have been extensively involved in clearing invasive exotic vegetation and foreign debris and replacing them with mangroves and buttonwoods in the gardens of the Vizcaya Museum and Gardens.

One of Dragonfly Expeditions’ tours (more…)

Between May and July of 2010, Dragonfly Expeditions hosted a total of seven familiarization trips in and around Miami.  Three of them were held in conjunction with airlines that have added flights to Miami International Airport: May 22^nd (Aireuropa with fifteen guests), June 4^th (Air France with seven guests) and June 19^th (Corsairfly with forty-five guests).  We are confident that the unique journeys we provided are increasing interest in the destination South Florida (more…)

Dragonfly Expeditions was recently honored by Salzburger Nachrichten, an Austrian daily newspaper, in regards to one of our most popular tours, the Cuban Heritage Tour.  In May, Charles and Uwe provided the experience for a group of media representatives hosted in Miami by Thomas Cook and Condor Airlines. The following article appeared in the June 19^th, 2010 publication.

Click the image below to read the article in its entirety:

(more…)

What motivates a guy, born in Maryland of mixed German, Irish, Russian, Norwegian (no Latin)-descent to write a passionate tour on the Cuban heritage of Miami?  I can accurately pinpoint the kernel of this idea to a specific source in a specific year.  In July of 1973, National Geographic published an article entitled “Cuba’s Exiles Bring New Life to Miami” about how the Cuban migration was changing the face of Miami.  It was probably a back-issue of National Geographic because the timing would have meant that I was only 9 years old when it was published and I don’t want to encourage the idea that I was any kind of child prodigy.  My mother would take us to a used book store in downtown Fort Myers, Florida and I would pour through old editions of National Geographic and pick out the ones that interested me.  This article didn’t interest me, it fascinated me.  ( I still have this issue of National Geographic today and for any of you writers or journalists reading this, please note what a tremendous impact the written word can have on an individual or on the world at large).   Anyway, back to our story. (more…)

A friend needs our help and I am making a strident appeal to anyone who is willing to rally with me around his cause.  I don’t want to infer that this friend asked for my help, he did not.  The friend is Gene Prescott, President of the Seaway Group which owns the Biltmore Hotel under a long term lease with the City of Coral Gables.

After another operator went bankrupt in the late 1980’s trying to revive this once endangered treasure, his Seaway Group stepped in under the same negotiated terms with the city and did a second restoration.  The hotel reopened in 1992.  Back then his accomplishment was hailed as heroic and he has remained a success in the ensuing 18 years.

It has become apparent that the deal that the Seaway Group inherited from the previous operators has never been the most attractive deal.  In good times, it seemed to be workable.  In times like the ones we have been experiencing the past couple of years, it is implausible. The Biltmore is an old building. It needs special attention.  It is easy to see from the condition of the property that Seaway has provided it with that special attention.  The market for the hotel has some natural challenges.  It is not on the beach or downtown.  It is not large enough for the bigger corporate conventions. It is in the heart of residential Coral Gables.

Nevertheless, the hotel has persevered under Seaway Group’s stewardship. It has always been (more…)

The time has come for all who love the Florida Everglades and wish to see its ecosystems repaired, to take a stand.  The Everglades Skyway, an admittedly expensive proposal with two powerful benefits to Southern Florida, is at a crossroads.  The skyway (bridge), which is designed to provide a breathtaking view of the Everglades while simultaneously allowing water to flow underneath unimpeded, is engineered to reconnect the great Shark Valley Slough.  The reconnection will restore a more normal flow of water to the parched Southern Glades.  This major component of the Everglades restoration plan will undo some of the damage (more…)

In the summer of 2008 Charles and Uwe were honored to write an article about Dragonfly Expeditions and the subject of ecotourism for Natural Living Magazine.  This article takes our mission and philosophy one step further along with some excellent visuals of our tours…

Click the image below to read the article in its entirety:

(If you can not view the .pdf, you may need to Download Adobe Reader)

If you wish to find out more about our tours or helping out on volunteer opportunities please check out our Facebook page, tweets or contact us!

Among the many changes in the corporate meetings market, one of the most significant has been the greater emphasis of both planners and clients on the ROI of dollars spent on meetings. Despite the fact that many meetings are being held in outdoors-oriented South Florida, the still lingering “AIG effect” in many cases “locks” groups into conference rooms with back-to-back sessions, barely allowing participants a glimpse of the outside world during business hours.

The notable exceptions seem to be activities that can be classified as teambuilding, to eliminate any appearance of corporate get-togethers as junkets.  Dragonfly Expeditions is reacting to the increased demand for these kinds of activities.  The most commonly sold option this season has been our successful Historic South Beach Scavenger Hunt.  This hunt can be done for groups (more…)

Jim Martin is a man of many talents which leads Dragonfly Expeditions to call on him as a guide ever more frequently as the company grows.  Imbued with an extraordinary natural enthusiasm and an ability to make just about anyone he encounters take an immediate liking to him, Jim backs up his persona with dedicated research and a love of Florida and its storied history.  Born in Boardman, Ohio sometime deep into the last century, (besides this fact being “technically” correct, Jim also hopefully has a sense of humor) young Jim was surrounded by people who in some way or another were involved in nearby Youngstown’s mighty steel industry.  Despite encroaching development, Jim has childhood memories of (more…)

Partnering with the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau (GMCVB) and Experience Florida, Dragonfly Expeditions offered four tours to visiting members of the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA) during their early April “Education Foundation Partnership Summit” at the Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort and Club in Aventura, Florida. (more…)