buttonwood canal

The canal here is man-made, wildlife is sparse, and the tour is too long for what little you see. If you visit Everglades City on the Gulf Coast and take any boat tours, do not spend your time in Flamingo on this tour -- we were disappointed and bored with this experience after having seen so many birds on the gulf side. To be fair, the Flamingo backwater tour operators are friendly and knowledgeable, but you would do better to take the Florida Bay tour here and then drive to the Gulf Coast entrance to see the mangroves if you can.

My friend and I took the Backwater Tour at the Flamingo center. It lasts about 1.5 hours, and although it is VERY informative and it is nice to see the man-made canal all the way to the Whitewater bay, it is expensive ($30 dollars) and there are a lot of other things to do. If you are more of an active person, I suggest you do a canoe or hiking tour. However, if you just want to sit back and listen to a nice, enthusiastic guide explain about the Everglades, the plants, and the animals, then this tour is for you. It was informative but not over informative, and everything seemed worth knowing. There is a good chance you will see a few birds and a crocodile, but if you want more animals (alligators, snakes, etc.) then do something else. (Note: on the tour they do talk about all the animals, and the difference between alligators and crocodiles, but because of the area of the tour, you're not likely to see many.)

My husband and I took the boat tour with Captain Steve and his wildlife spotter. We saw several crocodiles, alligators, waterfowl, and buzzards but even better were the two bald eagles. Captain Steve was very knowledgeable and I feel like I learned quite a bit from him. I definitely feel it was worth my time and money.

visited the canal which counts both gators and crocs as inhabitants. We took a boat tour up the canal from the marina at Flamingo which was absolutely excellent in viewing and learning about the area as well as the environmental history of the canal.Excellent, informative boat tour and I would highly recommend it to those visiting the area.

The only two times I have seen a wild American Crocodile is the two times I have visited Bottonwood canal. While you can see the canal from the marina or hiking next to it at the bridge, the best way to experience it is getting on it, either boat or kayak. While I have seen good comments form the boaters, I am more partial to kayaking. If you do that I think you get a much better experience, I know I did. I will say that it is probably a better paddle when we were here in March than when I actually did it in May, lots of horseflies and not much breeze. Still I went in to see the crocodiles after spending a couple of hours on Florida Bay and it was an incredible experience. I saw one on the opposite bank and took the kayak to get a little closer for pictures. While small at 6 feet, it was plenty big for me not to want to get any closer than 25 feet. There was a cove in the canal and I did not want to corner an animal that big. Still it was incredible to be that close and in the water. While others have been negative on this attraction, I would highly recommend a paddle on it, especially in winter or early Spring for one reason, Crocodiles.

If you canoe or kayak, be sure you are careful about touching the vegetation along the shoreline. Some of trees are extremely poisoness. One of the few place you can see crocodiles. Not exactly good for birding.

My husband and I were going to canoe the canal but when we got to Flamingo my back was playing up so we took the boat tour. How glad were we ?The tour is very informative and our guide did a fantastic job pointing out stuff we would never have spotted. And we went a long way further than we ever would have in a canoe. You go all along the canal, across Coot Bay, down Tarpon Creek and just to Whitewater Bay - where the salt and fresh water mix. We saw big crocodiles, baby crocodiles, anhingas, lots of egrets, vultures, also he told us a lot about the different kinds of mango trees how they grow etc, poisonous trees, orchids, airplants etc. what we learnt made the Everglades a lot more interesting when we walked the trails later on.He also gave us some history of the park. The manmade buttonwood canal was an environmental disaster which it took the Park 25 years to correct ! I note another reviewer below says you will be bored to death. You won't, believe me. And when you see how hot and unhappy most of the canoeists look you will feel smug, we did !!

This is a protected canal with lots of wildlife and easy canoeing. You can't get lost, but watch out for the poisonous machaneel (sp?) trees!

Need I say more?? Quite exciting. We had been searching for one and when we walked around the canal area we spotted not one but two lazing in the water.

Buttonwood canal is a nice waterway to explore the mangroves, and you'll see the occasional crocodile along the canal banks. This is also the only way to get the canoe/boat campbrounds in the backcountry.DON'T (at risk of being bored to death) take the backcountry boat tours from the Marina. With the price you pay for 2 people, you're better off renting a skiff and exploring it yourself.

Depois de passar por vários parques de observação de aligators e passeios de barco, estávamos em busca de algum lugar com wi fii para comprar a promoção da atração no groupon. Achamos este parque cujo ingresso custava $16 por pessoa (pesquisadamente o mais barato) rs valeu bastante!.mais pelo passeio de "aerobarco" que mesmo sendo barulhento foi bem legal.. aligators msmo só vimos um relativamente grande e vários filhotes.