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BOAT TOURS
WITH ROOKERY BAY RESERVE
Explore this unique ecosystem via small boat tours that offer theme. All tours provide a chance to see a diversity of native wildlife
an up-close and personal experience. With a maximum of six and offer a comfortable platform for photography. Tours include free
passengers these on-the-water adventures are the only Rookery admission to the Environmental Learning Center on day of trip and
Bay tours actually conducted by Reserve staff. The relaxed pace proceeds support the non-profit Friends of Rookery Bay, Inc. Offered
and emphasis on learning is designed to help visitors develop a every Tuesday through Friday until May. Pre-registration is required
true sense of place and a deeper connection to this unique coastal at www.rookerybay.org/calendar. Cost is $109, includes same day
wilderness. Several different trips are available, each with a different admission to the Environmental Learning Center.
Essence of Estuary Boat Tour sights, sounds and sensations of night in a mangrove-forested
Offered 2 – 5 p.m. Nov. 8, 10, 18, 23, 28 and Dec. 21, 26. estuary. If the tide permits, you will ease by the rookery island
where hundreds of herons, egrets and ibis gather for the night.
Have you ever visited a place with the hope you might come Participants must have the physical ability to step down into, and
away with a profound understanding of its essence rather than just up from, the boat at a dock.
a snapshot? This tour is designed to “get you there.” You will drift
through the bays and backwaters of Rookery Bay Reserve, learning High Points Boat Tour
about plants and animals, but more importantly, how they fit into Offered 2 – 5 p.m. Nov. 16, 29 and
the complex tapestry of this special place we call an estuary. Bring Dec. 15, 30.
your curiosity and be rewarded with discovery and insight. You will
journey back in time and learn how human history and natural history Come along on this small
intersect. Your guide adapts the tour to changes in weather, tides, and boat cruise through back bays
participants’ interests so no two tours are ever the same. Participants and winding creeks to visit a
will be on the boat the entire time and must have the physical ability particularly unusual place in
to step on and off of the boat at our dock. Rookery Bay Reserve. After
disembarking, take a short hike to one of the highest points in
Life’s A Beach Boat Tour Collier County, an ancient sand dune relic from the Pleistocene
Offered 2 – 5 p.m. Nov. 9, 22, 25, and Era. Your naturalist guide will help you see and appreciate the
Dec. 9, 20, 22. geologic history of Sand Hill as you enjoy the remarkable view.
You will also learn about the specially adapted trees, shrubs and
This tour provides an opportunity wildflowers that survive in this coastal scrub ecosystem. This
to explore Keewaydin Island, a natural, tour allows guests the opportunity to experience a place few
living barrier island with an incredible visitors get to see. Participants must have the physical ability to
diversity of life and some of the best get into and out of a boat tied to shore.
shelling in Florida. Stroll the beach with your naturalist guide and learn
about all the things you are seeing: specially adapted native plants, Treasure Island Boat Tour
gastropods, bivalves, crustaceans, corals, sea squirts, snails, sponges, Offered 2 – 5 p.m. Nov. 17, Dec. 16,
worms, fishes, birds, reptiles, and more. This island is a wonderful 23, 28.
example of the life and death reality of plants and animals “living on
the edge”. Also included is a leisurely cruise through the Rookery The treasure on this
Bay mangrove estuary, one of the richest and most productive interesting island isn’t gold, silver
ecosystems on the planet. Participants must have the physical ability or pirates’ booty. It is the amazing
to step down into, and up from, the boat at a dock. Closed-toed shoes ecological treasure of a rare
are recommended for the walk across the island (and can be removed tropical hardwood hammock.
on the beach). You will enjoy a leisurely boat trip through the estuary to the
island, disembark, and hike about 1/2 mile on a primitive trail in a
Sunset to Starlight Cruise shaded forest dripping with ferns and bromeliads. Your naturalist
Offered 4 – 7 p.m. Nov. 12, 13, 14 and Dec. 11, 12, 13. guide will introduce you to the fascinating plants that make this
community of life unique and will share interesting stories of how
This one-of-a-kind tour takes place in the evening and is often human history and coastal ecology intertwine. This tour requires
(but not always) around the time of the full moon. Guests will visit the physical ability to step down into, and up from, the boat at a
a remote section of Keewaydin Island, renowned for its shell-strewn dock and walk 1/2 mile on uneven terrain.
beaches and pastel sunsets. Stroll along and enjoy beachcombing
until the magical moment when the sun sinks into the Gulf. As
darkness gradually enfolds you, begin the leisurely return cruise
through the back bays of the reserve, becoming immersed in the
70 Life in Naples | November 2016
