A Boat Tour of the Okefenokee Swamp

Hey, RVers, we are camping in the swamp, the Okefenokee Swamp to be exact, which is about 438,000 acres that sits in between the Florida/Georgia line. We took the kids out on a boat tour the other day. Here's what we saw. We're headed out on the Suwannee River on a boat tour that launches from the Stephen C. Foster State Park. We'll head through a shallow canal, first, that takes us out to slightly deeper waters, but most of the Okefenokee Swamp is fairly shallow, ranging from 2 to 10 feet deep. It's actually the largest blackwater swamp in North America. Our tour guide is full of great tidbits about the area, but our little tour guide, Riley, has her own sights to point out. I see pretty green leaves and it's all part of the swamp. The 90-minute boat ride has a few stops to look out into vast vegetation and check out wildlife below. Hi, guys. There's just some pretty little small fishy down here. See? No sir, they are not. They're very little. Now snake heads are. They're kind of camouflaged, but they're all going in a little line, and it looks like they're all a little school. Cypress trees are prevalent in these low-lying spots. Their unique root system helps them thrive in such murky water. Speaking of which, you might wonder why the water is so dark. We learned that, as vegetation in the swamp dies, it breaks down in the water, which gives it its rust color. And this murky shallow water is the perfect living condition for alligators just like this one. So that alligator, it's pretty unusual to see some alligators just laying there. What do you guys think? Is it unusual or is it usual? After seeing a few unusual creatures, we stopped the boat to explore another unusual, but common, sight in the swamp, floating islands of peat moss just like this. Wow. Come on, harder, harder. Part of the tour includes poking the peat with an oar. No matter how hard you push, these masses of moss pop right back up. The Native Americans actually refer to this area as trembling earth because of the unstable swamp ground created by peat. Soon, we're on our way back to the main office of the state park, but now we know a little more about our surroundings. This quick affordable boat tour is a main attraction here at Stephen C. Foster State Park, and a must-do if you're in the area.