The Gulf Coast Visitor Center is located 5 miles south of Highway 41 (Tamiami Trail) on State Road 29, in Everglades City, along the west coast of Florida and the Chokoloskee Bay.

The visitor center offers educational displays, orientation films, informational brochures, and backcountry permits.  Boat tours and canoe rentals are available.  Restaurants, stores, lodging and campgrounds are located nearby.

Much of the shore is covered with a green algae.

Tiny crab holes rise above the sand.

Mangroves lit by the setting sun, with a cloud reflecting off the water.

Just one of the “Ten Thousand Islands,” which the National Park Service describes as “a maze of mangrove islands and waterways that extends to Flamingo and Florida Bay.”

A graceful pelican sails just a few feet above the water.

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