Garl Harrold insists that since moving to South Florida in 1999, he has taken more excursions into the wilds of Everglades National Park than anyone.
"I spend more time there than I do at home," said the owner of Garl's Coastal Kayaking, who was once part of a team hired by former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash to construct an elaborate snake cage winding through the rocker's Los Angeles homes.
These days, most of Harrold's encounters with snakes take place in the Everglades, where they reside among neighbors that include crocodiles, alligators, panthers and a colorful variety of wading birds and where he runs half- and full-day excursions.
Despite its name, Garl's Coastal Kayaking is far more than a paddling concession. But perhaps that's fitting, since the Everglades themselves are far more than they are often thought to be in the popular imagination.
Sure, the 1.5-million-acre park has plenty of snakes as well as mosquitoes and alligators. But the world's most famous wetland is actually a mosaic of eight distinct ecosystems, their existence determined by the interchange of freshwater and saltwater and by elevation changes of just a couple feet or less.
Everglades National Park is home to 67 endangered or threatened plant and animal species, and more than 350 bird species have been seen in the skies above.
On a standard daylong tour, Harrold or one of his guides shows off an impressively wide sampling of these offerings.
Once, during a single full-day trip with Garl's, I waded through shallow water into a stunning dome of cypress trees; paddled a bewildering freshwater maze of sawgrass and mangrove; walked into the soggy marshes in search of snakes and other wildlife; paddled the shallow shoreline of the Florida Bay estuary; and, finally, did a night walk on the park's Anhinga Trail boardwalk, where Harrold used a flashlight to show off frogs, spotted orb spiders and much more.
"You haven't lived until you've taken this trip," one of the other tour participants said to me when it had ended.
This type of excursion may sound like it's only for the hard-core outdoorsman, but it's not. The woman who made that comment was a middle-aged mom, visiting South Florida with her husband and two middle school-age children.
Harrold recently spent time over more than two years guiding a National Geographic cinematographer deep into the Everglades, but his company's bread and butter is a combination of families and adventure travelers, and he and his guides vary the itinerary according to the makeup of the group.
During my few trips into the Everglades with Garl's, I've seen an alligator in the dry season, lounging in a watering hole it had dug under a cypress dome. Harrold has taken me to see the resident massive crocodile of the park's Nine Mile Pond. And I've seen lemon sharks and bottlenose dolphins while paddling through Florida Bay.
Most impressive, however, were the hundreds of wading birds I've seen, such as roseate spoonbills, great white herons and snowy egrets, feeding on the shallow mud flats of the bay. Catch the tide perfectly and there is just enough water covering those flats to make the birds look as if they are levitating on the glassy water.
I never joined Harrold on his National Geographic research, but I certainly felt like I had.
In addition to Everglades trips, Garl's Coastal Kayaking offers paddling and snorkeling excursions along the mangrove shorelines of Key Largo. Full-day Everglades tours are priced at $150 per adult and $125 per child. Group rates are available.
Garl's pays 10% commission on travel agent bookings. Visit www.garlscoastalkayaking.com.