Sights and sounds of the swamp

On Monday, she found it in a swamp.

"We've been trying to find an activity that would appeal to both and this is perfect," she said.

Cardenuto was one of nearly 30 hospitality workers invited to a swamp walk and canoe trip through Big Cypress National Preserve, in an area off U.S. 41 halfway between Naples and Miami.

The tour was organized by Big Cypress Visitor Center and the Greater Naples Marco Island Everglades Convention and Visitors Bureau for front desk staff, management, activities directors and ecotour operators in Collier County to experience firsthand the Everglades ecosystem.

Although Cardenuto was happy to find a destination spot for her guests, she wasn't quite prepared for the swamp walk that took her thigh-deep in water. Looking ahead to more wading and tree-branch obstacles, she jokingly pleaded for an alternate route.

"Oh man, can't we just swing through the trees somehow?" she cried.

Later, to the group's guide, she said: "Is this where you send the airboat to come get us?"

Isobel Kalafarski led a group of the hospitality workers through mud and muck, pausing to talk about cypress trees, point out strangler figs and flowers, and to show where panthers have their babies. Kalafarski leads three tours a week during the winter months. The weather and mosquitoes keep most people out of the preserve in summer.

Canoe trips through Big Cypress take visitors under cypress trees decked with Spanish moss and through mangrove tunnels lined with bromeliads and orchids. Canoeists spot alligators, occasionally a panther, and they see wading birds such as storks, egrets and herons.

"So many people from Naples don't know what we have down here," said Lisa Andrews, outreach education specialist at the Big Cypress Visitor Center.

Monday's familiarization tour was the first for the preserve, which covers 729,000 acres. The tour was so success ful, Andrews said she'd like to hold another in the spring.

Reaching dry land after two hours of wading, the swamp walkers were ready to wash off. Kim Woodyard pulled off sopping socks to reveal her dirty feet.

"There goes that pedicure," she said, smiling and throwing her socks in a trash can.

Woodyard, director of sales for Staybridge Suites by Holiday Inn, said she took part in the tour because her guests expect her to have an idea of what to do that's fun and close by.

"They rely on you for guidance, so you don't want to steer them wrong."

Tours can be arranged by calling Big Cypress Visitor Center at 695-1201. The center is under construction, building a boardwalk for alligator-viewing and a new restroom building and parking area.