You'll get a sticker reading "I Gave at Everglades National Park," but it doesn't refer to the money you can shell out for a room here. It's something a little more sinister: all the blood you gave to the mosquitoes during your stay, that is, if you forget to put on the bug spray. It means giving your blood to mosquitoes when you stay at the Flamingo Lodge next summer for their "Everglades Survivalist Getaway."
However, the Flamingo Lodge is returning with a perennial favorite, its "Everglades Survivalist Getaway" that offers the bargain price of $69 (plus taxes) a night for a room at the lodge, as well as two mosquito head nets, two one-liter bottles of water, and a bottle of "Everglades-strength" mosquito repellant. The deal is for the warm-weather months of May through October, 2003, when wildlife is at its most abundant.
Another of the lodge's bargains is "Discover Your Everglades Special," running from April 1 through 25, 2003, with blackout dates of April 17-21, 2003. This package costs just $209 plus tax for two persons, and includes two nights in the lodge, two seats aboard the Bald Eagle for a 90-minute Florida Bay cruise, two seats aboard the Pelican for a backcountry cruise, and breakfast buffets in the Flamingo Restaurant for two each morning. You can also get this package for a family of four (two adults and two children) for $247 plus tax.
The Flamingo Lodge & Marina is the only lodging facility within the 1.5 million-acre Everglades National Park, one of the most lush and wildlife-packed parks in North America. It's the largest mangrove ecosystem in the Western Hemisphere, a subtropical wilderness of saw grass prairie and mangrove forests, sheltering more than 2,000 species of plants. The animal life includes the endangered American crocodile, alligators, otter, bobcats, deer and a wide variety of fish.
Fishermen take note: an "Angler's Special" is available during the months of April and November, 2003, during which you can get a lodge room and a bag of ice for $69 plus tax. (Blackout periods apply during the Easter and Thanksgiving holidays.) In September and October, the 'Snook Season Special" is also for amateur Izaak Waltons. This package includes a one-night stay in a lodge room and continental breakfast. The cost is $49 plus tax per person for a lodge room and $59 plus tax per person for a cottage.
To book rooms, visit www.flamingolodge.com or call 800/600-3813 or 239/695-3101.
