Located in West Broward, this area offers access to the Water Conservation area for fishing and wildlife viewing. The canals are straight. You can paddle into the airboat areas (the not-so-straight dark areas on the aerial map), which are a bit more scenic. The entrance to the airboat areas are overgrown with cow lillies (Spatterdocks), which keeps the motorboats out. The airboats are pretty noisy , with a trip leaving every 30 minutes or so and plenty of private airboats on nice weekend days. This is the best spot in South Florida for finding purple gallinules that I know of.
Directions: Take I-95, I-75 or the Turnpike to Griffin Road, head west, cross US-27, and when you can't go any further you're there.
Entrance fee/parking: Free
Facilities: Gift shop, tackle shop and restrooms. Skiff rentals are available. They cater to fishermen and tourists coming for the airboat rides.
Put-in/Take-out: There are several boat ramps, but there is a small floating dock for fishing that's probably the easiest spot to put in. You can park right next to the put-in area.
Route: A dam blocks the canal going east, but you can take any of the 3 canals. The middle one has a small dike built up on the sides, so there's more wildlife to see. The other 2 are mainly cattails and sawgrass.
Wildlife: Alligators, purple gallinules, herons, egrets, turtles. Peacocks stroll around the gift shop.
Maps from Mapquest.com
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