Meeting in Florida is not just a job. It’s an adventure waiting to happen. Surrounded by water, crisscrossed by inland waterways and trimmed in green parklands and forests, the Sunshine State is really just one big surf-and-turf panorama of outdoor recreation where attendees will have a field day once the meeting’s over.
“There’s a ton of nature-based outdoor activities within the state of Florida, and we can do this kind of thing year-round,” says Nick Gandy, a spokesperson for Tallahassee-based Florida Sports Foundation, the official sports promotion and development organization for the state of Florida.
Golf, fishing, boating, diving, hiking and exploring state parks are among the pastimes promoted by the Florida Sports Foundation, all made possible, Gandy notes, by the state’s unique topography.
“There are several different types of nature settings that you can find just by traveling a relatively short distance,” he says. “You have the coastline and coastal-type places, and then you have your inland places, with a lot of pine trees, trails and woods, plus you’ve got your canals, mangroves and marshes, all within two hours from one side of the peninsula to the other.”
Making Waves
The numbers say it all: 2,200 miles of coastline, more than 10,000 miles of rivers and streams, and 7,700 lakes greater than 10 acres. And that’s not even counting the ocean. The Sunshine State is all wet, and visitors love it.
True, for some the water merely serves as a backdrop for sunbathing or dining, but so much more than a good view is waiting in Florida.
“When people think of the beach, they think of just laying in the sun or frolicking in the surf, but on any coastline in Florida, there are plenty of charter fishing boats, tour boats and that kind of thing,” Gandy says.
Indeed, the Florida shore is lined with marinas offering watercraft rentals of every kind, from waverunners and windsurfing boards to pleasure boats and speed boats to sailboat charters and luxury yachts complete with crew, champagne and caviar. Innumerable sightseeing boats cruising the ocean and Intracoastal Waterway will steer you and your group past city skylines and toward fascinating points of interest while serving lunch, dinner or cocktails.
If you’d prefer a naturescape to a cityscape, try one of the daily guided boat trips from Everglades National Park Boat Tours into the mangrove estuaries of the Ten Thousand Islands section of the park. Or how’s this for a true off-site venue: renting a houseboat and cruising down Florida’s placid, historic Suwannee River, part of a network of inland waterways connecting the Atlantic side to Gulf side and perfect for those who want to relax and go with the flow.
“On the inland rivers and streams, you see a lot of canoe and kayaking opportunities that you really can’t do in the Gulf or ocean because it’s too rough,” Gandy notes. “Even tubing is a big activity. You just lay in a tube and let the river carry you down at its own pace.”
There’s no need for a motorboat in these environments, and you wouldn’t want one because it would scare the animals away, especially in places like the Wilderness Waterway, connecting Everglades City and Flamingo on Florida’s southwest coast, or St. Johns River, which stretches from Indian River County, wraps around Seminole County—where it widens into Lake Monroe, a favorite for boating and fishing—continues northward through Ocala National Forest then eastward to the Atlantic. These fragile ecosystems sustain hundreds of birds, playful otters and elusive creatures like the manatee.
By all means, though, feel free to floor it if you like, on an exhilarating airboat ride through the Everglades or across one of thousands of lakes, including enormous Lake Tohopekaliga in Central Florida.
Take a Hike
Back on dry land, adventure is just warming up in the Sunshine State, whose trails and hiking paths showcase the state’s incredible natural diversity, from the tropical hammocks of the Keys to the pine forests of Northwest Florida, and from elevations below sea level to 345 feet above. To make the trek easier, the Gainesville-based Florida Trail Association has mapped 1,400 miles of continuous trail, and the entire system encompasses more than 1,800 miles of hiking trails.
Meanwhile, scores of state and national parks and forests offer hiking trails—some gentle, some challenging—that take visitors into the heart of the subtropical wilderness. Big Shoals, Blackwater River, Lake George, Seminole and Withlacoochee are just a few of the state forests with trailheads and hiking loops.
If your group happens to visit during late November, you might think about joining the annual Big O Hike, a 110-mile walk around Lake Okeechobee. The hike takes place over nine days, but many people just join the group for a day or two.
“Big O” is also the site of an annual spring birding festival. In fact, dedicated birders know that Florida is like a gigantic aviary for feathered creatures of all kinds, from the rare Florida burrowing owl and scrub jay to the state’s wealth of wading birds, as well as the colorful species that migrate seasonally.
You can give your group a memorable taste of Florida’s unique ecological communities by spending a few hours on the self-guided Great Florida Birding Trail, a program created by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
