(Sidebar story "Gator Grub: Florida Town Provides Unique Eating" follows this story)



CLEWISTON, Fl. -- Vacationing in Florida for many people usually means beaches and/or Disney World, but there is a cornucopia of adventures to be found in the Lake Okeechobee area of South Central Florida.

Along with the fun comes an ecological education that is priceless.

Driving east on U. S. Highway 27 here you will find Clewiston, a charming little town which butts right up against sprawling Lake Okeechobee, the second largest freshwater lake in the U. S.

There is a diversity of natural products produced around Lake Okeechobee, with tens of thousands of acres of sugar cane fields and citrus groves -- and, of course, palms.

Clewiston is known as "the sweetest city in America," highlighted by such firms as the U. S. Sugar Refinery and the Southern Gardens citrus plant.

A Sugarland tour is the best way to learn the historical roots of Clewiston, chew some sugar cane and sample the citrus.

Visitors can see the entire sugar process, from the field to the retailer. Tours begin at 10 a.m. weekdays and cost $30 per person (which includes lunch at the Clewiston Inn).

Contact the Clewiston Chamber of Commerce at 863-983-7979 or toll free at 877-693-4372 for information.

Tourists can golf, swim or hike -- and a favorite for bicyclists is the 120-mile National Scenic Trail around the entire lake on the Herbert Hoover Dike.

Lake Okeechobee is regarded by many as the premier largemouth bass fishing spot in the world, hosting more than 20 professional tournaments a year.

Visitors can ride through the bulrushes by hopping onto fan-powered airboats, seeing huge alligators up close and personal along the headwaters of Lake Okeechobee. Keep your camera ready, for great shots of eagles, osprey diving for fish and pelicans on the tree tops.

The Big O airboat tours are based at Roland and Mary Ann Martin's Marine and Resort (phone 800-473-6766), a fun place to end the day exchanging fish stories and eating yummy catfish.

Man working with nature provides a livelihood and recreation for residents and visitors -- with a sweet business to be in is the Harold P. Curtis Honey Co. in LaBelle, a few miles west of Clewiston on Highway 27. A tour of the operations and a story of its beginning is offered while watching bees in a glass-covered hive will peak your interest.

If you want to laze the time away on a relaxed two-hour scenic and informational cruise then take the Coconut Woman, a 49-passenger catamaran on Lake Okeechobee, with its abundance of wildlife, birds and ubiquitous alligators. Afterwards, lunch at Roland and Mary Ann Martin's Tiki Bar fills the bill. Tour prices start at $37 and trips are available six days a week (toll free 877-693-4372).

It may surprise some to know that the cattle business is quite a large industry in this part of Florida. The cow-calf operations here supply one-third of the beef east of the Mississippi River. They are raised to 700-800 pounds and then shipped to the west and midwest states to be fed to maturity.

In Clewiston the Hilliard Ranch has 97,000 acres for cattle, sugar cane and citrus. There are also catfish farmers in the area.

It is quite a treat on an early morning trip to see cowboys appear out of the steamy morning mist, tending their herd. It's like a step back in time.

An eco-tour is excitement for the whole family at Billie Swamp Safari.

You can take a swamp buggy through the edge of the Everglades.

On Big Cypress Seminole Reservation you can see abundant native wildlife, including deer, wild hogs, bison and antelope -- all grazing together.

A rustic camping village has native-style chickees for overnight stays and to share Seminole folklore and legends. For reservations: 800-949-6101.

The Ah-Tah-Thi-Ki Seminole Tribe Museum is a fine example of early Seminole life on the reservation in Clewiston.

So, pack up and leave the big city life for a step back in tim, but the Seminoles ask that you "please leave only your footprints behind for the next generation." Slow your pace and enjoy what nature has to offer. It is truly a wonderful gift to us all.

GATOR GRUB:
Florida Town Offers Unique Eating

By Emilia Beth Mink

PALMDALE, Fla. -- "The Very Best Tail Anywhere," boasts Gatorama of Palmdale
That's no crock, either.
Farm-raised alligator meat tastes just like chicken. Yep, it does.
No one should mind being called "gator breath" after eating blackened gator, fried gator tail or sauteed in garlic sauce gator, or even gator ribs and a side order of swamp cabbage pickles.
Down in Gator Country, they just call that "good fixins."
Visitors can not only get an inside look at the gator business here, but they can try out a variety of gator food dishes as well.
The alligator industry is a thriving business at Gatorama, owned and operated by Allen and Patty Register and their son, Ben.
After a 60-70 day incubation period, the gator eggs are gathered from the waterside nests in late June (not just another day at the office kind of job). The hatchling gators are then put in a "grow-out" house where they live for two years. Then they are ready for the market.
The farm produces about a thousand alligators a year. The hides bring about $125 (unblemished) and the alligator tails sell for $50 for a five-pound package. Ribs go for $30 for a three-pound package. There is a five-pound minimum purchase, (plus $25 for an overnight in--state shipping charge and $40 out-of-state if needed).
Keeping up with demand has been quite a chore inasmuch as a 5-foot gator yields only about seven pounds of meat.
Visitors should be sure to see Goliath, the killer crocodile (he's amazingly huge). Or, you can even hold an alligator (a little one to be sure). They are surprisingly smooth-skinned.
It's not a well-known fact but the alligator business is one of Florida's healthiest resources -- ranking alongside cattle, citrus, sugar cane and, of course, tourism.
Many families make it a special day by taking a picnic lunch at Gatorama.
The gastronomical delights at the Gator Hammock Restaurant in nearby Felda far surpasses most expectations. Various gator dishes are their specialty.
Using his own homemade sauces, Buddy Taylor marinates ribs and chicken (he also grills and smokes them for his friends at a retreat at his home).
Friends kept telling him, "Buddy, you ought to bottle this stuff and sell it," and so he now does, ever since 1989, when his restaurant opened.
Buddy has displayed a natural culinary talent and has created several original tasty products, including his gator sauce, swamp mustard, swamp cabbage pickles, swamp salsa and swamp berry dam jam.
Buddy has a "sausy business" that keeps him busy shipping orders across the country To order, write Gator Hammock, PO Box 360, Felda, Fl., 33930. For a list of his products call 800-66GATOR. One of their specials is a dozen bottles for $39.95.
If you are in this neck of the woods and want some original Florida home cooking you might want to check out Ella's Restaurant in nearby LaBelle. Ella and her sister, Flora, opened the restaurant in 1933 and members of the fourth generation of their families still run it today. Their menu is guaranteed to satisfy even a lumberjack-size appetite.
Liver and onions, blackeyed peas and rice, steak, etc., or just a bowl of hot, steamy homemade soup are among the offerings. The locals will tell you the restaurant's fried green tomatoes and homemade pies are hard to surpass. Large portions are a trademark of the restaurant.
Florida has long been a family vacation mecca and the wonderful surprises about this diverse state keep us coming back for more.

This story was published on 10 Sep 2005.