Trees with legs, a big pink bird that eats with a spoon, and crabs with three eyes but no claws. Who made up this place, anyway? Dr. Seuss? Try Mother Nature--at her most whimsical and flamboyant. This place is Florida, and no, you're not at a theme park. Florida still has enough natural green space around to offset man's attempts at improving upon it. Much of it lies in remote areas far from modern resorts. But in south Florida, the Naples Registry Resort not only accommodates families close to nature spots, it also encourages and enriches a Florida wildlife experience right on the property itself. (For information on other south Florida eco-friendly resorts, click on the following links: Cheeca Lodge, The Sanibel Inn, and more Florida resorts.)

NAPLES REGISTRY RESORT, FLORIDA

Across a road named Alligator Alley, on the west coast of south Florida, Naples sits like a genteel oasis at the brink of Everglades wilderness. Ultracivilized as it is, the beachy Gulf of Mexico town keeps in intimate touch with its environment. Even its most luxurious hotels cater to eco-families. The Naples Registry Resort tops that list, juxtaposing crystal-and-marble elegance with primeval wilderness on its 23 waterfront acres.

Beyond the landscaped pool patio is the hotel's wildlife preserve known as the "Registry's Backyard." A half-mile boardwalk crosses a mangrove forest, enabling visitors to stroll or ride a tram along this trail frequented by cormorants, anhingas, herons, egrets and pelicans. The path leads to a white, sandy beach. This combination of lagoon, forest, and beach habitats attract rare wildlife, from bald eagles to 300-pound loggerhead sea turtles to prehistoric armored crabs--that nonconformist variety with no claws and three eyes. (They're known as horseshoe crabs because of the shape of their hard shells.)

The Registry's beachfront comprises a 35-acre preserve known as Clam Pass Recreation Area. Summer nights bring mother loggerheads up on the beach to dig their nests and lay their cache of leathery eggs. During the day, the beach is a stage for water-sports activities. Families can sail and sea kayak in the normally calm Gulf waters or rent a canoe and explore the eerie silence of the estuary. The resort conducts complimentary guided canoe and hiking tours into the mangroves and provides bird identification information in the rooms. Camp Registry, steered by a committee of local school children, fills its weekly calendars with typical recreational and crafts activities; emphasis is on the beach. Children ages five to 12 can participate.

Away from the resort, the Conservancy's Nature Discovery Center occupies 13 acres of mangrove and hammock habitat with hiking and canoe trails, a huge aquarium, aviaries, wildlife rehabilitation and interactive displays. Free boat tours explore the hulking, haunting world of mangroves. Together with the Briggs Nature Center to the south, Conservancy programs have you mucking about in mud flats, net seining for sea creatures and performing other strictly Florida discovery activities. Also in the vicinity, sightseeing cruises scour the protected waters of Estero Bay, where manatees and porpoises come to play. Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is home to the world's largest stand of bald cypress trees, ancient and dripping with Spanish moss, and the nesting grounds for the rare wood stork.

In Naples, you are within close range of the west entrance of the Everglades and Ten Thousand Islands, a vast, labyrinthine expanse of saw grass, mangroves and island-mottled estuaries. The natives have come up with some unusual ways to explore the so-called "River of Grass" and shallow estuaries, including the zippy (but noisy) airboat and the fat-tired, sluggish swamp buggy. You'll find concessions for these and other park tours right outside Naples's backdoor. Canoe trails take you along the 98-mile Wilderness Waterway of the Everglades, or try Collier-Seminole State Park for something more family-manageable.

Rates for The Naples Registry Resort's 424 rooms and suites are $345 March 31 through May 31. June 1 to September 31 rooms start at $125. October 1 to December 26 rooms start at $255. From December 27 to March 30, rooms start at $395. Children under age 18 stay with adults in the existing bedding. Call (800) 247-9810 or (239) 597-3232.

Chelle Koster Walton is the author of FLORIDA FAMILY ADVENTURE GUIDE Frommer's BEST BEACH VACATIONS: FLORIDA and FLORIDA ISLAND HOPPING: THE WEST COAST.

Please keep in mind that phone numbers, addresses, and prices are subject to change. Updated August 2005.