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Lake Okeechobee. The South Florida Water Management District gives it 730 square miles, the largest lake in the southeastern United States; the Department of State's quick facts say 700.
It is shallow, 9 feet deep on average, and lies in a watershed that runs from the Kissimmee River through the Everglades to Florida Bay.
Florida has about 7,700 lakes larger than 10 acres.
Population 40,816. Typical home sale price $246,305 in the three months ending June 2026. Median household income $57,984; 20% of residents are 65 or older. (Source: Redfin; U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey, published January 2026)
Open the county guide →Largemouth bass are in fresh water across Florida, and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission keeps its own list of notable bass water.
Read the answer →By car, through one of three entrances in three different cities, which do not connect to each other inside the park: the Homestead entrance, which leads down the main park road to Flamingo on the coast; the Miami entrance at Shark Valley, with trails, an observation tower and tram tours; and the Everglades City entrance on the Gulf coast, for boat tours and the mangrove waterways.
Read the answer →The surf is on the Atlantic side. The Gulf is flat most of the year and only breaks in a storm.
You want steady side-on wind and shallow, flat water, which means the sound and bay sides rather than the open ocean.
Flat water and something to look at. The springs and spring runs are the clearest paddling in the state - Weeki Wachee in Hernando County, Rainbow Springs in Marion, and the Wekiva at Wekiva Island in Seminole County.
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