At Audubon's Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, you can look up from one of Mac Stone's photographs of old-growth cypress and see the forest it came from a few steps away. For Esplanade Golf & Country Club of Naples, getting there means turning east out of the gate and staying on Immokalee Road.
"Cypress" opened on October 27 and runs through March 31, 2027. Audubon describes it as more than 50 large-format prints mounted along the sanctuary's boardwalk, and it is included with regular admission. The run lasts five months. For anyone with a home on Torre Vista Lane or nearby, though, the drive is never the hard part. The real question is which part of the season to go, because on December 16 the boardwalk's afternoon hours stretch out, and that changes what kind of visit you get.
The Same Road, a Dozen Miles Further
Esplanade's clubhouse is at 8910 Torre Vista Lane. The community sits about three miles east of I-75 on Immokalee Road. Audubon puts Corkscrew at 375 Sanctuary Road West, 15 miles east of I-75 off Immokalee Road. Its directions say to turn onto Sanctuary Road from Immokalee, take a left onto Sanctuary Road West, then a right into the parking lot. Subtract one figure from the other and you get roughly a dozen miles on the road you already drive, with two turns at the end.
That's close for a place with this kind of standing. The sanctuary is a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance, and it holds what Audubon calls the largest remaining old-growth bald cypress forest. Most of the region's attention runs west toward the Gulf. Esplanade happens to sit near the eastern edge of this forest.
Why the Prints Hang Outside
Stone is a National Geographic photographer and explorer. The exhibit follows his new book, Cypress: The Last Old-Growth Swamps, from University Press of Florida. Audubon says the images show towering cypress, flooded forest, wildlife, reflections and the less obvious ecological relationships these swamps hold. The sanctuary hung them in the same kind of forest that inspired them.
According to WGCU's October 20 report, the prints are spread along the 2.25-mile boardwalk, and some cypresses estimated at about 500 years old stand only yards from the images. Audubon's own visitor page says some trees here have lived for nearly 600 years. Whichever estimate is closer, the trees beside the frames are centuries older than the camera.
Stone's history with this boardwalk goes further back than the exhibit. WGCU reports that in 2018, he and Peter Houlihan photographed a fig sphinx moth pollinating Corkscrew's famous "super" ghost orchid. That image changed what scientists understood about which insect pollinates the orchid. One timing note: Audubon's seasonal guide says the ghost orchid usually blooms in summer and is done by September. This season you'll find the orchid's story on the boardwalk, not the flower.
WGCU's Gulf Coast Life also ran a longer conversation with Stone about the book. It's good listening on the drive east.
The Room That Reopened First
The exhibit is the second new reason to visit Corkscrew this year. On February 4, 2026, the sanctuary opened the renovated Spurlino Foundation Discovery Center, a 1,600-square-foot space that had been closed since 2020. Its exhibits include "The Secret Lives of Plants," "Life Beneath the Surface" and "Amphibians and Reptiles."
That reopening was part of a first phase that also added a new campus entrance, parking signage and 95 wayfinding, interpretive and educational signs along the boardwalk. If your last visit was before 2020, the sanctuary you'll find has a new front door, a reopened interior room, explanations along the boardwalk, and now a photography show in the trees.
December 16 Changes the Afternoon
The calendar matters most once you're there. Corkscrew posts its hours as admission times, and the boardwalk closes two hours after the last entry.
| Season | Last admission | Boardwalk closes |
|---|---|---|
| May 1 – December 15 | 1 p.m. | 3 p.m. |
| December 16 – April 30 | 3 p.m. | 5 p.m. |
Until December 15, the sanctuary opens at 8 a.m. and stops admitting visitors at 1 p.m., so this is a morning outing or an early lunch-hour walk. From December 16, someone who arrives at 3 p.m. still has two hours on the boardwalk. That's enough to walk the full loop past all 50-plus prints as the late light comes through the canopy. The exhibit runs through March 31, so most of it falls in the longer season. If your out-of-town guests arrive during the holidays, the later hours will be in place.
Admission is $17 for adults and $6 for children 6 through 14. Children under 6 and sanctuary members get in free, and there are discounts for students, military and National Audubon members. The sanctuary is open on holidays and recommends buying tickets online.
Guided programs can get you onto the boardwalk outside those hours. Corkscrew's programs and events calendar has listed a Sunset Stroll running from 4 to 6:30 p.m. and a Corkscrew Night Tour from 5:30 to 7:45 p.m. It has also listed an 8 a.m. Early Birding Tour and a Pine Flatwoods and Wildflower Walk that leave the boardwalk for a different habitat. Check the calendar for upcoming dates, since these programs book separately from general admission.
What Shares the Boardwalk With the Prints
The photographs are fixed. The swamp around them keeps changing. Audubon's recent sightings page has listed these staff highlights since October 8, 2026:
- Anhinga, Great Egret, Little Blue Heron and White Ibis
- Limpkin
- Barred Owl
- American Alligator
Audubon's seasonal viewing guide describes a typical fall and early winter. Painted and Indigo Buntings visit the pollinator garden and feeders behind the Blair Visitor Center. From November through early January, Purple Gallinules can turn up at the flag pond near the entrance, and more wading birds appear along the boardwalk. The Blair Visitor Center is where every visit starts, so the feeders are worth a stop before or after the walk.
Water is the other variable. In an October 9 update, Audubon said September rainfall at the sanctuary was above average but drought conditions continued. Water stood 2.2 feet above ground on September 1, just above the historic low for that time of year. Water level shapes where wading birds gather and how the reflections look, and reflections are one of the subjects in Stone's prints.
The Closer Boardwalk Is Still Closed
CREW Bird Rookery Swamp, on Shady Hollow Boulevard, is nearer to Esplanade, but its front entrance is shut this fall. The South Florida Water Management District's CREW page says public access is closed while the boardwalk is replaced and a new restroom is installed. The parking area and boardwalk stay closed until further notice. In January, WGCU reported that CREW was targeting late 2026 to finish the work, which also includes a bigger parking lot. The same report said the Bird Rookery Loop and the trail east of the boardwalk could still be reached from the Purple Trail at CREW Flint Pen Strand. No reopening date has been announced for the boardwalk.
Other CREW trails have had their own temporary closures. In September 2026, the district posted wet-condition and resource-protection closures for Cypress Dome, Flint Pen Strand/Kehl Oaks, and Marsh Trails at Gate 3. Before you head to any of them, check the SFWMD CREW page. For now, Corkscrew's boardwalk is the reliable walk in that direction, and through March it doubles as a gallery.
If you're planning a Corkscrew morning for visiting family, or you'd like a neighbor's take on what's happening east of the Esplanade gate this season, West of 41 is happy to share what we know. And when you're ready to see the homes along this stretch of Immokalee Road in person, request a private tour.
