Don't Stop - the Florida road trip section UPDATED 3/16 - Page 26 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Thursday 17 December – part two: alligators, up close and personal
As we drove along, we saw what looked like petrified trees and our driver explained that these had been brought in from Africa, when they were draining this area, as it used to be swampland. These did their job, soaking up something like 100 gallons of water each day, but sadly they couldn’t get rid of them, which is why they were still here. They had tried to burn and poison them, but whatever they tried, they were resistant to it and carried on regardless.
Before long, we were out, heading into the countryside and, at quite an early stage, our driver told us that everything we could now see was the Everglades. Sadly, much of what I could see on my side of the bus was just trees, but occasionally, we did get some glimpses of something more than that.
Soon we were arriving at Gator Park, where we were quickly called to take our airboat ride.
We were busy slathering on sun tan lotion, as soon as we got on the boat, as it was becoming hot out. We had a very lively guide, who told us that we should spend most of our time on our feet taking photos of the animals that we would see and that was fine by me.
Almost as soon as we set off, we saw our first alligator and that just carried through the trip. I lost count of how many we saw in the end, which was great, especially as the last airboat ride that we had taken at Boggy Creek, a couple of years ago, had been a total disaster and we barely saw any animals that day. At least we didn’t have that problem today.
Getting ready to set off
After seeing lots of wildlife, our guide, whose name I didn’t get, then speeded things up and we were told to put our earplugs in and make sure to hold on to our sunglasses or hats on our heads. He was right. This thing certainly moves fast enough, although at no point did I feel unsafe or sick. It was a very pleasant feeling. Soon, we were out in what felt like the middle of nowhere.
I was taking a photo and didn’t even see our guide get off the boat, but suddenly there he was, standing in the water in front of us. He had already told us that this was the same water that supplies the drinking water system for Miami, the keys and this part of Florida, so it was fairly obvious that it was safe. He also explained how they were getting over three or four years of drought, which was why the water level was so low now, as it should usually come up to waist high. As you can see from these photos, it was way below that right now.
He also explained to us how safe it was out there. I was surprised by that, as I figured that there would probably be snakes of something like that around, but apparently not. He was so charming that he managed to encourage a girl next to us to get her shoes off and get into the water with him. She obviously enjoyed it so much that her boyfriend later joined her out there as well. Another woman, from Australia, also took up the challenge of going into the water, but I had no desire to do that, no matter how clean the water was and how unlikely it was that there were alligators around anywhere. No thanks. :
On the way back
After getting some photos out there, we headed back and had an up-close and personal encounter with one alligator, as you can see:
This bird was obviously very tame!
I was impressed by the fact that our guide knew them all by name, or that’s what he told us anyway. The chances are he may not recognise each of them and may just pick names out of thin air, but it sounded good, all the same.
Soon we were back, having had an excellent trip out. This was one guy I was very happy to tip, as he really had made the whole thing for us. this was a great experience and so much better than my first experience on an airboat ride. I can see why most people usually rave about them, having enjoyed this one so much.
Love the pics from the bus tour. And that airboat ride really looks great. I don't think I would've been standing in the water, though, but more because of the harmless critters in there. I don't do well with bugs or fish.
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Mickey's so happy to see me back, he can barely contain himself!
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Um, well I'd say this batch of pictures were great but I absolutely hate Al Lee Gator so, well, um, there you go. No, but seriously, I'm so glad you got to do this tour! I know how much you were looking forward to it!
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Mark's Mickey sunglasses, too.
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