Close Encounter with a Florida Alligator!!!!

****Give this video about 20 seconds to see how close and magnificent the gator is****

Nora and I recently traveled to Myakka State Park for a camping trip during spring break.


First off, we are now some of Myakkas biggest fans. The park is wonderful! Lot's of stuff to do and truly gets you into Florida's natural landscape.


On our last day at the park, we decided to get in a couple of hours of canoeing. The lake was surprisingly shallow, which, in hindsight, makes sense due to the droughtFlorida is experiencing right now. It seemed maybe 3' - 4' at it's deepest. The sky was clear, the day warm, but not unbearable. We could see lot's of Florida's native water birds dotting the shoreline, cows peeking out of the forests edge, and wild hogs feeding on the grasslands. As we made our way to the far side, however, we came into contact with one of Florida's coolest (no pun intended, cold blooded, hardy har har) and prehistoric icons, the alligator.


This video is a great example of how magnificent these creatures are as you can see how massive and adept it is in the water. This gator was about 6' to 8' long with large scales noted down it's back. While out there we probably saw 20 or more alligators within close proximity and lot's of families. None of the others came this close to the canoe. We were lucky to catch this guy on film.


In another month or so, canoeing around the gators might not be such a wise idea as mating season is approaching, but on this day, they were quite disinterested in us and preferred to leave before we floated to close.


So enjoy, and thanks to our gator neighbor for making such a prominent cameo.


-R

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• alligator
• gator
• outdoor
• wildlife
• florida
• myakka
• park
• water
• lake
• prehistoric
• science
• animal
• canoe
• encounter

[Guitarplayer219]

Good video, but you really shouldn't approach gators. I always give them 5 feet of clearance for every foot they are long. Even though there is no account of them attacking a kayak/canoe in mating season they get aggressive, and could charge the boat.