Alligators and stuff

Notes from the swamp:

The Okefenokee swamp is not what I anticipated. Much of it is what I would call marsh, tall grass and Cyprus trees, interlaced with major and minor water courses and the occasional island. It's not a water filled jungle. We are lucky in that all of the land surrounding the State Park is Federal, and was closed due to the shutdown. As a result there was no people pressure on the wildlife. One ranger told me that he was seeing twice as many alligators as before the shutdown. (about the only positive thing I heard about it.) That said, this place is crawling with “nature”.We've had a flock of turkeys come through the campsite three times today. There are numerous little deer everywhere. I thought at first that the small deer were Key deer, but I'm told they are White Tail deer and are tiny because they have such a limited food source. At sunset every night, there is a Horned owl that lets us know that he is around.

The fun thing for me is learning new things, in this case it's Alligator craft.

It turns out that they are mostly a victim of bad press and their forbidding personal appearance. If you are bigger than they are and don't look like food, you're good to go. In a boat or kayak you are plenty big enough and look nothing like food. Alligators have a relatively small brain and work mostly on instinct. (about the smarts of a fluffy bunny, but with teeth and the muscle to use them). Don't however take Skippy (my term for small, barky dogs) on the water with you as they most defiantly look like lunch. They post signs about not taking pets in the water and the rangers say they get grief about it all the time.... I took the yak out for about two hours today, just to get a feel for the area. By count I saw 28 Alligators today. The most unnerving part of the paddle was getting down the cut to the river. The open water was only 6 -8 feet wide, with a few more feet of Lilly pads on each side. Come to find out that gators love to hide in Lilly pads, waiting for lunch to wander past...I passed three and they never moved,just watched me go by with those unblinking eyes that see everything. It was kind of like snakes. That first instant when you brain identifies the shape and color that your eye is seeing. I will say that they got my undivided attention. At the end of the cut I paddled up behind two that were moving the same direction I was. One of Jay's new rules of paddle craft is: when approaching alligators from the rear, they have the right of way and whatever speed they choose to go, that is the current speed limit. See pic below. By the end of two hours, I was comfortable (and respectful) sharing the water with them .

I will say that at one point my heart skipped a beat...I was in deep water just paddling along when my paddle struck a large underwater object, that reacted to being struck. I don't really know for sure what it was, but I have my suspicions

I plan on going out again at first light tomorrow on a photo recon .