May 8 Florida, Day TEN

Wednesday: If there was anything I truly wanted crossed off my bucket list on this trip it was what we accomplished today ...

GATORS IN THE WILD !!!!!

Carol told David that one of her co-workers advised playing baby alligator sounds on a speaker near the water where alligators are known to live. We went to Tarpon Springs a few years back, but really didn't get to see any "wild" alligators up close and personal. I think we saw perhaps ONE from a very long distance--but it could have been an old log for all we could tell.

SO ... David did his homework (he always does) and came prepared with a little hand-held speaker loaded with baby alligator sounds. They sound SO cute! We drove over to Lake Tarpon, to the John Chestnut Sr. Park. I'll show you the pictures. I have a TON.

We parked the truck near the boat launch, where we actually launched David's boat ... two or three years ago. This is an Inland lake, so it is FRESH water. David says wherever there is fresh water in Florida, there will be alligators. The day we took the boat here was kind of a zero as far as alligator hunting went.

 But today was a new day, a different day ... and we had a PLAN.

These boardwalks go all over the place--along the lakeshore, within the swampy areas, deep into "jungle-like" areas ... and the nice thing about them is that they are elevated and nicely protected by the fencing. We were in NO danger whatsoever and I was excited as I could be to actually SEE a real, live alligator out in the wild. I've seen them in the zoo, and I've seen videos of them; but never just out where they actually live.

I love these boardwalks. Isn't it gorgeous here?

David and I walked slowly and with purpose. Alligators--watch out!!!

We took a left turn and walked out to the edge of one of these look-outs. David got his speaker out and turned it on. The baby alligators sound like someone swallowing rather loudly, but high pitched. Some of them sounded like frogs do when they are "chirping" in the swamp. We played the sounds. We waited.

And THEN ... do you see what I see?

Look! A completely WILD alligator swam right over to the platform. We were so close that had we been stupid enough (!!), we could have reached over and touched her. This is ALICE, by the way. She was very interested in the baby alligator sounds and stuck very close to us while David played the recording.

I took a lot of close-ups of Alice. Then David turned the alligator sounds off, and Alice slowly swam away.

We walked further down the pathway and turned onto another platform lookout and played the alligator sounds again ...

Alice turned around, down-stream, and came all the way back to us ... further than we had been before!

During this time, David's neighbor (Phil) called and wondered what we were up to. David told him our alligator story, so Phil and his wife (Amy) drove over and shared the experience with us.

We estimate Alice was about 6 feet in length. Good sized mama.

Isn't she so beautiful?

While David walked back to the parking lot to rendezvous with his neighbor, an older gentleman with a very sophisticated camera (huge lens) came out on the platform and told me there was a HUGE, 10' gator by the ponds on the park that he had just photographed. !!! I asked him to tell me the story; so he said he was just walking around and climbed a little hill near the ponds and right as he crested the hill, the 10-footer was sunbathing. It took one look at him, and scurried back to the pond! Lucky for that guy the alligator wasn't hungry!

However, after hearing that gentleman's story, David and I decided to see if we could find any other alligators out near the ponds. We promised each other to be VERY careful. It wasn't until after I was home uploading all of my pictures to my computer that I noticed this sneaky alligator hiding among the grass and sledge at the edge of one of the ponds. Look at the grin on his face!!!

How do I know this alligator is a MALE? Well ... every time we played the baby alligator sounds, we had an alligator come to us to check it out. This guy stayed put and never once approached us. I figured only the mama alligators had instincts to come and rescue their babies. This guy never once came near us.

Here is what the ponds look like ... this one is a rather large one.

We did have one very TINY alligator come and check us out -- can you see its little head in the picture below? It's just about in the middle of the picture ...

There are DANGER signs at each and every pond ... 

Here are few more random shots ...

This was one of THE MOST FUN things I have ever done. I'm not kidding! It was such a blast, and such an adventure. Thank you, David. You are THE BEST.