American Crocs
Not so shy or limited to remote areas anymore it seems!
From the Port Everglades (Fort Lauderdale) eNewsletter, Oct 21, 2005:
“CROCODILE VISITS PORT EVERGLADES
A visiting crocodile was recently spotted in the Port. The Florida Wildlife Commission reports that the population of crocs is on the increase and their numbers are growing as they appear to be migrating from both Florida Bay and the Keys, northward. This animal is an endangered species and FWC does not deem it a threat to people while within the waters of the Port. Do not feed this animal nor harass it. We are trying to keep track of the crocodile’s location, so if you spot our newest visitor, please call Port Everglades Department Marine Biologist Allan Sosnow at 954-468-0158.”
I’m not sure I’d say “visiting”, as there have bee reports of a pair in the park just South of the Port for years.
Gators in SC
We probably don’t have as many as Florida, but we do have a few. And believe it or not, the majority are scared of kayaks and will flee if approached too closely. What freaks me out is when I’m paddling close to the marsh grass (to stay out of the jetskiers’ way) and I scare an unseen basking gator who rushes to the safety of the water right underneath me.
Having said that, I’d rather paddle in a swamp full of gators than a lake full of drunken bass boaters.
Oh, yeah…
…I used to load my canoe up with camping equipment and camp all over swamps in Al, Ms, and La.
I’ve waked up with many a 'gator at the camp site.
Only once did I have one challenge me, and a .357 round 1 foot in front of his nose scared
him off.
In the water, they seem to be more curious, but I’d be cautious about jabbing at them with a paddle.
if the truth be known, the cottonmouths are far
more of a danger than the gators and the ticks (rocky Mountain spotted fever, lyme disease)
and the skeeters (encephilitis) are far more dangerous than any of them.
Keep you hand in the boat, becareful what you do
with your food, and use commonsense.
And take a camera.
Loxahatchee paddling
I used to live next door to Loxahatchee as a teen-ager and paddled away my misspent youth in and around the area. While I cannot guarantee that you will not be eaten alive by an alligator I would call it an unlikely senario. Alligators are wild creatures and should be respected as such but they do not perceive paddlers as food or threat. I used to get frustrated by all the misinformation I would hear concerning alligators.
Give the larger alligators (over seven feet long) greater berth. Even with my substantial experience with the creatures, the big ones would scare me a bit (9-12 feet long when I paddled the area in the late seventies. David
No this definately had…
the gator snout, and the crocs are much smaller, and only hang around the brackish salt marsh areas of So Florida and the Everglades.
This was up in the springs area.
When I was a kid growing up in Boston, I was always an amateur herpetologist, and one of my ambitions was to explore the Everglades.
I attained that ambition about thirty years ago, and to this day I never get tired of paddling there.
Cheers,
jackL
I too am afraid of gators
but I have been paddling the E Glades for years without incident. Last weekend was out in fisheating creek on a canoe trip. There were so many alligators I just thought I was in a horror movie! They just slipped in the water when they saw my canoe coming and were more scared of me than I was of them. The next day a bike ride in Shark Valley…everywhere we peddled a gator alongside the road. They were not even bothered and kept on sleeping.
So here is the deal…don’t corner them, harrass them or be around them in mating season. Other than that, they are pretty much scared of you too. BTW: I feel better paddling my solo canoe around them (the gator evader) than my kayak…just in case 
And the Loxahatchee is one of my favorite rivers to paddle in florida.
LNR
Hi Doug,
I paddle the refuge 3 times per week throughout the year. Lately there have been few gators up due to the cold weather and low hormone levels(gators that is). During nesting/courting they are more frisky and plentiful from April through June. Never had a serious encounter although about a month ago we had a 5 to 8 year old bump our tandem vigorously than bare teeth at my wife in her kayak. Probable infants in nest nearby.
This time of year its pretty tame for gators and the birds are plentiful at dawn. Lots of snail kites at the start of the trail. The refuge has become one of my favorite spots. I certainly love the Lox river, but its a bit overused.
Bob
Another thought Doug
When I’m in Florida, I put my wife in the front seat of a tandem. By the time the gators get done with her, they’ll be too full to bother me.
is that why
canoe racers from florida are so fast, to keep ahead of the gators ?
Is anyone going to be paddling.
The Loxahatachee this coming Sunday, Monday or Tuesday ??
If things go right for us we might be pulling into Jonathon Dickinson on Saturday
Cheers,
JackL
Lox river
Hi Jack,
We might be paddling the river or the Lox Refuge to the south. I did the river a couple of weeks ago and the treefall from Wilma was a challenge. I may do the river solo on those days so drop me a line and I will give you my phone # and we can meet up.
Thanks,
Bob
Love paddling with gators and watching
them. On lake I fish is filled with hydrilla in the summer. The gators lay out on the hydrilla mats in the mornings. Counted seven in a 3 acre area one morning. Guess the think a 9.6 kayak is bigger than them, but several are 12-14 ft.
Gators and kayaks? have no fear!
I went there last Feb on my birthday…saw about 4 gators…surprised you didn’t see any…the guy who rented kayaks told me that, in the 25 years he’s worked there, only once was anyone bitten and that was an 8 year old who was swimming…where WERE his parents…
http://community.webshots.com/album/290146142dhDMoq
Wonderful nature shots Matahari
A little different wildlife than Wisconsin.
Thanks for the pics.
Hey, Mataharihiker…
The birds in question are two ospreys. The photo mentioning sawgrass ripping you apart is actually a Sabel Palm, aka Cabbage Palm or Swamp Cabbage. The heart of the crown is edible but to get at it you kill the tree in the process. The other mention of sawgrass is actually Saw Palmetto. Its berries are well known for shrinking the prostrate gland in men 45 and older. The photo of the two stems of flowers is some kind of terrestrial orchid. I used to know it but the name escapes me for now.
I hope some of this info helps you out.
The GulfCoaster
I am that 8 year old.
I am now 32 years old. I was swimming while my parents were arguing about which one would be in the front of our canoe in the alligator infested swamp. I remember it well, I was in the middle. Their bickering really pissed me off, so I hopped out. The splash was loud, and I suppose with my New York pale skin, I may indeed have appeared to the gators basking on the water's edge to be a freshly plucked game hen.. who knows. All I know is... they got me. Got me wicked hard. On the buttock. Youch! To this day I get scared, wicked scared. I won't even look at your webshots... well, maybe the osprey but not the gators. Funny, I sleep with a stuffed gator that my father won at a beanbag toss at the county fair.. but this one is clearly goofy, with his gator tongue sticking out to one side. But I confess. I do awaken at night once in a while and find myself thrashing that stuffed gator all over my bed. Especially if it rubs against my butt. My therapist says that I might be able to look at gator pictures after about ten more sessions. My goal is to eat gator meat. Sort of a delayed come-uppance.
Anyhow, that is my story. I call it A Million Pieces of Gator Bait.
Goo'nite.
A few years ago in
Lakeland, FL a man paddling a SOT kayak in a lake in the middle of town was attacked by a large gator in broad daylight. The attack probably occurred for three reasons:
1. It was gator mating season.
2. SOT kayaks have a very low profile (and so does a gator).
3. From what I read the color of his SOT was a dark bronze.
From the three reasons listed above here's what I hypothesize: The bull gator was watching over his turf. An intruder with a long, dark profile enters his turf triggering an attack response. He heads for it to either chase or kill the intruder.
Here's some trivia about gators:
A 10 footer has a cerebrum about the size of a poker chip. Their cerebellum (the reptilian part of every brain that deals with instincts)however, is one of the largest for any animal pound for pound. So intellectually they're about as smart as a box of rocks but their instincts are extremely well honed (and why not, as a species they've had over 200 million years of experience).
They have a very good sense of smell. Along the length of their upper jaw just above the lip is a band of receptors, same as sharks and they function in the same manner, detecting electrical and variable pressure impulses in the water like that of a thrashing animal.
Their eyes have a reflective membrane lining the inside of the back of their eyes. You can see this for yourself on any warm night in Florida on just about any pond, lake, creek or river with a flashlight. Just shine it along the surface and when you see that bright, reddish-orange glow you've spotted a gator. Also helping their vision is a circle of yellow skin surrounding each eye that helps in reflecting even more light into the eyes. They also have a inner third eyelid that protects the eyes when attacking prey or competitors.
They have flaps over their ears that automatically close when submerged to protect their acute sense of hearing.
The same applies to their throat. It too, closes automatically when submerged so it can open its mouth under water.
The jaws of a ten footer can snap a 2"x4" piece of lumber in half and the closing pressure is over 1500 psi.
The mouth isn't the only thing you need to worry about. The tail of one that size can break a grown man's legs and/or back.
They are diurnal but prefer to hunt at night when their senses give them a distinct advantage. They usually hunt from just before dusk 'til right after dawn.
Dogs are their favorite gourmet dish.
During mating season they tend to stay awake 24/7 with catnaps few and far between until they've had their share of sex.
What can you do to prevent provoking this giant water-loving lizard? DO NOT swim in in any body of water known to have gators. DO NOT let your dog run loose around any body of water. DO NOT walk your dog around any body of water, especially at night. Somewhere around Naples, FL a person was walking their dog when a gator attacked and killed the person, then ate the dog. NEVER swim alone. NEVER, EVER feed gators. They aren't smart enough to know that they shouldn't bite the hand that feeds 'em, they just make the association of humans = food. If a human-habituated gator sees a human walking along the shore it's only thought is food. If you don't feed it, it will feed on YOU! and no! don't go carrying treats in your pockets to placate the gator. If it's still hungry after you feed it will feed on you!
However, if left undisturbed by humans you can paddle (in a canoe anyway) among 14 to 18 footers and if they still have an instinctive fear of humans they will actually flee from you as long as they have a way out of the confrontation (this of course excludes mating season).
If you wish to know more contact me.
Gators
I do paddle with them weekly but would always advise caution. There was one fatality on the Loxahatchee River of a child swimming near a nest. A friend of mine had a large chunk taken out of the bow of his kevlar Jensen 18 while paddling the Mosquito Lagoon area. Taking on water, sinking fast and paddling furiously to dry land. As noted before we were aggressively bumped by a gator in our canoe who then went for my wifes kayak, then her paddle and hand. We still paddle the same area weekly and will continue to do so but caution is always wise. I suppose the craft I would be most apprehensive on would be a SOT as exposure of limbs is more pronounced.
Bob
I think some places in Florida need
a gator season, like the Myakka.That herd needs a little thinning.
Myakka gators
I have only paddled Myakka once - in a rented canoe
and you have to carry it over that area by the pier.
I could not believe it when we got back in canoe and went about 25 feet and saw about 25 alligators all in a pile. Each and every turn rendered 4-5 at every corner. Some were HUGE !
We just bought our own canoe last week, and the hubby says we can put in somewhere else to avoid me seeing that ‘clump’ of gators at the beginning.
That same day a young couple from Europe, just married were returning from their canoe trip and she was red at a beet ALLOVER, just petrified with what she had just seen.
I’ll do Myakka again - but from a different location from where they rent those canoes!
AntiqFreq