Twenty Feet from Alligators

Plus, #ManateeMonday and one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen

Today would normally be #MemeMonday, and while I recognize how much everyone looks forward to that, I thought perhaps you might also enjoy seeing a little of what I’ve been doing while on my quasi-vacation. And since my wife is an avid shutterbug, I have plenty of visual documentation.

I will share pics and a few words from three events: Our walk among the alligators at Payne’s Prairie, our visit to see big squishy manatees, and an airboat ride to an absolutely heartbreakingly beautiful place.

Alligators!

One of my favorite things about Florida is live oaks covered in Spanish moss. Here is a shot from the southern end of Payne’s Prairie Preserve.

It’s hard to tell from this pic, but there were wild horses, eagles, and some birds that were screaming like velociraptors.

Payne’s Prairie is gorgeous all over, but its claim to fame is the fact that you can walk right past alligators basking in the sun. No fences, no walls, no barriers at all but the distance you keep between you and them…which they recommend to be 20 feet.

Twenty feet is about how far away this guy was.

And this guy, and his friend whose tail he’s sniffing.

(He’s probably not actually sniffing it.)

Just a bunch of shiny happy gators enjoying the weather.

There have been no fatal attacks on humans at Payne’s Prairie, but this little guy is definitely on the menu.

As is this guy.

Also, sometimes the gators and horses get into scraps. This is not our video, but it gives a good sense of how close you can get to the gators. (The people in that video are way too close to the horses, though. They can get quite testy, as you can see.)

Here’s a pointy bird, looking sardonic for some reason.

This guy was eying my wife.
I was not going to make it an issue, though.

We have tons more gator pics, but let’s move on.

Oh, the huge manatees

Next, we have our trip to Three Sisters Springs to see manatees. Who doesn’t love big friendly sea cow walrus dog things with plants growing on their backs?

The place itself was beautiful and lush, with blue-green water.

And the water was filled with squishy water-cows. (We’ve seen a few in the past, but never this many at once.)

I guess they move slowly enough that algae tends to grow on them.

They need to breathe every so often. (Otherwise, they don’t move much.)

This little guy is under a year old.

Check for manatees before starting up your boats. (That’s a propeller scar.)

A Most Magical Place

After the manatees, we went on an airboat ride to St. Martins Marsh Aquatic Preserve. I really don’t think the photos do it justice, but I will try.

This was different from airboat tours in swamps, where you stop periodically to look at fauna, or to see the alligator that they have obviously trained to show up on command. On this tour, we just cruised out to a single destination. And what a destination.

We arrived on an ethereal plane where the distinction between water and sky was almost nonexistent.

When I said “heartbreakingly beautiful,” I really meant it. I really don’t think the pictures can quite capture how magical it was.

What…am…I…even…looking …at?

My wife’s shutterbuggery was focused on the horizon, so we did not get close-up pics of the magical reef sponge grass forest below us. But let me tell you, it was definitely a reef sponge grass forest, and it was definitely magical.

I certainly found it so.

I’ve been to a decent number of cool places in my life, and this one was definitely a very cool place.