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Courtesy of the University of North Florida
and Jack Woodward
Here is the link for the University of North Florida.
I know it's been a while since I have posted some new photos, but the wait has been worthwhile. In this interim Dot and I went to Guana Dam and paddled down to the intracoastal waterway. We had the distinct pleasure of 'playing' with some dolphins for about an hour and a half and two miles of 'chasing' them. The only good pictures we got were videos since I was doing all the paddling and Dot was doing the videoing.
This past weekend we went to the Okefenokee Swamp near Folkston, Ga. And it will be a day to remember for the two of us. We were out for about 5 1/2 hours or so and saw over 55 alligators. We also saw some sandhill cranes.
And you just won't believe what Dot did. Or what I talked her into doing anyway. Bad me !!
This is one of the first gators we saw. In the first mile we saw 5 gators and we thought that was pretty good.
Same gator.
At the park near Folkston, this is the way most of the Okefenokee looks. These were originally barge canals that the timber companies had dug for the removal of the vast number of cypress trees in the swamp. The present day swamp looks nothing like it did 100 years ago. But, it is still a swamp. The timber companies tried to drain the swamp, but the swamp beat them on that score. So the next 'best thing' for the timber companies was to construct these canals. Now these canals serve as accesses to the inner most swamp. Good news, bad news. Good news - most of the swamp is now accessible. Bad news - the timber companies removed almost all of the old growth cypress. But the swamp endures. As do the alligators. And the herons. And the egrets. And the cranes. And all the other creatures that normally abound in the swamp. Nature can be beaten back . . . but is very rarely conquered. And the Okenfenokee Swamp is a case in point. Branching off the main canals are some 'prairies'. Vast low water flatlands encompassing thousands of acres. The entire swamp is about 35 miles north to south and about 25 miles east to west. A truly vast landscape. As it was, Dot and I were able to follow a deep water channel though Chesser Prairie. If we had gotten off the main channel, knowing we had a modern day GPS with us would have been extremely comforting. It is exceedingly easy to get lost in this swamp. One has to marvel at the early pioneers who tried to conquer this work of nature.
The first alligator we came across on a bank trying to sun himself for warmth. Dot missed seeing him altogether. Of course this is a close-up photo using a telephoto lens. It is very easy to not see them on the banks. Obviously this is a good sized gator. We 'closed-in' for the photos and then eased out to let him rest in peace. Some of the other gators we approached got very annoyed by our presence. As some of our videos will attest too. One can hear them hissing quite plainly. That is a gators first sign of being annoyed. If you watch them closely, you can actually see them 'huffing up'. Drawing in a lot of air. Either to hiss, or to take flight. Dot and I have seen literally hundreds of gators. And the more you observe them, the more you can guesstimate their actions.
This is a very small gator, probably no more than 3 1/2 feet long. I thought this particular photo was pretty neat since you can see our red kayak and me in a white T-shirt taking the picture in the reflection of the gator's eyeball. How cool is that?
This guy was really hunkered down in the mud. And
as you can see, he was a good-sized gator. Sometimes you can tell their size by
their length, other times like this by their breadth.
The alligators in Okefenokee Swamp are VERY accustomed to seeing people. One can almost literally run a kayak right up on them as we did a few times. At times we could not believe how close we got to some of the gators. A few times, the gators did hiss at us to let us know we were definitely intruding in their space. And if it wasn't for the 'safety' of our kayak, that hiss would put the fear of God into a man. Make no mistakes about it. An alligator is a fast and powerful creature. But knowing how they react in 'controlled' situations is crucial. A gator can almost ALWAYS be counted upon to run and flee when faced with a threat. An alligator wants no more to do with people than people want to do with a gator. Trouble is, Dot and I 'love' to play with gators.
No, this isn't as 'close' as it looks. The telephoto I use really brings them in.
This was pretty cool. These two gators were lying side by side. Dot and I both figured they were litter mates who happened to stay close to one another. We also thought they may have been a male and female but their size was too small for that we thought. They were each about 6 footers.
No doubt, a real handful of gators. These photos were taken out in Chesser Prairie. We saw most of the gators we saw out in this area. At one point we had a gator on the left, a gator on the right and a gator ahead, all within 100 feet of us. And the feeling is firmly instilled in us, this is THEIR home, THEIR territory. Still, we felt quite safe in our kayak. Our thinking is, to a gator a 12 1/2 foot kayak 'resembles' a 12 1/2 foot gator. And alligators respect size. Small gators will not antagonize a larger gator. They could be eaten. Alligators are cannibals. They will eat their own kind. And the small ones seem to know that.
This was a big boy. We guesstimated his length at 8 to 9 feet. Magnificent creatures, aren't they?
Another big-un.
This is something that Dot and I had both noticed. The alligators at Okefenokee Swamp have far smaller teeth than the alligators we saw on the Oklawaha River. The following photo is a picture of a very small gator on the Oklawaha River. See the teeth ?? Okefenokee gators just don't have the dentures that the Oklawaha gators have. Maybe one of my biological professor friends (Keith) can tell me if there are sub-species of American alligators. The difference in teeth is quite noticeable.
Out on Chesser Prairie. This was near the farthest point of our outing. We would have loved to have done more, but the number of gator encounters was obviously going down. It seemed the deeper we got into the prairie, the number of gators we saw went down. Odd it seemed.
But we did see some more of these. We had seen some earlier but they were so far away, we couldn't identify what they were. As it happened we passed some other kayakers going in the opposite direction who told us about these birds up ahead. These are sandhill cranes. I am pretty sure they are on the endangered species list. Or at the very least, threatened. Dot and I saw these birds at the Lowry Zoo in Tampa. This was Dots' first time seeing them in the wild. In the wild is much better than in the zoo.
And of course there were gators. It was funny. There were a couple of kayakers coming at us from the opposite direction and they didn't even see this gator they were within 20 feet of.
Some more sandhills.
And some more gators.
It seems like every body of water in Florida has great blue herons.
Another big boy.
This is a youngster. You can tell by the yellow stripes on its' tail.
Using cypress knees for support.
This is inside the Chesser Homestead house. That is a battery operated radio. To build this house a portable sawmill was brought in. For $150 and three weeks of labor, this house was built.
That is Mr. and Mrs. Chesser. Mrs. Chesser birthed 7 children in this house.
As a note, none of the furnishings you see here are original. However, when this restoration was undertaken, Mrs. Chesser was still alive and she and the restorators went 'shopping', and she told the restorators that she had furnishings as those depicted here.
In the kitchen area.
Back in this time period, one bath a week was the norm. Mrs. Chesser however bathed daily, as did her whole family.
The Chesser home from the outside. The raked sand yard served a multiple purpose. It kept insects and bugs away from the home. And it served as a firebreak should the woods catch fire.
So ends an extremely enjoyable trip to the Okefenokee Swamp. Oh yeah . . what did Dot do? We both knew that an alligator will 'take off' in the direction he is already headed. After 'colliding' with an alligator on the bank, I told Dot to go ahead, touch it. She of course said no way, huh uh, no. But as I nosed the kayak back toward the gator, Dot reached out and touched its' tail. Of course the gator took off . . in the opposite direction. But Dot has the very unique distinction of being able to say she touched an alligators' tail in the wild. Steve Irwin would be proud of my girl. And now . . . I am envious.
Enjoy !!!
P.S.
If you want me to ADD your name/email address to my emaillist when I add new photos to this website, email me at the address below and I will gladly add your name and address. If your name is already on the list, no problem.
Email to Jack Woodward mailto: jackwoodward66@hotmail.com
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