{"id":2177,"date":"2011-08-07T10:28:45","date_gmt":"2011-08-07T09:28:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/janetgover.com\/?p=2177"},"modified":"2011-08-07T10:28:45","modified_gmt":"2011-08-07T09:28:45","slug":"up-close-and-personal-with-alligators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/my-travels\/up-close-and-personal-with-alligators\/","title":{"rendered":"Up close and personal with alligators"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Not<\/a>
Not at all scary - honestly<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Last weekend, I was lucky enough to spend a day in the Florida Everglades. Wow!<\/p>\n

I’d read about the Everglades as a kid and always wanted to see them. From an air boat of course \u2013 there’s no other way.<\/p>\n

I have this dreadful habit of researching every place I visit \u2013 I fill my head with dates and facts and figures. For example, did you know that the Everglades is actually a slow moving river.. that’s right.. a river 60 miles wide and 100 miles long.<\/p>\n

That’s the\u00a0cold statistic \u2013 the reality is quite extraordinary.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The airboat engine was a bit scary<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The experience starts with the airboat – now there’s a thing. A massive V8 auto engine driving aircraft-style propellers pushing a flat bottomed boat over the water \u2013 with no moving parts below the waterline to get fouled by weeds and mud.<\/p>\n

There’s a cage around the engine to protect it \u2013 and us \u2013 but nothing can keep the noise down.<\/p>\n

The guides who took us stopped every now and then, turning the engine off so they could talk.<\/p>\n

The boats travel fast to rise up out of the water \u2013 which in places is just a few inches deep. In other places \u2013 it’s feet deep. Deep enough to hide alligators.<\/p>\n

\"Up<\/a>
Up close and personal - and he's not in a cage!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On the list of things I didn’t know \u2013 gators are curious. The sounds of the boats will attract them \u2013 and a few came for a look see at us.<\/p>\n

\"Airboat<\/a>
Airboat with aligator<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

They are the top of the food chain in the Everglades \u2013 and pretty much afraid of nothing.<\/p>\n

It’s easy to see why.<\/p>\n

They look pre-historic \u2013 but strangely enough, they were’t scary.<\/p>\n

Not really.<\/p>\n

Of course, I was safe inside a big boat with a guide to look out for me.<\/p>\n

It might be a very different story if I had been on my own.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Dead<\/a>
Dead Melaleuca trees<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

In the 1800’s, it was decided to drain this pesky swap and make usable farm land. At the time they didn\u2019t realize they were trying to drain a river.. oops!<\/p>\n

They imported some Australians to help\u2026 not people, trees.<\/p>\n

Melaleuca trees are known to absorb vast quantities of water \u2013 but not even the Melaleucas can drain a river and instead they are taking over \u2013 destroying the natural vegetation.<\/p>\n

Killing the trees has become a major undertaking \u2013 and now vast numbers of the bleached white trunks are now a feature of the park.<\/p>\n

.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The river of grass<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The most amazing thing about the ‘Glades, apart from the alligators, is the saw grass.<\/p>\n

This stuff grows in the water \u2013 it’s feet high and a person could lose themselves in there for days.<\/p>\n

It’s called sawgrass for a reason. If you’re not careful, just brushing the grass will cause a really nasty cut. \u00a0Which I guess brings me back to the alligators\u2026..<\/p>\n

Of course \u2013 one could always hope for the timely arrival of CSI Miami’s Horatio Caine and an airboat..<\/p>\n

Now there’s a thought!<\/p>\n

\"Holding<\/a>
Rescue me... please.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Last weekend, I was lucky enough to spend a day in the Florida Everglades. Wow! I’d read about the Everglades as a kid and always wanted to see them. From an…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-my-travels"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2177\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnhocking.net\/jg2025demo1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}