March 2020 Okefenokee Journal – Last minute packing, under-inflated trailer tires, construction on the interstate, slow drivers… just all the typical things that take place in this hectic world. We arrived in the Okefenokee later than I had desired. But once upon the waters of the swamp, all that was left behind. No cellular signal, no traffic noise, no way to even log on and work from home! Finally, our annual trip to spend some quality time with my alligator friends had arrived!
This year’s trip was special. My daughter brought along a friend this time… her first trip to the swamp; her first time being face-to-face with an alligator. We pushed off from the Stephen C Foster State Park boat dock for an hour paddle around Billy’s Lake. Thankfully, the gators did not disappoint. Being around 75 degrees, there were many large alligators out of the cold water and laid out on the logs and mound to soak up the last solar rays warming their reptilian bodies.
We got a couple of medium-sized gators to make a splash and spectacle for Gabrielle as they dove to the water to avoid our close approach. But she said it was more eerie when they slowly slunk off their stumps, crawled toward us into the blackwaters, and disappeared under the lily pads. She feared they were coming under our canoe to dump us in!
iNaturalist observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/42155282
