Canoeing with Alligators

The first time my family went down the Myakka River, rumored to be teeming will alligators, we took the tour boat pictured here out of Snook Haven in Sarasota County, Florida. We didn’t see any alligators, maybe because the boat captain was a loud fellow (the dude really didn’t need to use that bull horn) so we decided to come back and rent canoes, pictured below, for a peaceful river cruise. The Myakka is a beautiful river, the scene of an original Tarzan movie (I didn’t believe the boat captain that the monkeys escaped and were still in the trees). We wanted to get up close and personal to the river life, you know, commune with nature on our own sweet time.

Yikes! The kids pushed off in one canoe before we could get ours loaded, and right away we heard them scream, followed by a big splash! They said it was a “great big” alligator on the river bank that jumped in the water while they were trying to get the hang of navigating the canoe. By the time we caught up with them, we didn’t see anything. I thought maybe their imaginations were running a bit wild after listening to the boat captain’s crazy stories. It wasn’t until the trip back hours later when we passed the same spot and I saw the alligator – a 14 foot monster!

We saw maybe a half dozen alligators that day, mostly babies and young adults. The alligators didn’t bother us and we didn’t bother them. One thing for sure, we didn’t go swimming in the river like we do when we canoe Virginia’s rivers! The turtles and the water fowl and scenery were awesome to behold but I kept scanning the river for trouble so it wasn’t quite the peaceful trip I had envisioned.

Later we went to a backwoods restaurant and what was on the menu but alligator and turtle! I ordered alligator, to complete the experience.  I’m not sure I would do either of those things again, canoe with alligators or eat them. But hey, I did it, and I’m still talking about it!