Chasing ‘Gators

By A. Sayward Lamb

My first encounters with alligators happened in the summer of 1973, when my wife and I traveled from Maine to South Carolina to visit our niece Pam and her husband Daniel. Daniel worked for the Federal Wildlife Service and was stationed on Bulls Island, which is part of the Cape Romain National Wildlife Refuge. The island is located a few miles off the South Carolina coast and is accessible only by boat from a place called Moore’s Landing. It’s tricky getting out to the island because you have to plan your boat trip at high tide. At low tide the salt-water creek to the island is too low for any boat traffic, including flat bottom boats. Traffic also has to be in the daytime in order to find your way safely to and from the island.

We spent the best part of two days visiting on the island and had the opportunity to take some nature walks to see wildlife. During the first day we didn’t happen to get any close up views of alligators, so Daniel said he would take us out in his jeep after dark. The jeep was equipped with a spotlight and had a back seat that was mounted higher than a normal seat. This helped to give the riders a better view over the vegetation, thus enabling the person(s) a better chance to see game, such as alligators. That evening after dark, we took a ride over sections of the island. Of course Daniel knew the best spots to look for ‘gators. He used the spotlight to pick up the reflection of their eyes. Some of them were quite near and seemed mesmerized by the bright light; at least I noticed they didn’t move when the spotlight was shone their way.

Daniel stopped at one place and showed us a huge mound of vegetation that was on a small hummock surrounded by water. He asked us if we knew what the mound was but none of us had ever seen anything like it before. Then he told us it was an alligator nest and went on to explain how the female lays her eggs, then covers them with a heavy layer of vegetation. The heat generated by the decomposing vegetation naturally warms up the nest and helps to incubate the eggs. Daniel assured us that although we could not see the female who had laid the eggs, he was sure she was nearby protecting her nest.

Several years later my wife Cynthia and myself, toured around the east and west coasts of Florida. During that trip we occasionally saw alligators but they were generally several feet away, in a watery ditch or some body of water not too far from the road. Of course we were excited about seeing them because we came from the northeast where nothing like that exists, so it was interesting to watch them.

After my retirement, Cynthia and I decided to spend our winters in Florida, so we purchased a tag along trailer and brought it down with us. We stayed in the RV at a small campground in Plant City for a couple of winters, and later purchased a mobile home in that community. While at that park, we met a couple from Canada, Al and Audrey Curtis, and we became friends. After a few years, they moved to a RV park near Arcadia, Florida. One day my wife and I drove down with some friends, to visit them. While there, Al invited me to take a canoe trip upstream along a stretch of the Peace River. He said he knew of several places where ‘gators lay along the banks of the river, sunning themselves. I had my camcorder with me, so I was anxious to get the chance to catch them on tape. It wasn’t long before we had Al’s canoe loaded and were on our way to go chasing ‘gators.

We launched the canoe and I took the bow while Al rode in the stern to do the guiding for this trip. We both paddled upstream in the large river by following just a few feet off from the shoreline. Al kept pointing out places where we might see alligators, so I had my camcorder ready to photograph any that we might see. We did see a few ‘gators mostly on the further shore from us, so they were quite a distance away. After a while we approached a sharp right hand turn in the river. Al pointed out a sandy spot on the further side of the river and I would guess it was about a hundred yards from us. He said, “I often see a huge ‘gator over there on that sand bar, so keep a close watch that way.” I looked intensely that way but could not see anything of the huge ‘gator. We were just a few feet off shore, which at that point was near the bend in the river, and there was a banking about three to four feet high along the shoreline. For some unknown reason, I happened to glance to my right and there, only a few feet from us, was this huge alligator lying sort of docile on top of he banking. The instant I “eyeballed” it, the ‘gator came down over the banking, directly towards our canoe! I was sure there was not room enough for that huge creature to be able to get into the river without upsetting our canoe. It was only a matter of seconds before he hit the water and disappeared directly under the canoe. Fortunately for us, the water was deep enough along that banking to accommodate his departure without even touching our canoe. What a relief! For a few moments I had all sorts of thoughts running through my mind of what could happen if we were dumped into the river with that huge alligator so near. Fortunately for us, it didn’t happen and the rest of the trip wasn’t nearly as exciting as that close encounter. I was simply amazed at the speed of that alligator as it headed down over the riverbank and into the water. When I first saw it, I was thinking about how docile it was but in just an instant that ‘gator was going full speed. It is this deceptive speed that enables them to capture their prey and I was very thankful that we were not its target.

A couple of years ago, my good friend Milt Inman and myself, discussed the possibility of taking a canoe trip somewhere in the area to observe alligators. We both had visited the Hillsborough River State Park and had seen ‘gators from the observation platform that is adjacent to the river, so we decided this would be an interesting place to visit and observe wildlife.

We chose a day in early April of 2003 and planned to use my seventeen-foot Grumman Eagle aluminum canoe on this trip. In the early forenoon we had our lunches packed, the canoe loaded onto my station wagon and took several pieces of gear, which included: Safety vests, canoe paddles, binoculars, cameras, etc. We had been warned to be on the lookout for any snakes that might be on tree branches that hung out over the river, where they might fall into our canoe. To be prepared for such an event we took a metal bar with us because we didn’t want to be beating on snakes with our canoe paddles, if one should happen to land inside our canoe. We had no idea if we were being told the truth but we surely didn’t plan to take any chances, especially with venomous snakes. I think our fears were exaggerated by the fact that we both come from Maine, which has no poisonous snakes, so we never had to worry about this type of encounter.
After double checking our gear, we headed a few miles northwest of Plant City, to Hillsborough River State Park. This park is located on the westerly side of Route 301 and is located about nine miles north of Tampa and about six miles south of Zephyrhills. When we arrived there, we parked our vehicle in a parking lot adjacent to the boat launch site. We unloaded our canoe and carried it to the boat ramp, then pushed it into the edge of the water. Then we went back and carried the rest of our gear to the ramp and loaded it inside the canoe. I got settled onto the bow seat, while Milt took the stern. Milt shoved the canoe out into the water, jumped in, and we headed out through a narrow waterway that accesses the river itself. On the way to the river, we checked to make sure we had the loaded canoe trimmed properly, so it was balanced evenly. We weren’t going to take any unnecessary chances of tipping into the ‘ gator infested river–if we could possibly help it.

It was only a short distance out to the Hillsborough River and when we arrived there, we were right next to the observation deck that overlooks the river and back-up, in that picturesque spot. Two of our friends were standing on the platform. They knew we were planning this trip, so they drove up from the mobile home park where we live, to watch us head out on our trip. The day was beautiful, with very sunny skies and comfortable temperatures. The current was light, so we didn’t have to work hard at all to move upstream. We worked our way along slowly enjoying the scenery and also watching closely for alligators and other wildlife. We only paddled a few yards before we saw several alligators. Several were in the back-up, which covered a fairly wide area. I would estimate it was somewhere around one hundred yards wide and I have no idea how far it ran back from the main river because we could not see around the bend of the back-up. Along each shore we saw several alligators but decided to visit that area on our way back, later in the day.

The river, at our point of entrance, was really quite narrow and all along the banks were several trees that either had fallen into the river or had overhanging branches that came out over the river for some distance. The park is noted as a rookery for turkey buzzards and in the evenings, several of the birds can be seen as they arrive at that destination to roost for the night. We were too late to see them that morning so we continued our leisurely journey upstream. We were both attentive and anxious to observe the wildlife in their natural surroundings. Even so, Milt kept reminding me that I was the bowman and to be sure to keep my eyes out for any sort of life that might be on the low hanging branches that came out over the river. He really didn’t need to remind me of this possibility because I was not interested in having any “unwelcome visitors” inside our canoe.

We also had to keep close watch for any underwater obstacles that might hinder our way, such as submerged trees and other vegetation. We observed alligators, turtles and several varieties of birds. Once in awhile we would see a fish dimple on the surface of the water but we could not determine what type of fish they were. Boat traffic was light as we progressed up river and the river got smaller along the way. In some places we had to literally “squeeze” our way between the obstacles. In some places we noted where tree limbs, etc., had been sawed off and we suspected park personnel, to facilitate passage along the river with small watercraft did this. We met a couple of other canoes along the way and eventually we came upon a man in a paddleboat who was fishing. We chatted with him and he showed us several fish that he had caught. They were being towed on a stringer behind the boat. Milt and I both wondered about how he ever dared to tow those fish along behind his paddleboat. Our thoughts were about the possibility of an alligator biting on to them. Then again, we were not familiar about the eating habits of ‘gators, so it is likely our concerns had no merit.

We didn’t keep track of the numbers of ‘gators that we saw along the way. Some of them were lying on tree trunks, while others were on rocks. Some of them stayed where they were and allowed us to move up past them without moving. Others would allow us to only get so close before they slid off their perch and went out of sight. We saw one that was floating in the middle of the river, until we approached close enough for it to submerge. At one point we had to approach quite close to a smaller size alligator that was resting on a large rock and whose tail was very near the water, at a narrow point in the river. I told Milt that critter had better twist its tail out of the way before we rubbed against it with our canoe. We missed it, so continued on our way.

We were surprised at the numbers of turtles we saw. There were usually as many as four or five clustered on top of a tree trunk that came up out of the water at an oblique angle. We called them painted turtles but are not sure of what species they really are. We saw a blue heron sitting on a blown down tree, several feet above the water on the easterly side of the riverbank. We also saw a few cormorants and some white ibis, as we traveled both upstream and down river. The hours had really passed by very quickly and it was nearing the middle of the afternoon. By now we were nearly back to the point where we started.

Now was the time for us to take a closer look at the several ‘gators that were lolling around the perimeter of the back-up. I believe I mentioned seeing several in this area as we started our trip. We were pleased to see that they were still there. So with very slow movements of our canoe paddles, we proceeded quietly without taking our paddles out of the water. I would estimate most of the alligators we saw ranged anywhere from four to eight feet long. There were some huge ones that I felt were at least ten feet long. One thing for sure, I wasn’t about to get out my measuring tape and take exact measurements.

Some of them were completely out of the water, with most of them resting on the mud or on a log. Others had only part of their head and snouts out of the water, while others floated with their heads and backs showing. On the further side we saw a large ‘gator draped over the trunk of a tree that was at nearly the same level as the water. We noticed a medium sized ‘gator was stretched out on a log near the middle of the back-up. Milt suggested that we slowly ease our way over towards that one, so we progressed at a snail’s pace. We certainly did not want to convey that we were aggressive in any way.

Our approach was from the down streamside and frankly, I was very surprised when that ‘gator never moved as we moved up past it, only a paddle length away from the log! We remained very quiet but kept a close lookout as we went by. Milt was busy taking photos, so I started to make a left hand turn to move us away from that area. When I did this, the rear end of the canoe moved even closer to the log and the alligator. I didn’t look but Milt told me that he could have reached out and touched it with his arm. I was glad he didn’t! The remarkable thing is the fact that that reptile never moved throughout this close encounter until Milt passed by its head. Only then did the alligator turn its head, looking directly at Milt, but other than that it remained motionless on the log.

After we moved away nearer to the center of the back-up, Milt kept snapping pictures as we continued our slow cruise enjoying the sightings of several other ‘gators. We made sure that we didn’t get anywhere near those big ones and that none of them were coming our way. Eventually we turned and moved back down toward the main stream of the river. We could see several ‘gators watching us with only the tops of their heads and eyes showing. The distances from the canoe varied but none were very close or aggressive. At one time we counted seven different alligators circled completely around the canoe. Believe me, we kept a sharp watch of the direction we had to go to avoid getting too close to them. Our movements all during this excursion in the back-up was very slow and as it turned out, was a good plan for us. It was only a short distance back to the boat ramp and soon we had the canoe and other gear packed, ready to go home. This had been a wonderful trip that both of us enjoyed. We had the opportunity of seeing these creatures up close in their own habitat, and for that we are forever thankful. I am sure that Milt and I will always remember it as a very pleasant and unforgettable trip on that day when we went “Chasing ‘Gators.”

Copyrighted- All rights reserved
2005, by A. Sayward Lamb