Alligators!!! Crocodiles!!!! Tigers!!!! Oh my!!!!
Today we’re at Wooten’s Everglade Airboat Tours for quite an exciting adventure! We are excited to hop on an airboat and cruise the Everglades, anxiously searching for alligators.
First thing to do upon arrival…
…purchase tickets and get the time for our rides!
The lady behind the ticket counter tells us it ‘ll be a few minutes before our airboat tour, so…….
…. we explore!!!!
….. finding this land driven airboat!
With excitement flowing through his arms, but uncertainty in his face, Tommy demonstrates his emotions on this airboat.
He even takes time to ponder the life of a wild crocodile! 🐲
Airboat Ride
We have to wait around a few minutes until our assigned boat arrives.
Boats seem to be full, so we start deliberating where we want to sit and how to beat the rest of the crowd on the boat to get our prized spot.
Could this be our boat???
Nope!
Waiting just a few minutes longer, our boat finally arrives and our number is called to board.
We land two front seats!!!!!!
Actually, we were the only ones in the front. The captain explains, if you sit up front, you will get wet.
We wanted the best view for the best pictures, so we’ll risk it!
As we journey through the swamp, we see epiphytes growing in the trees overhead.
Some of them are even blooming!
Riding along, we eagerly gaze between the trees to inspect for alligators.
We’re really hoping to see one.
The trees are pretty dense, so a hiding alligator would be pretty hard to spot. The crew here has yet to spot an alligator all day.
It is still pretty exciting just going along for the ride!
Oh!!!!!
What’s that???? A log????
Could it be???
Wow!!! A wild ALLIGATOR!!!
According to our Captain, this is the first alligator he’s seen all day!!
We try to follow him around snagging pictures of this fearful creature.
Can you spot him?
The gator is not amused by our antics and slithers away quickly.
As we make our way back to the dock, we are enamoured with views of the Everglades
We hop off the boat to dry land and complete a Swamp Buggy Ride.
We’re not as lucky on that ride and did not see much wildlife on the buggy.
Animal Sanctuary and Alligator Park
Tucked behind the gift shop, is a small animal sanctuary, home to numerous other animals outside the water.
Tigers lounge around their cages….
There’s additional views into the swampland….
And the paths are filled with seashells.
I’m sure all you seashell collectors are cringing at the sight of all the nice seashells broken along the path. The fact it, the shells are pretty much equivalent to gravel out here.
Alligator Show
It’s the end of the day, but there is one more alligator show.
Levi is the gator wrestler for this evening and Charlie is his gator. Before he starts his demonstration, he provides facts about the alligator and answers any questions from the audience.
This guy wears crocs…..
….. and works with gators…… 😁
Tommy finds a gator the size he is willing to wrestle!
The show begins with Levi explaining how bad alligator’s sight is. Most of their navigation is through touch.
While alligators have one of the strongest bits (3rd strongest in the world), it is easy for this wrangler to hold the mouth shut.
He turns to us and provides sweet poses!
Looking through pictures online and the postcards in the giftshop, this seems to be a pretty popular pose with the gators.
After the show, Levi pulls out some smaller gators we can pose with.
The alligator does not seem amused…
Shortly after the show, the park shuts down, so it’s time for us to go. We’ll leave you with this…..
What do you call an alligator in a vest?
Anyone care to comment?? 🙂