02-09-2013, 09:59 PM
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Florida 2013 - Airboat ride
One of the highlights of our holiday was taking an airboat ride through the Central Florida Everglades at Lake Toho. As we checked in we saw a strange looking spider above our heads - it was a banana spider, not poisonous, however, if you are bitten, you will experience pain....
We had a short while to wait until it was time for our trip so we had a look around the area. The alligator farming project proved interesting
Fleets of airboats at the ready - they were huge, powerful, noisy and as we were about to find out - fast!
We were allocated a 6-seater boat just for the four of us ...... similar to this one..... (no, that isn't us!
)
We were given ear defenders to wear, went through some safety guidelines and we were off!
We zigzagged through narrow trails of tall reeds on the lookout for alligators and we spotted all kinds of wild life as we whipped through the swampy marsh. We saw turtles, a couple of black snakes, a wild hog, bald eagles, cranes and many species of wild fowl.
Suddenly our tour guide stopped abruptly..... at last, we were rewarded with an alligator's snout surfacing the swamp water.
..... and another one very close!
All too soon the ride was over and we sped over the water back to land.
When we arrived back we were given a talk about alligator conservation and were given the opportunity to hold "Fluffy", a two and a half year old alligator...... an opportunity I couldn't refuse!
Its underside felt so soft and warm .... wonderful!A great experience I will always remember!
03-09-2013, 12:15 AM
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Re: Florida 2013 - Airboat ride
Originally Posted by maryl
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What a wonderful experience for you Mags, to think ....... you actually held an alligator!
03-09-2013, 06:36 PM
10
Re: Florida 2013 - Airboat ride
Originally Posted by Graham
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We will be going to Florida in December and plan to go on airboat ride and to visit Gatorland in Orlando.
We visitied Gatorland on our last visit in 2010, really enjoyed it. They were holding a show about reptiles there and our daughter was chosen with three other people to help out. She was asked to choose 'heads or tails', she chose 'heads' and ended up holding the head end of a massive snake .... she was petrified!
I'll look forward to your photos
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