Adventure Kayaking doesn’t need to involve whitewater. Possibly you could include this trip in the adventure category. Very smooth water, hundreds of beautiful birds, and a dozen alligators a couple kayak lengths away. At least those are the few we saw… we’re told the big ones hear you coming and slide under the water till you’ve passed. Which makes you wonder if that log we hit underwater is really a log, or…?

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The bird watching was amazing. The most common was the White Ibis:

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And yes, we saw quite a few American Alligators… They prefer fresh or brackish water, unlike the Crocodiles found further south in Florida.

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A few turtles, too. I think this guy is a Suwannee Cooter.

Great Blue Heron:

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Roseate Spoonbills can be a very dramatic pink.

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Lazy ‘Gators.

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Something disturbing sent a whole crowd of White Ibis soaring into the sky. They appear all white when on the ground, but when flying reveal black areas and fancy black wingtips.

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This guy may be a Little Blue Heron, but I’m not sure… if you know him, let me know!

[Subsequent investigation has confirmed he is a Little Blue Heron]

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More Roseate Spoonbills.

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And Ibis…

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Extroverts and Introverts:

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It was a bit intimidating cruising by all the alligators in an inflatable kayak. They seemed bigger and heavier than we were, and had significantly more teeth!

It was cool enough that they were quite lethargic. We were told that when it is warmer, we will see fifty or more, and more active ones, where we saw a dozen this trip. I can hardly wait! (?)

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We occasionally saw areas maybe 20 feet across where all of a sudden, lots of fish would start jumping out of the water. We wondered if that meant a ‘gator was fishing under the water. Then once we saw a few fish jump near the bow of our little kayak, and a couple big swishes in the water. We didn’t see him, but are pretty sure we had an alligator two feet off our bow!