Some friends told us about the alligator farm in St. Augustine. They said it was fun and we never need an excuse to visit St. Augustine, so we packed our cameras and off we went. On the drive down my thoughts kept going back to JLBO and a comment he made on an earlier post. He seemed fascinated by them so I knew he would enjoy getting a visual run down on alligators. That said, Alex came up with the title and JLBO this post is dedicated to you. As always click on each photo to get a better view.
We arrived at the site and my first thought was that it seemed small and probably only had a few alligators.
But once inside you realize the place is huge, and seems like you have actually entered the tropics or at the very least, a Florida swamp.
Huge does not come close to describing this guy. He must have weighed a ton and was just lying there sunning himself and waiting for his next meal.
They have a creek that runs under a bridge to separate the various sections. On one side were the big guys like the one above.
We watched them swim around and were just amazed at the size of these guys. Once you saw one you thought was big, another that was even bigger would swim up
To prevent the big guys using the smaller ones as food, the smaller gators have their own little beach.
There is every specie you could imagine
And even an under water observation tank where you can watch these big boys hold their breath for a lot longer than you could imagine possible.
And then came the ranger as she was getting ready to do the next show.
I realized there was a lot more to see other than alligators but we will save that for the next post. For now, lets just enjoy a bit of the show
That video is really something especially when the alligator comes out of the water near the ranger. Good job!
ReplyDeleteThis is wonderful, Cherrie ! Awesome and fascinating ! I couldn't keep my eyes off those terrifying guys. I wonder how the ranger finds the guts to hold one of those things (however "tiny"...) on her forearm... She even looks poised with a faint smile on her face ! I'd probably scream and faint like a little girl, I would ! Indeed, I'm dying to go and visit this unusual "farm" some day. Thank you so much for this post (hope you won't think of me every time you see a gator, though ... smile)
ReplyDeleteJLBO,
ReplyDeleteDon't worry about my thinking of you when I see a gator, I simply thought about you wanting information on them. I'm with you on getting close to one of those eating machines. The little ranger was just that "little". She could not have been more than 5'5" but she handled those gators like she was 10 feet tall!