Florida Everglades Tours

Happy Mardi Gras, Adventurers! We celebrate Fat Tuesday down here in the Glades, too, and I have a belly full of blue crabs and Rosie Spoonbill put a strand of sparkly purple beads around my neck.  I’m trying to get this blog writ before the parade starts!  Wait…do I hear zydeco music?!  That’s my favorite! Unlike our alligator cousins down in the Louisiana bayou, we don’t stop celebrating Out Here.  We also have a Fat Wednesday, Fat Thursday, Fat Friday, Fat Saturday, and Fat Monday.  Sunday is Nap Sunday, which is a different kinda celebratin’ altogether, and not one you hear about all that much.  Maybe one day when I’m not in such a rush to get my blog posted on my swamputer, I’ll tell ya all about it.

It’s easier for us to celebrate out here in the Glades ‘cause we’re protected, see, and officially designated as the State Reptile, which makes us ambassadors.  We love our Glades, and we are tickled that so many folks are coming out to see us on the Everglades express tours and the full day Everglades adventures.

Well, friend, my toes are just a-tappin’ to that scratchy washboard beat, and this gator’s gotta dance.  There is a cute little 7-footer who caught my attention the other day, and I’m hoping I might catch hers at this here parade.  I may have me a dance partner after all!

Til then, gator friend!

It's hug a python day!

How’s it hangin’, gator friends?  We sure are enjoying all you folks coming down to see us right now.  I have even heard there are one or two of you that haven’t come out to the Everglades!  Now what in tarnation would make you miss out on a thing like that?  I hope this is only a rumor, but Greta the Great Blue Heron says there are even people who live in FLORIDA who have never seen the Everglades!  Can that be?  This gator is bewildered, to be sure.

Man, oh, man you don’t want to miss out on a trip here now.  Guess who else is staying with us for the winter?  Our buddies The White Pelicans.  We just love ‘em.  We’ve got a great flock of males and females passing through, and they are hot and heavy congregating over in rushes by the airboat ride.  If you’ve never seen one, these bad boys and girls have about a 9-foot wingspan and are just as purty in flight as an angel.   I like to sit in my gator hole and watch ‘em sail in big circles over the mangroves.  Helps me think.  They’ll stay around til summer comes and then head back to the up and out.  So, if you want to see ‘em, you need to get on down here.  Oh yeah—just a reminder to pack up your fishing lines and lures when you leave your own fishin’ spot.  These pelicans scoop up little fish and crayfish and so forth, and they might accidently scoop up that left-behind line ‘cause they don’t see it, which is sure torture on ‘em.   So remember to take your hooks and lines and lures back home with ya! Gator D sent me this pick of some fun young guys on a recent Full Day Everglades Adventure Tour hanging with the snakes. Too fun!

I’m outta here.  Til next time, gator friends!

Why did the alligator cross the road?

Airboats!

Take a look at this, friends!  Here’s something folks don’t get to see every day in the Everglades—a gator on the move from one side of the river to the other!  In this case, my little buddy Allie got  snapped on camera when she was leaving her sunning spot on the Turner River to go to the shady, swampy side.  She was spotted by a group of folks from Michigan when they were on their full day Everglades Adventure tour.  She is very excited knowing that her picture’s gonna be on the interweb—not too many gators get to be famous!

Now remember I wrote last week that there was something exciting going on in the Everglades?  Well, it turns out that the news is official:  mating season is on the way!!  Of course there is a lot to do to get ready.  The male birds are watching day-to-day to see whose feathers are getting brighter and bolder, and more and more we’re seeing bigger and bigger gators start to show up in the River of Grass.  And I’m talkin’ BIG guys—almost 14 feet long!  They’re coming around to start courtin’ the females, and, between you and me, I’ve been out in my gator hole rehearsin’ my bellow.  In a few more days, I’ll have it down pat, and then I can get out in the water and start bellowing along with all the other guys.  And who knows?  Some pretty lady gator just may find me better than all them other dudes!

I’m outta here, gator friend.  See you in the Glades!

Anaconda

White tailed deer

Howdy, my fellow Adventurers! What a week in the Everglades!  Full of migration traffic!  The spoonbills and the white pelicans are landing in giant families on the prairies these days, and I’ve heard it tell that the humans are doing a mighty fine job of getting down here to the warmth, too! Our guide Marlowe and her tour groups have been spotting deer, as well, on the Swamp Buggy ride while out on the Full Day Everglades Adventure Tour. It is getting crazy down here—and I mean that in a good way.  Our neck of the glades is warming up and it’s almost like we can feel how happy people are to be down here in sunny Florida soaking up the sunshine and taking our pictures. Even though it’s warmer here than in places like Pensilvainya (is that how you spell that?!?), our Everglades are drying up because we’re in our dry season.  That means you folks don’t need to wear white pants when you come out for your airboat ride, okay?  ‘Cause if you do, you’ll come back looking like a Dalmatian!  It’s muddy out there. But a l’il Everglades seasoning never hurt anybody, and you know that’s the truth. Caught up with Gator D yesterday at the Gator hole and this is what he had to say about a recent Full Day Everglades Adventure Tour of his: “Another wonderful day in the Everglades! It started out overcast and cool but ended up sunny and warm! Can’t beat that for a February day! It got into the 80’s! I love Southwest Florida! And I love swamp buggy’s, airboats, alligators, birds, saw grass, snakes, scorpions, spiders, and good food! Yep, I do and we experienced ALL OF IT TODAY!  I hope my passengers had just a fraction of the fun I did! I will never get enough of this spectacular wilderness called the Everglades!”  Well, you folks take good care and come see us—I especially know you’ll want to when you hear the big news from the birds.  But that’s gotta wait til my next post. Til then, gator friend!

The Roseate Strut

This pic is funny in so many ways...

Howdee-Do, Adventurers! Something fell out of the sky over the Everglades today, and it was wet and small.  Oh, yeah, RAIN!  It’s been awhile since we’ve seen that delicious concoction of hydrogen and oxygen, and we were ready for a winter shower! In ecohood news, things are about like you’d expect.  Greta the Great Blue Heron is hunting up a storm, the Egrets are also fishing like maniacs these days, and our good buddies the Roseate Spoonbills are flocking (harhar—get it?  flocking?) to our neck of the Glades to roost in the mangrove trees.  They sure make a pretty sight, their bright pink feathers against that deep ol’mangrove green.  It’s mighty preppie.  Or you could say it kinda looks like a watermelon.  Spoonbills get that pink in their feathers because of the shrimp and other tasty crustaceans they eat, like a flamingo.You know, Adventurers, that flamingos aren’t native Floridians, don’tcha?  They’re not, they’re from Africa!  We like having ‘em in Florida, but our native pink birds are the Rosies.   If you come pay us a visit, I’ll bet you’ll see some! Our guide Marlowe has been seeing so many of us alligators while out on the Full day Adventure Tour along the river bank too!

Had a chat with our guide Gator D yesterday and he said “Even on a cloudy, high-probability rain day, you can have fun in the Everglades if you have the right people who have a thirst for adventure and are ready to make the most of it no matter what! Today, I not only had such adventurers, but they were fun and attentive and even laughed at some of my jokes! Ain’t that special! I think it was quite a wonderful day and we managed to dodge the rain all day. That is pretty cool considering it was a 60% rain chance!
You gators were out in force today and I’m sure we saw several dozen in the wild. My passengers today held snakes, scorpions and alligators. Pretty good huh? I cannot tell you how blessed I am to have this job and to be able to share the Everglades with people, but today, I realized that I got the best job in the world!”  Wow, not many people can say they love their jobs, but not everybody can have a cool boss like Cristina either ;0)

Talk atcha soon, partners.  I’m off to enjoy the wet!

Girls day out

Scorpion Anyone?

Hello Everglades Adventurers! Gator Gil here with the latest updates about our Everglades Tours and our Tour guides Marlowe and Gator D. This time of year is one of my favorites out in the Everglades because it’s the time of the Great Migration.  That’s right.  Our human friends from up north are coming down now to enjoy our sunshine and warm days, and we love having visitors from Michigan, Minnesota, Pennsylvania…yesterday I even met a set of mates from Labrador, Canada!  That’s a long trip, folks.  But worth it, they said, because of all the wildlife they got to see during the Full day Adventure Tour with our guide Marlowe on their buggy ride and nature drive and, of course, the airboat!

We got some real surprising news yesterday when Greta the Great Blue Heron flew in with the latest gossip.  It seems that there is a big old crocodile who has traveled up from the south to enjoy our ecohood.  The squawk around town is that he’s been basking on the bank of the canal down by the Big Cypress Bend Boardwalk by the Fakahatchee State Preserve.  Imagine!  A crocodile this far north!  Why, it’s like having a celebrity walk through the door! Some folks think alligators and crocodiles are the same, but that’s not so one bit.  The crocs tend to grow a bit bigger, and they are really the ones who are green.  Or, greenish.  I’d say it’s more like olive drab, but I am more particular about color than most other alligators I know.  Gators are black, like charcoal. Crocodiles also have a bottom tooth that comes over their upper jaw, and we gators don’t have that.  All our teeth on our upper jaw go straight down.  We all belong to the same family, Crocodilian, but the only place in the whole world where we live together is right here in the Everglades because the water is just the right blend of salty and sweet for the both of us. I hope I get to meet him soon and give him a warm welcome.  Our tour guide Marlowe said, next time she sees him she will challenge him to an old fashioned wrastlin’ match.  Now that I gotta see! Maybe next time, adventurers, I will have a picture to show you! Speaking of Marlowe, we sure are glad to have her as part of our Everglades Adventure family, she has been a huge help helping me type up my blogs. It’s hard for me to hit the right keys on my swamputer with these big claws of mine!

Got an email from our guide, Gator D, about one of his recent trips. The subject line read: I’M STILL ALIVE…BARELY. Gator D wrote “Hey Gator Gil! It’s not everyday that I get to spend time in the Everglades with a group of refined women from New York and today was my lucky day! My boss warned me that I was in for some fun today but frankly I was not really prepared for what came my way! I was a little concerned when I saw Paula get in the Everglades tour van with high heels, a bag from Victoria Secrets, and another hand bag the size of a small suitcase and asking “will we be close to a Starbucks where we are going?”!  Boy was I happy that we did not get stuck in the swamp buggy or airboat and have to get out and push! Can you imagine? Caramel Mocha in one hand, Two HIGH HEELS in the other! How would we manage?  Oh well, I’m just funning, cause frankly, I had a blast and certainly enjoyed the diversity these ladies brought to the plate today! I totally enjoyed their company and the questions they had about this special place! It was my pleasure for sure to be in their company today, they made me laugh and the day went by too soon for me! I was impressed by the friendship these ladies shared and the camaraderie their “Literary Club” had. See ya later alligator- D” Haha! I love that guy Gator D. He’s such a ham!

Well folks, I’m gonna swim over to Turner River and meet up with some fellers there, do a little fishin’, and mess with Greta- she gets her feathers ruffled up so easy and all.

Howdy, there, Everglades Adventurers! Whoo-wee.   Just a few weeks ago I was complaining because my toes were too cold to type, and this week we’ve had some unseasonable hot weather.  I actually saw some people from a place called Britain sweating today!  That is one reason I am glad I’m cold-blooded.  I never have to worry about all that bothersome sweat.  It looks awful uncomfortable.  If I need to cool down, I head to the mud hole, or deeper underwater, which is so cool and peaceful. So I just had to show you this wonderful picture that my friend Julie Poggemann from way yonder in Michigan took while she was out here last week on a full day Everglades Adventure tour with us.  I’ve told you about gossipy old Greta the Great Blue Heron. Well, not only is she crackers at keeping track of the comings and goings of all us down here in the Everglades, she is also an EXCELLENT hunter.   I know for a fact the tour group stopped next to Greta to watch her do what she does best—catch lunch!  We heard the whole van oooohing and wowwwwwing as far back as Chester’s Good Time Gator Hole.  (Not that I would hang out in a place like that, no sir.)

Thanks again, Julie, for emailing me your wonderful photograph.  If you look in the back there, you can see my brother Wader.  He wanted to make sure you knew that was him and not his twin brother Clyde. Til next time!

Howdy,Adventurers! And greetings from the Everglades! Gator Gil here writing from my secret hideaway in the grasses of the great Everglades.  As I told you last time, we gators are territorial, and this spot I’m in is my favorite place in all the Everglades.  I like to come here to think and sun and look at cute girl gators from afar.  I find this a peaceful spot for keeping up with my blog as I watch the ibis flocks flap overhead and far off in the distance I can here Ms. Greta the Great Blue Heron fussing at somebody for interrupting her lunchtime hunt.   Greta the Great has a big mouth, which is good for catching fish—and it’s good for passing on the neighborhood gossip, too! She heard that the guys down at the Skunk Ape Research Headquarters, which all of you explorers get to experience when you take a tour with Everglades Adventures, took out the 18 foot, 200 lb yellow-headed reticulated python a few weeks ago.  What a treat!  Like most of the animals there, she was rescued from some not-so-responsible owners and handed over to Rick when she was just a little thing—only 4 cute feet long!  Now she’s all grown up–and still growing.   I just love the way the sun sparkles on her shiny scales.  She’s the prettiest snake around, but don’t tell the others I said that.  Especially Polly Python, you know how she can be. It is mighty peaceful out here in the glades.   We’ve had quite a few visitors lately who we can hear crying from the tour van because they are so sad about going back to civilization.  I understand what they mean—I wouldn’t want to be civilized for nothing! Enjoy your day, Adventurers!  I hope to see you soon.

Hi there, Everglades Adventurers! It’s been a little while since I’ve dusted off the old swamputer to give you all an update about the cool stuff we’re doing out here in the Glades because it’s been COLD!  Well, cold for out here…my toes were moving so slow I couldn’t even type!

We’ve been having a lot of fun lately even if it’s been a bit chilly.  There are a lot of us out on the banks of the Turner River these days swimming and making sure everyone knows who’s patch of the river belongs to who.  We alligators like our territory, and the many people from the Everglades Adventure tours have had a great time taking our pictures.  The day before the cold front came through, Marlowe and a family from Kentucky (hi, Aikmans!) saw about twenty-five of us out swimming and lounging and taking in the warmth from the sun.  That was a GREAT day in the Everglades! Many of our bird friends are out, too, and our buddies, the turtles, have been coming out to sit with us in the sun.  There are many anhingas out, as well as blue herons, and a lot of egrets.  The Ibises come out, too, and their legs and bills are starting to show more pinky-orange color.

Marlowe and “Gator D” Dwight have had a ball showing people from around the world all the wonders of our beautiful home.   Now is a great time of year for us to people-watch, and we’ve seen all kinds of you guys:  people from Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Illinois, Michigan, and even a place called Indiana!

Well, it’s sunny here today and it’s going to be in the upper 70’s, so I’m going to head out of here and go find my favorite spot on the muddy bank.  I hope you and your family can come see us soon!

I’ll be lookin’ for ya!

Gator Gil