In this episode of 'Another Walk with Mike' we'll actually travel by kayak and not by foot. And we'll kayak with the Big Reptile... the American Alligator.
This encounter came after I returned my little prizes to their mother and knew of some gator near Daphne, Alabama where the highway bridge meets dry land. You can view these gator from the bridge while coming from Mobile to Daphne. I decided to get a closer look.
I was almost toppled. In the video, which I had to edit due to an expletive that shot out of my mouth, by accident of course. A huge gator had just entered the water and I was filming its wake when suddenly, I looked down and he was eye ball to eye ball with me, less than a foot from my kayak. I inadvertently said, "Oh ----" and I guess the gator had the same reaction and split in a hurry.
The water was muddy and it is very uncommon for a big gator to surface close to your water craft. It happens all the time with the smaller gator. Luckily, when he thrust down under, his body did not contact my kayak, but he did send plenty of water onto me and into my kayak. It was a close call to be toppled as even just in his submergence my kayak was dancing on the surface.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev2hYnobfN4"]YouTube - Kayaking with Gator[/ame]
This encounter came after I returned my little prizes to their mother and knew of some gator near Daphne, Alabama where the highway bridge meets dry land. You can view these gator from the bridge while coming from Mobile to Daphne. I decided to get a closer look.
I was almost toppled. In the video, which I had to edit due to an expletive that shot out of my mouth, by accident of course. A huge gator had just entered the water and I was filming its wake when suddenly, I looked down and he was eye ball to eye ball with me, less than a foot from my kayak. I inadvertently said, "Oh ----" and I guess the gator had the same reaction and split in a hurry.
The water was muddy and it is very uncommon for a big gator to surface close to your water craft. It happens all the time with the smaller gator. Luckily, when he thrust down under, his body did not contact my kayak, but he did send plenty of water onto me and into my kayak. It was a close call to be toppled as even just in his submergence my kayak was dancing on the surface.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ev2hYnobfN4"]YouTube - Kayaking with Gator[/ame]