Alright, so I'd done a blog post about the everglades and I didn't even mention either of the two things that people are most likely to associate with them: fan-boats and alligators (I knew I'd get at least one comment about this).

Fan-boats are actually barred from the park itself, and we've always preferred self-propelled modes of transportation anyway; we've stuck to kayaks, canoes, bikes, etc.

Alligators, on the other hand, are not barred from the park. So we have seen some of those:



We biked down along (the confusingly named) Shark Valley trail, where we saw dozens. Many were no farther from the trail than the one in the photo below.



Afterwards we also talked to a ranger as we strolled along the path.

"So, as you can see, there are alligators all down along the path here. So why aren't we really scared of walking by them? Well, first off, they have a buffet dinner of fish and birds laid out in the creek in front of them for whenever they get hungry. Secondly, gators wouldn't normally think of us as food anyway. We're too big."

As we continued to walk down the path, we passed a woman crouching down with her arm outstretched; her friend was taking a photo in which the perspective made it look like she was petting the gator a few feet behind her.

"Now, making yourself look as small as possible is a good way to confuse the alligator and make it think you're closer to its usual size of prey."



Above: an alligator next its usual size of prey. Below: Mat doing his best impression (don't worry, this was actually taken in a separate, gatorless place)