By the end of our trip in the Everglades, a few stereotypes we had originally dismissed reasserted themselves for us.

1: Crocodiles. We had corrected a few people before departing that it's alligators you encounter in the Everglades, not crocodiles. Of course, we had to be proved wrong, and did see one specimen of the much-rarer American Crocodile.



2: "Swamp." Most of the Everglades is technically sawgrass prairie. It does get flooded with slow-flowing water for good parts of the year, but was largely dry during our visit.



On our last day in the park, we did a ranger-led "Slough Slog" which took us through some of the prairie but also into some wetter, boggier areas.



I'm checking the water depth here before starting some real slogging.



3: Alligators are scary. Despite the creep factor, alligators are generally very sedentary... almost to the point of seeming boring after a while. On the very last evening in the park, though, some were putting on quite a show.



What I didn't capture on video was the attempted feeding frenzy a few minutes later. The water stirred suddenly, and several huge fish started jumping clean out of the water. Some came close to jumping flat onto shore in order to escape the clasping gator jaws.