Florida Fun - Airboat Ride

Another thing on my to do list was to take an airboat ride. If you've seen the movie Wild Things, an airboat is what Matt Dillon pilots around in one scene of that movie. Otherwise, an airboat is a flat bottomed boat with a giant fan on the back.

Me and the Airboat


The tour I took was on Lake Tohopekaliga, which is in the headwater system of the Florida Everglades. We saw a few wild egrets as we sped around, but mostly it was lily pads.

Lily Pads


The highlight of the trip was spending some time near wild alligators. The tour guide revved the engine floated us slowly towards a gator nest. This caused the nearby female alligator to become defensive and come out of the water near her nest. I was nearly within touching distance of the alligator which was actually a bit scary.

Gator and her Nest


We also stopped at another gator nest, but this time the gator hid under a marshy area just a few feet away. We could just barely see her nostrils above the mud, proving that gators are essentially invisible. They are quite skilled at camoflauge.