My job takes me into the Estero Bay on a tour boat owned by my good friends and employers Captains Mike and Cristina! The company is Good Time Charters and the Everglades piece of the company is Everglades Adventures.
I guide people on nature tours in search of dolphins, manatees, birds, shells and all creatures in the bay as well as Everglades tours. One of my goals and desires, as instilled in me by Cristina, the smartest biologist I know, is to help educate people on our ecosystems and the wildlife that inhabits them.
On a daily basis, I encounter wildlife of all kinds. Whether it is a 1000 pound dolphin or 1500 pound manatee, a 1000 pound gator, or a small Egret, I am always in awe of the beauty of nature. The diverse nature here in Southwest Florida offers someone like me a wonderful playground.
In September on our walk into the Everglades we had close up encounters with a mama gator guarding her nest. This can be a dangerous situation but we can get a close up view of her from the place we visit in relative safety.
The female gator can lay anywhere from 20 to 60 eggs. Typically in the wild, less than one percent of the babies make it to maturity. The babies make great snack food for other gators, birds, raccoons, snakes and other predators.
She was a beautiful girl for sure but I never got to see her babies. Boy would I have loved that!
Good going pretty lady! Maybe we will see you again next year!
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She is so gorgeous! I really hope I get to meet her this year!
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