Kayak FUN! June 19, 2010

Had a great day on the water today with 9 great young people from Naples! Congrats to all of you for suffering through those long long years of school, hearing all the teachers complain about life, and what you always did wrong, and hearing your folks beg and plead that you stay focused and not get boyfriends or girlfriends -- telling you that there is more to life then going out and having fun, making you come home at 11 when the party is not even over till 12. Not allowing you to get a new Corvette at 16 when you know it would be the best thing for you!

Oh wait, thats MY story. Yeah, all you guys looked and acted very well put together!

Good luck in your future endeavors, whatever they may be, and don't forget your friendships! It may be a long time before all of you are together again.

Hope you enjoy the pics and vids. Share them with other friends who were not here with us today!

Thanks again, folks! Gator D signing off for now heading out for another adventure!

June 16, 2010 "Everglades, River Of Grass, NOT"

Well, as the days pass, and the "dryness" continues here in the Everglades, our waters tend to go away. The tour went on and we had a great day but I noticed that the water was lower again today. We need rain. We are fortunate that we had a lot of rain in the winter and feel good about the extended water levels but now we should be getting more rain. Oh well, we will hope so.

Had a great time today, the weather was HOT, but I love it! I love feeling the sun on my face and feeling the sweat running down my face. I know, some of you think I'm nuts, but I never got acclimated to the cold up north so I can easily fit here in the hot humid south. I grew up here. It is in my blood. My father-in-law always said he did not feel good unless his lungs were filled with water, meaning this humidity in Ft. Myers. I agree with him.

So we left out, headed south, and made our first stop at McDonald's so that our crew could hit the head and get refreshments before we hit Alligator Alley. Of course, we pull into the parking lot and there was a bus! We went into the McDonald's and there were 1000 people! Well, ok, not 1000, maybe 50 but, whatever! We still made our stop a good one and quite efficiently I may add. Then we headed on!

No birds out today. I suppose they were sitting in the air conditioning somewhere. Although the water level was low I did not see the "schooling up" of fish as we would normally get at this time, which draws the birds into consolidated areas to feed. Not sure whats going on there!

We had a fun time at the "Skunk Ape" museum and got some nice touchy feely time with the green anaconda, the tarantula and birds.

We saw some gators on Turner River and got some good close ups. Boy do I love the Turner! My favorite place in the world I think, except the Holiday Inn on Ft. Myers Beach (for those of you who know me well, lol).

We got to Corey's, the weather held, and we got a great ride in on the airboat. As always, Capt. Gary was in rare form, his medicine was working and he returned all my customers to the dock. All was well, they were smiling, I did NOT have to do paperwork! And all of you who know me KNOW that I HATE paperwork!

Well, I put in a long day, fun day, wonderful day, but now, I need to get off of here and prepare for tomorrow! I hope all of you who joined me today for this safari had a good day! I know I did! Thank you for choosing Good Time Charters Everglades Adventures! I am happy you did! Enjoy the pictures!

This is a "foot print" of an 11 foot gator that I tracked going from the main lake behind the "chickee" at Corey's into the south end of the marsh. HUGE!

I had an issue loading the videos I took. Not sure whats going on there but if I get it worked out I will add them later.

Have a great journey home and smile! All is well!

Gator D! Signing off!

June 15, 2010 "KILLER MANATEE STRIKES DELAWARE FAMILY!"

Sweet day on the water today! Yes it was! The temperature here in south Florida is a little warmer than normal but what a day it made for our kayak journey today. I was with a wonderful family, Cindy, Steve, Amy and Emily from Delaware and boy howdy did we have a great experience! You don't believe me? Just ask Steve! Steve was attacked by a whole gang of KILLER MANATEE!

Yes you heard me right! In all the years I have kayaked in the back bay this was the FIRST and ONLY time I have witnessed the sight that played out before me.

We spotted a group of manatee, I estimated about 8 of them, so we paddled over to get a closer look. Soon they were all around us, playing quietly as they do. Then all of a sudden one EXPLODED from under Steve's boat and the wake it drew was at least a foot high and it slammed into Steve and headed straight for me. It hit me in the side of the yak and totally soaked me and my gear! The good thing is that I had placed my iPhone in a drypack (why I am not sure i normally do NOT).

Anyway, that gave us all a good spook and motivated us to move on down the line so to speak! It was a "heartbeat raising" experience for sure and it certainly made for a good kayak journey! It was FUN! My wife and I have experienced similar situations, where manatee come under the boat to "explore" and lift us out of the water but I have never seen that kind of explosive power from them. I know they are not the slow creatures that they are said to be, but boy that was wonderfully explosive!

Anyway, there were not a lot of birds out but we did spot Osprey, Egrets and a little green heron. Very nice day and nice people!

Hope you all enjoy the pics! Thanks for joining me!

Sw