Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Alligator Hunting on the Peace River today!

Wow... what a spectacular day here in Central Florida! 82 deg. F. meant it was time to get outside and today we put the kayaks to work. I wanted a new pair of alligator shoes, so we needed to do a bit of hunting!

Now my good Friend Gerard, up in Waterloo sent me this picture today, which I assume is the top entrance to Florida, probably along the I 75 Hwy. The jet stream had really dipped low, but not near as low as Frostproof, so we are all good to go for you up coming visit Gerard!

The Peace River pretty near cuts Florida in half, running North, South. We gained access today over at a nice Park Area, at Fort Meade. (45 minute drive west for us from Frostproof.)

We simply loaded the 4 kayaks into the back of Big Moe... Tom and Cheryl's big 3500 GMC Truck. No muss, no fuss.

 

Tom is overseeing the launches above...this River is just perfect for doing what we were doing today... and Judy and Cheryl are putting on their game faces above...

Yup, got all our ducks in a row above...

Yikes, five minutes into our ride, and we found an obstacle to overcome...

Judy caught me going underneath this tree with her camera... just made it! Good thing I am a big loser!

 

This short video shows what we were faced with on the tree...

There was lots of wildlife on the river today, including this guy sitting up in the tree watching us...

Finally I found the gator I was looking for above...oh, wait, that was the turtle I found...rats!

There were a lot of these big turtles, which are actually gator food, but the gators were hiding...

 

We found a little fast water above, and Tom demonstrates how to run it...

We packed a nice lunch today, and we all sat out on the river enjoying the nature and filling our stomachs!

We found an old bridge that is used to cross the river, and went under... in all we travelled 4.8 miles on the water today, as I brought my trail GPS with me. There was a bit of a current in spots, but nothing to worry about. Great way to spend the day!

Made it back to the Resort in time for a swim and hot tub... followed by Happy Hour of course. Great day, other than I did not bag my gator! Have to continue wearing my old shoes...

Till tomorrow...

 

5 comments:

  1. Someday you will get that gator, good luck.

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  2. I'll bet there were lots of gators watching in anticipation of 'bagging you' John. You are brave folks to kayak in those waters as far as I'm concerned.

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  3. Being the biggest loser could be a reason whey the gators leave you alone!

    What a fun activity on the river you guys enjoyed. We love kayaking too but have we have not had much opportunity to do that so far this year.

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  4. We are in central Florida also, Winter Haven! Not sunny or warm today! brrrrrr! Another good river to kayak is the Alifia. You want gators? Go camp a few days at Myakka River State Park! Lots of them there and also good kayaking! We will be volunteering there beginning in March!

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