St. John's River

We took a little trip over to St. John's River planning to take another scenic boat ride and check out the gators and manatees, but we were disappointed to find out all the tour boats were booked for the day. So....we decided to do the next best thing and rent a two-man kayak and head out into the swampy waters on our own!

We started out fine, enjoying wilderness along the river the wide variety of birds perched above us in the trees.

We quickly departed the dock and any sign of human life.


Jim is expressing concern over the reports of plentiful alligators roaming the river we're floating on.

The water was extremely dark, so no manatees sightings despite the signage.

All is well.

Here's one of the many large turtles we saw basking in the sun. Then...just when we're feeling safe and secure in our surroundings...this appears!

He looks so small in this picture, but actually he was rather massive!

We tried to stay in the middle of the river where the water was deep to avoid his kind. We tried to paddle past this fiend of nature as quickly as we could, Jim expressing his wish to avoid becoming a gator snack. The next thing I hear is Jim screaming "PADDLE FAST! THERE'S A FREAKIN' GATOR COMING AFTER US! AHHHH! IT'S RIGHT NEXT TO US!"

At this point Jim is no longer enjoying the experience. I had to laugh a little, only because I didn't actually see the "scaled one" lunging after us and therefore didn't quite experience the same level of terror as my Jimmy. :-)