RE: [gardeners] 'gators!!??!
Anne Green (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Tue, 4 Mar 2003 06:18:27 -0500
Carolyn and Penny,
Our time swimming with the gators was also in the 60's and some 70's.
The gators were visible on the river bank, but none were in the water.
If they were moving, they were hungry and still looking for food. We
only got in the water if they were all sunning themselves.
The gators avoided us, as they have a natuaral fear of man. The only
time they over come it is when fools feed them and then humans are
associated with food. Unfortunately that is the way it goes when the
tourists come visiting. They want to pet and feed the gators.
I do remember being on the waters edge after dark and being scared
s***less. One noise and I was running.
Anne in FL
> Dear Anne in FL and you other wild ones,
>
> Swimming with the 'gators as a teenager??? Whoa nelly.
> Even just the
> thought of that sends shivers up my spine. What was that
> like? Would you
> open your eyes under water and see them there? Turn your
> head to get a
> breath while doing the Aussie crawl and spy them swimming
> along side of you?
> Yowser!
>
> glad to be a tame gardener,
> Carolyn
> Anne, back in the 60's, we were trailer camping with all 5 kids
> down in Ocala Nat'l Forest, Florida -- and when we let them go
> swimming in the river alongside the campground, we were
> shocked to discover the presence of alligators! There was a
> "fenced off" area in the water for the swimmers, but it
> wouldn't have taken a very bright gator any time to have
> breeched it, or the adjacent land ... so we plucked the kids
> out of the water, and declared it no-man's land. What a shock!
>
> Penny,NY