January 6, 2005
We decided to join the park's canoe trip to 9 Mile Pond. The ranger guides and informs which we thought would be great, and we were with 5 other canoes of two people each. This turned out to be a very good decision.
We all drove up to the pond where the canoes were already and once we got our life jackets, seat pads, and paddles, we were ready for a 3 hour trip. The first instruction the ranger gave us was that we were going to cross the front pond (not too big) and enter the byways of this eco system. There was a 7 or 8 foot alligator in the lake in our path. Megan, the ranger, said once we got in the canoes and started the alligator would move off as our canoe is twice its" size.
The alligator was not listening to this instruction as once this novice group got into our canoes and out on the water, the alligator started swimming towards us and quick instructions had to be given to us on how to back paddle the canoes to avoid upsetting the alligator. Apparently, upsetting the alligator is not a good thing; although, we were assured that no person has ever been killed or attacked by an alligator at the park. I hope the alligator is paying attention to what the ranger is saying.
Once we all got safely to the other side of the pond we entered the byway of this area and for the next couple of hours, we saw the most unusual sights. We had to s-curve through overhanging mangroves. These trees whose root systems arch up over the water and has lush green leaves also is host to air plants that attach themselves to the mangrove.
The water on the byways is only 1-2 feet deep and you can see all sorts of exotic plant life growing along the bottom. There was a small yellow flower sticking out of the water, but it was attached to 12 feet of green seaweed like material. Once we were out of this byway, we came to what looked like an open plain with grasses and mangroves everywhere. At first, it seemed like we were no longer on water, but of course we were. I had never seen anything like this. We paddled through the tall reeds and saw grasses seeing many raptors and sea birds along the way.
As we were nearing the end of this idyllic trip, we came out of the reeds to a small pond which we had to cross to another mangrove byway to get back to the main pond. We saw what looked like an alligator sunning on the bank. Its tail was facing us. We and two other canoes were on the side nearer this alligator when all of a sudden it stood up, its body almost two feel off the ground, and we all realized this was no alligator. In a split second this 16 foot crocodile charged the water with mouth open and was moving at blinding speed towards us. All three of us started paddling for our lives as it was clear we entered this fellows' space. No time for fear even though this crocodile was as long as our canoe. Once we were moving away from him at rapid speed, he settled down, but for a few moments we were concerned to say the least.
Once we got into the main pond, the alligator we first met decided it was going to block our way. Megan said to stop paddling and let the alligator pass, and once this happened, we safely pulled our canoes to shore. We were glad we had not just rented a canoe and gone alone on this beautiful peaceful lake!
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