April 2, 2014  #2

Prior to park hopping we gave Pam her "present".  A surprise ride on a airboat!  Our guide was Captain Billy - a bit grizzled and full of information.  I was surprised how loud the airboat was and understood why we had to wear headphones.  Another surprise was how FAST we went...it was exhilerating!!!  I was smiling the whole time - first we went down a canal and then out into a swamp.  Capn Billy took us to a gator nest - the female was in it - it said by the time she was done it would be a floating "island" that would support her and plenty of baby gators.  They had done a count of gators in this swamp by air and estimated there were probably a minimum of 5000 gators down there - yikes.  We didn't see that many at all, but I will take his word for it.

gator "nest"

baby gator