Okefenokee Swamp

We had one more Photoshop challenge submission from Andrea that I just have to share....how cool is this.

Before we left Georgia we just had to visit Okefenokee Swamp.

There's something that appeals to me about these...must be the sense of darkness and danger.

We took a short walk before our boat tour began.

We met him on our walk along the boardwalk. There are signs everywhere explaining that they are real and potentially dangerous. Apparently many people think they are remote controlled somehow and part of a show.

I like Old Roy's sense of humor taking those fish away.

Our first thing was to do the boat ride, and to me this was definitely the high point of the visit.

This is Sally- we'll meet some of youngsters later on during the boat trip

Our guide explained that generally gators like to just lay in the sun and digest last night's dinner and that Sally wouldn't bother us unless we threatened her babies.

 

Oh and such pretty babies they were!

As you can see, they have their mother's eyes.

As we passed the area with the babies we heard a splash as Mama entered the water, but our guide assured us she wouldn't charge the boat unless somebody tried to actually handle the little ones.  Believe me, nobody on this boat was going to try to snatch a baby away from her.  They were maybe a foot long and adorable but she was a good 11 feet of killing power.

Because this is a black water swamp, everything reflects nicely

Don't take these stairs...they go straight into the swamp

We climbed the observation tower to get these views

Famous? Perhaps although I'd never seen any of them.

After the boat trip we went to the nature show where a lady who lives in one of the RV's in their parking lot gives a very lively presentation of the turtles, snakes and alligators.  We noticed she also has a sheathed knife and carries a small pistol.   I'm not sure which I'd be more afraid of crossing in the dark.

This is a tortoise - a land turtle and she was lovely.

One of the baby snakes. We learned that if the head is narrow like your thumb it's not poisonous.  If it appears more like the fist at the end of your arm it's because it has venom sacs.

This was my favorite, her markings were absolutely gorgeous.  We were able to touch and hold all the snakes.

She has the mother snake around her neck and is holding two of the babies in her hands.

His name is Killer and he's just a baby but with enough biting pressure to remove a small finger.

She showed us how the inside of the mouth closes up to protect it when they are hunting or fighting underwater.

Then it was time to board the train for another trip through the swamp with a different guide.

At this point it was kind of the same old same old...same jokes, same info but we did get to see some pretty flowers...it's not just all about the gators.

Long Live the Creature...I mean The Queen of the Swamp