Canoeing With Alligators on the Previous Santee Canal

Only north of Charleston, South Carolina stroll miles of waterways that once constructed a great canal system. Today set apart as a wildlife refuge and dubbed Old Santee Canal Park, the area shelters great egrets, little blue herons, water moccasins and plenty and lots of alligators.

Routes meander about marshy pools and through wet woods and broad walkways give secure passage around dirt houses and soupy green swamps. I desire exploration and can cheerfully choose a go, but I have no goal to getting up close and personal with a pre-historic natural leviathan.

We agree to put boating on the rear burner and explore the reserve from the protection of the boardwalk. Cyprus and sycamore trees system over mind and white flower mallow plants in the marsh. click this I pay attention to my surroundings, psychologically cataloging the flora and periodically stopping to see what fauna I may spy in the complicated undergrowth.

We perform a fast march back again to the interpretive middle and, for five dollars, lease a boat. In moments, we clamber in and push off to the stormy water.Osprey peer at us from tree tops nests and good blue herons quest bug fish in the shallows. Box turtles and yellow bellied sliders sunlight themselves on floating logs. We paddle in to the far reaches of the canal system where crazy rice develops and Spanish moss drips from the trees.

The station narrows and we cautiously understand below a reduced green bridge. The air remains and hot and tickles my nose. I check the shore for tell-tale gator slides. And then we see him-a ten base splendor resting on the bank. I can’t help myself; I need to get closer.

We exercise when, hard, take our knives out of the water, and silently move in. The reptile starts his eyes and, apparently not happy with this intrusion on his siesta, shifts his massive fat, lurches into the water, and swims correct under our canoe. I possibly could easily touch him. My center races. I am enchanted and terrified. And then, just that way, he’s gone.