New Orleans Louisiana Swamp Tours

Saturday, July 9th, 2005

Pat and Justine took Lisa and I to the complete boonies for a honest to god Bayou tour!

They were a friendly folk...

We saw the Air Boats - those big fan-propelled things that routinely flip over and maim/kill everyone. Jesus they were LOUD! But the boy in me LOVED them anyway.

Our first major sight was the cemetery that had an Indian Burial Mound (seen here). This is the exact mound where Hank Williams sat and wrote both Jambalaya and I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry. So cool.

Here it is from afar... apparently before the Army Corp of Engineers buttressed the banks with rocks, the ground eroded so much that you would routinely see caskets slide out and into the waters. Awesome.

We passed by some docks too, and saw more doomed Air Boaters.

Shrimp Boats. Watever.

This is a live oak, covered in Spanish Moss. The dead limb (a little hard to see here, but pretty much dead center) is dead because of erosion - the root system is suffering. Apparently it's a big problem, but part of me thinks "it's just nature"... but who can blame people for wanting to keep the status quo?

Now, our three toothed guide said "will we see 'gators? Who knows. I don't" but sure enough we saw one in the distance. Little did I know how many we'd see.

We motored on about 3 minutes after that, and then he shut off the engines and we drifted to the edge of a bayou/land... and we were shortly under a polite siege by SEVEN Alligators. The guide started yelling "ooh! eecee! ooh!" and they came. He fed them raw chicken a little - but mostly marshmallows. Apparetly they are perfect! Not because alligators like the taste (they don't have taste buds) but because they float and are bright white!

They seemed for all the world like ducks at the city dock. Throw the bread, and watch them waggle around appreciatively.

And like ducks, they try to snag bits from the others.

They can lunge about half of their bodies out of the water. Good to know. The biggest one there was about six feet long...

Mr. Crazypants was totally blasé about feeding them with the gate open, half out of the boat. He requested that someone be sure to take a picture in case he fell out of the boat. Last time that happened, no one took a picture and he was bummed. I had his back.

I wonder if they like cocoa, too.

There was one four footer who just held back and looked at us... as if saying "they can have the marshmallows. I'm waiting for YOU".

Sometimes I didn't anticipate the digital camera's shutter lag too well, but now I'm glad I got the split second after they get the snack. Splash! These guys are big.

And my god - they look like dinosaurs!!

As we left, they seemed content. I bet they love these tour boats.

There were multiple areas where you could see the other narrow bayou deelies... it's really pretty and creepy.

There are parts that just seemed otherworldly.

Here's our boat.

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And then we stopped again for more gator fun!

This guy was HUGE.

Swam right up like he owned the place.

And got his chicken.

The little ones got in on the action too.

Later, a tree attacked us.

And when we were resting comfortably against some dead vegitation (where live vegitation grew on the surface), the guide brought out his one year old alligator!

He was passed around as a 2-3 footer idly swam by.

We each got our turn holding him. He felt like a thick balloon filled with Jell-o.

Lisa named him "Snappy".

And the big dead head 'gator prop came in for a photo op.

Pat and Justine got in on the action!

He was a perfect gentleman with the ladies.

We then headed out again - this time sorm clouds gathered.

We headed into the very narrow super-secluded sections... check out the creeptastic hunting shack!

Strangely, out here I still had two bars on my cell phone. That's one bar more than I get in my house.

We then headed down the "Bayou 'self" - the 'lil one-boat bayou.

It's hard to show scale here, but it's probably only fifteen feet wide - we only had a few feet between the side of the boat.

It started to rain.

HARD. We intentionally ran aground in this narrow bayou to shut the windows so that we wouldn't get drenched.

The 'gators still swam around in the rain...

Once we left the small private bayou, we headed back... and the rain started to taper off.

We were back in the open water where the big barges travelled, almost to the dock!

Bye bye!