We arrived at Shark Valley just before 11:00, jumped out of the car to buy our tickets for the 11:00 tour, made a quick pit stop and climbed on board the open sided tram that would take us on a big loop around the area. You are almost always guaranteed to see TONS of alligators up close and personal. We had barely left the parking lot when the guide pointed out 11 baby alligators swimming around in a small pool of water not 5 feet from our tram. The tram stopped for a good look, an opportunity to take pictures and the beginning of a running commentary on the ecology of the Everglades. As you ride along at about 5 miles an hour there are lots and lots of birds and alligators of all sizes and shapes sitting in the water on either side of the road. You are constantly spinning in your seat to see all the creatures being pointed out by the guide who is sitting in the front of the tram next to the driver. This continues for about an hour until the tram reaches the mid point of "The Loop". At this point the driver pulls the tram off the road and every one disembarks to make a pee stop and/or climb the winding spiral ramp to the observation tower that stands at about 50 feet above the ground. From this vantage point the tourist is rewarded with a panoramic view of . . . grass. There is basically NOTHING to see for miles and miles and so for this very reason I made the decision to NOT climb the tower ramp but instead take a walk down the "Hummock Trail".
I have taken this Everglades tour many times before and each time I always climb the tower so when the tour guide said, "Be SURE to take a walk down the Hummock Trail" I decided that is exactly what I would do.
I sent Dale and Rhonda, (our Michigan guests) off toward the bathrooms and the tower climb and I took a left turn off into the canopy of trees that make up the hummock. (A hummock, for those of you who have never been fortunate enough to experience a walk on one, is a raised mound of land standing alone in a flat area. In the case of the Everglades these small islands rise about one foot above the swamp and become a garden for small trees and bushes.)
Now let me stop and tell you that I WAS listening to the tour guide as we drove along heading for the observation tower. She enlightened us all to the eco system of the hummock. She informed us that these areas become a habitat for creatures that live in the Everglades. And then in the VERY next breath she told us to BE SURE to take a walk down a trail that wound around a hummock just below the observation tower. Because I never knew this little trail was there I decided it would be fun to check it out. I told Dale where I was headed and stepped off the sidewalk into the shadowed damp world of . . . THE hummock. I took about 5 steps in and heard the voice in my head saying," THIS IS NOT A GOOD IDEA!". I hesitated for a moment thinking about the fact that I was alone on a hill of dirt in the middle of alligator infested water but then decided I needed to push myself "outside the box" and do something that I really was not comfortable with. The trail was narrow and dark with sunlight peeking through the canopy of trees. It was QUIET and really quite beautiful but the water on both sides of the path was a little disconcerting. I heard small splashes here and there and told myself it was probably just turtles because they were small splashes. I walked about 50 feet in and came to a small wooden bridge crossing the shallow water. I could see fish in the water but no sign of gators. I continued on a little ways and then decided I needed to turn around and head back out to civilization. As I walked back across the bridge I noticed a LARGE DARK SHAPE laying across the path up ahead totally blocking my way off the island. It was a Freaking BIG alligator that had climbed up onto the trail to lay in a small patch of sunlight. My "road block ' was probably about 10 feet long and a lot bigger than anything I ever wanted to be that close to. I stood there about 15 feet away from it trying to decide what the hell I was going to do. I found a stick that I banged on the trees around me and started yelling at the beast . . . NOTHING ! The damn thing didn't even blink ! I tried to find some rocks to throw at it but there are no rocks in a swamp. I luckily had my phone with me so I tried calling Dwayne who had stayed on the tram. NO SIGNAL ! (I'm in a freaking swamp!) I moved back to the little bridge and tried again and thankfully got through. The man answered and his first question was, "What do you want me to do?" quickly followed by, "Why did you go in there alone?". Both questions were extremely good ones but not exactly what I wanted to hear at that particular moment. (These comments coming from my "macho" man who has hunted bear in Alaska made me really wonder if all men are morons.) Just at that moment I heard Dale's voice coming from the path on the other side of the alligator. THANK GOD !!!!!! Dale could see the alligator and once we both stoped laughing he told me he had sent his wife off to get one of the rangers to rescue me. Dale and I stood on the trail shouting back and forth while he took some good pictures of the alligator with me in the back ground. A few minutes later I saw my rescuer Jose, (our tram driver) coming down the trail with a large tree branch in his hand. As he got closer I wondered just what he was going to do with that branch . . . smack the gator in the head? . . . throw it at the gator? . . . OR (much to my amazement) he bent down and banged the branch on the ground several times and the monster gator spun around in its spot and slid into the water. Apparently alligators have lousy hearing and sight but they feel vibrations through the ground so by smacking the earth the alligator knew someone was near.
Did I run into Jose's arms and hug him till he couldn't breathe ? Nah . . . I was cool and calm and just thanked him profusely. He did make me feel better by telling me I was not the first person to find themselves held hostage by an alligator. He also told me I was lucky he was the driver that day because some of his co-workers would NOT have been brave enough to do what he did.
Jose got a VERY big tip at the end of the tour !!
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