6 Apr 2021
Today, we explored Okefenokee Swamp!
I booked us a tour with Okefenokee Adventures- unfortunately, it was still a bit cool out, and the waters were high, so they warned out that we might not see a ton of gators. This is our boat:
Our guide, Gordon, was super-knowledgeable- he gave us the history of the swamp, information about the local flora and fauna, and spotted some cool critters!
Inlet to the swamp:
Aren’t the reflections pretty?!
Back in the late 1890s, the Suwannee Canal company dug this canal in an attempt to drain the swamp and get easier access to the old-growth cypress, which they floated out of the swamp. But shipping the lumber was expensive and eventually the company went belly up.
OWL!!
Apparently, these 2 have made this tree their home:
Anhinga:
Sandhill Crane:
Alligator!
He was a smaller guy, maybe 5-6′
Spanish moss, which is neither Spanish nor moss- it’s actually more closely related to the pineapple:
Whatever the hawk is feeding its chick was most definitely still alive..
“Never Wet” flower- water just beads up and rolls off the leaves. This is where Gore-Tex comes from:
Lady’s Hat Pin and a baby cypress:
Lily (the flowers were just starting to open):
Alligator! He was sunning himself on that floating pad until the sound of our boat scared him off:
Farewell, gator:
Dragonflies!
This guy was ~9′
Farewell, swamp!
This alligator statue was just asking to have his picture taken:
(a group of ladies from our tour took some picture with this guy after me and totally copied my pose!)
After a quick lunch break, we took the Wildlife Drive to see more of the swamp:
When we checked in for our tour, the lady at the desk mentioned that there was a mom and baby gator living in this pool along the drive. I found the baby!
He’s like 3-4′ long
A butterfly!
There was a ditch running along the road, where we spotted this lunker of an alligator:
and a couple turtles sunning themselves:
Then, Matt spotted the tiniest of all the gators!!!
Can you find him?
He was maybe 18″ long- so tiny, so cute!
At the end of the drive was this neat boardwalk:
It started off nice and shady:
But quickly opened up:
The first of many dragonflies:
Matt was awesome at spotting critters, like this little snake:
Hiding under his sun-shade leaf:
And another snake!
More dragonflies!
Little fishes!
We could hear frogs all around, and I finally spotted one:
I also spotted a few of these spiders…
Yikes!
Found this tower at the end of our walk:
Swamp vista:
Swamp, close-up:
On the way back, I kept hearing this rustling sound and finally spotted the source- a whole pile of tiny snakes! They weren’t interested in staying still, so no great pictures 🙁
Then this little frog hopped up on a lily pad!
Before our boat tour, I spotted so many of these little water bugs swimming in circles, but I didn’t take their picture and by the time we got back, they were all gone 🙁 Finally spotted another one at the end of our hike!
On our way back out of the driving tour, we found the alligator that had been sunning himself on the bank swimming around:
Baby alligator was right where we had left him 🙂
Farewell, little guy!
Georgia has these super-long needled pines, like, seriously fluffy! Of course, I have no good pictures of the tree, but I rescued one of the pinecones and brought it home so I can try growing some here!
After exploring the swamp, we headed down to Jacksonville to visit Matt’s friend Brent and his family!