Gators

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Sunday 17th July - Gators in Honey Island Swamp


Intended going swimming but Rory has developed a rash which could be chicken pox so we stayed clear of the pool. Set off to do a midday swamp tour but did not arrive until almost 12:30. Reserved seats for the 2:30 tour and went into Slidell for something to eat. Found a restaurant. I asked the 'meet and greet' lady if I could see the menu, explaining I'm vegetarian. She then admitted she did not know what vegetarians eat. The menu was seafood extraordinaire, ribs, chicken, steak etc. We could have organised a salad but did not. Instead we went to Pizza Hut where we had a delicious olive Strip'N'Dipper - a rectangular pizza cut into 16 fingers accompanied by three dips. It was lovely even if the fingers were slightly too long and floppy to dip with decorum.

Back to the swamp. We set off on a shallow, narrow, covered aluminium boat. Firstly we had a look at the different types of boat, and different styles of fishing on the Pearl River which runs from Jackson Mississippi down to a lake south of Slidell Louisiana.

Then we had a quick run upstream before turning off into one of the many swamp areas. Lots of trees, lots of grasses, spiders, floating plants, Spanish moss. Did not see any snakes but there are some 36 different ones in Louisiana with representatives of all 4 types of venomous snakes. Lots of noise which I thought was a duck but was actually bulfrog. Later something that sounded like a bird which was another frog. Some turtles, but I only saw small ones.

Trees are mainly willow, Louisiana cypress (very hardy and waterproof, used for many of the fine mansions in New Orleans, impervious to weather and insects) and Tupelo. Many of the trees' roots grow upwards and form 'knees' sticking up in the air.

The stars of the tour are the alligators. There were several we met en route, encouraged to approach the boat with lures of marshmallow. They ranged in size from 2ft long to 9ft and maybe 350 kilos. They were fascinating and not in the least aggressive. Unfortunately I had forgotten to put the memory card in my camera and I was limited to eight shots. I had to keep taking and deleting if no good !

We all thoroughly enjoyed but Rory was geting hot and very uncomfortable by the end. Next stop the pharmacy to buy some Calpol-equivalent for Rory.

Channel-hopping while waiting for the pasta water to boil I found what looks like a local cable channel. Tonight is a music fest featuring the 'Abita Springs Opry', it is a rough equivalent of Hitchin Folk Club, complete with CD's available. An enthusiastic audience and a range of acoustic acts, albeit with a bluegrass/country flavour. I do not know if it is a weekly or annual thang. I will try and find out. It has a lovely home-made feel with just two cameras, one full-on, and the other from the side of the stage. It also has corny jokes from the mc between performers.

What strikes me as odd is that there are lots of banjo players and I thought they were more into fiddle and accordion/melodeon around here.

Yet another parallel with Hitchin is that many of the numbers are for dancing too, but there is no room to dance.

One big difference is that there is no beer.


(Bus fans - FYI Wayne's serial number is 329166 or 329186 and was built in Richmond, Indiana.)

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Photos

Does it need a title ?
This is one of several alligators which swam up to the boat for marshmallows. You may be able to make out the white blob just inside the end of its' mouth.

Large fishing boat
They do some serious fishing around here on the river.

Swamp view
Lesson: swamps have trees, marshes do not.