In all the years we had been coming to Louisiana we had
never taken a swamp tour. The day before we had actually paddled our kayaks
along a small bayou in Palmetto Island State Park. So when our friends, Jim and
Nancy, (their blog is Running Down Our Dream), set up a group tour we took a
while before we decided we would join the adventure.
As we drove away from the dock the beauty of Lake Martin, with
Spanish moss draped bald cypress and sweet gum trees, was obvious. So before our tour guide Gary pointed out the
first alligator it really didn’t matter what else we saw as we were enchanted
by beauty of the place.
A little further Gary pointed out pink moss growing on the
north side of the tress, (it reminded me of watermelon snow which occurs in the
high mountains and has a distinct watermelon taste but cause diarrhea),
A night crowned heron waded and fed posing for a bit before
flying away. Slowly motoring deeper I saw a large bird in the thick trees and as
it flared I swung the camera, pushing the shutter button. It was a pileated
woodpecker, the one the character, Woody Woodpecker was based on.
I never really got another good image of it but a as we
continued on we passed gator after gator.
A little blue heron waded on top of
some floating vegetation and the guide told of people plunging through the supposed
solid ground and then drowning as the plants floated back over the openings,
(we have similar places near where we live in Yellowstone where vegetation mats
cover water in small glacial kettle lakes).
More gators and more birds as the guide used a combination
of stories and some jokes to teach us about the environment. Stopping we spied a
yellow crowned night heron and then another black crowned one. A barred owl
flared and then landed above us posing for our cameras and more clicking
shutters!
He pointed out the largest bald cypress in the swamp which
has a twenty three foot circumference and had been determined to be about five
hundred years old. A large area of the swamp was closed due to the nesting rookeries
of great and snowy egrets but we were able to catch glimpses of them as we
passed along.
Another place Gary pointed out purple iris and then an
alligator nest along with a nearby female and male gator. He drove the boat
expertly though the shallow water. At one point he rode his own bow wave to
pass through a particularly shallow spot. I had seen the technique used before
with a Texas skinny boat but never with a large john boat loaded with sixteen
passengers.
More alligators and more birds, a redhead and then a red wing
blackbird. An anhinga flew by too fast for me to catch with my camera. Several double
crested cormorants perched atop a cypress drying their wings, the common local name
for them is a water turkey.
More gators and more gators, including a large male who
showed us his back in a dominance display. The gators were really plentiful
along the shore and Gary told us it was a sign of an approaching cold front.
Renita identified a cattle egret near the public boat ramp
and we later talked about returning here to paddle with our kayaks. The two
hour tour passed too quick and as we docked our group applauded our excellent
guide, (be sure tip the guide)
It had been a great day and a great tour! A special thank
you to Jim and Nancy for setting it all up!
Clear skies
Ps We highly recommend Champagne’s Cajun Swamp tours and if
you haven’t noticed we take no advertising and accept no fees!
Another great post. It was fun to spend some time together.
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