Any face to face with gators?

[The Chairman]

The swim area at Alexander is kept very safe by the park personnel. It is a rare gator that finds his way inside (usually at night) and they are quickly removed to other areas. The same is true for the swim area and run at Blue Spring. In hundreds of dives there (many examining the weed line) I have seen only one small gator, and the park rangers had removed him by the next day. There are lots of turtles there (including a rather large Gator Snapper) but they are all shy. The bream however are trained in ninja tactics and have been known to nip the unsuspecting ear lobe from time to time.

 

[NOVIZWHIZ]

We dive with 'gators all the time. They are generally not agressive. The problem you have is when the guy starts relating food to people...being fed scraps is a very good way to turn a wild gator, afraid of people, into one that looks at you as a source for food...we ocassioanlly have DNR trap a nuisance gator from one of the golf courses on Hilton Head and drop them off in the areas we dive...not good. Keep in mind a 6-8 ft gator has a brain about the size of an M&M...not real bright.

 

[BoulderScubaGuy]

It was a river otter... we don't have beavers that I know of. Be careful as they do "nip" and can carry rabies.

.... sounds the title of a movie or a glam bank from the 80s...

Anyway, thanks for the ID help. I never mentioned it to anyone at the shop while I was down there (don't know why). Just always assumed it was a beaver.. Thanks!

NetDoc-seeing as your from Altamonte Springs, you may remember Odyssea Scuba in a shopping center with a bank and grocery store. I don't remember the name of the grocery store, but its a common chain down there. I was at that store in the mid 90's before they closed. We used the Y pool on Intl Drive for confined water training.. I really miss that part of Florida. Just far enough away from the madness of Orlando and Disney but close enough to drive (if you wanted to), also close to springs and beach...

Thanks for the flashback,

Danny

 

[The Chairman]

They have opened up and closed again twice! He has finally moved to Costa Rica (I think) and don'tthink he will be trying again.

 

[Keysdrifter454]

I was wondering if anybody has been diving down south and encountered a gator while diving? If so, how did it go?
Just a thought
Kirk

I've seen them several times in Florida canals.

They take off when they see you.

I had one swim out of a car that I was reaching into.

(Sometimes diving wet has its advantages)

Try not to corner one.

 

[pipedope]

Try not to corner one.

Just think of what you do when your job is in HIS pipe.
:11:

Fortunately most retention ponds are not attractive to gators.
Gators want water that has a place for them to hide both underwater and out of the water. They also want a ready food source.

 

[drbill]

Did snorkel in Australia and encounter a croc. Fortunately it was a freshwater croc rather than a salt water "maneater" (I hear they actually prefer women). It just sat there and stared at me.

Dr. Bill

 

[MikeFerrara]

We come accross them fairly often in Florida springs. They're usually small,,,I think the biggest I've seen was maybe 4 or 5 feet. The ranger said it was 6 but I don't think so. We've had the little ones pretty close and I know a guy who faught one to get hiis planned deco spot back. LOL

BTW, I was told by the staff at Peacock that when one does get to be a problem (usually due to people feeding them) they no longer move them. Since they aren't endangered and they've had limited success moving them...they just kill them. So unless you want to some poor gator killed don't make a pet out of it.

 

[The Chairman]

How about these pics??? This 14 footer was photographed in Lake George.

 

[ranger]

We dive with them regularly when fossil diving, and they aren't a problem. You create a problem when anchoring too close to a females nest on the river bank, which I did one day. When I surfaced, she was patrolling the bank, spotted me and came out and stayed on my fintips all the way to the boat. This was watched by a diver on board my boat, waiting to dive. He was screaming but I was swimming to the boat with my ears under water and couldn't hear so I didn't know she was there, but it doesn't matter because I was fair game had she wanted me. The guy on the boat got a real thrill out of watching the drama unfold and as I got to the ladder and began pulling my fins, he informed me of the gator, and as I turned she swam by within arms length. The river we dive has an average of 100 divers in it every weekend, without encounter, so again I'd say they aren't a problem. We dive salt and freshwater here and I'll take gators over sharks any day.