We're going to go on a little boat trip.
That's an alligator noise!
And we have come upon a colossal alligator!
Crime scene - two people eaten by alligators!
can you see its teeth? Oh my God!!
See if four come back or we are gator bait!
I don't think we should get too close!
We're Marianne and Chris in 2018 we quit the nine to five and bought Trudy our camper van.
We are currently on an adventure to drive the circumference of the World.
Today we're going on a boat trip !
So today we're going out with Kathy and Terry.
Marianne's looking very Texan this morning!
Is it Texan? I. would say so cowboy hat?
Southern! It's a southern hat - Hi y'all!
We're going to go on a little boat trip,
and what are we going to find today? Gators hopefully!
Whoa Terry whoa !
Alligators and manatees maybe? very exciting!
Are you ready to find some alligators?
I'm a bit wedged!
I'm fully prepared with drink and hydration!
I think it's going to be hot that's why we got the sun hats on today!
My hat was actually stolen from the van, but they very kindly lent me one to protect my bald head from the sun!
That's what we're hoping to see today - little manatees!
There you go the boat's all ready for you .... okay step this way!
Don't ride up there.
okay here is the ladder yep - if you want to go swimming with the gators?! you got to clip the ladder over there - not a good idea right?
Alligator bait? No!
If anybody falls in throw that to them so they can be spotted by other boaters okay.
don't fall in there, you be without your legs - if i fall in now, that is all i'm going to think of now Kathy thanks!
There used to have an fm radio, it's not there now, so don't put your paperwork or wallet there,
or it is going to come out with a fire extinguisher!
We will see if four of you come back?!
Okay captain Terry, we're good! We're off like a herd of turtles .... like a heard of turtles!!
We're going 'gator' watching!
So this is not what we expected in Florida,
this beautiful river system, this is just nature at its best !
This is the real Florida right? Yes the real Florida!
There you go, it's not all about theme parks and sea world!
It's about beautiful nature - and with the sun shining today,
we can actually see vultures flying up there!
Marianne's armed with binoculars,
Terry very kindly lent me his binoculars and Kathy's pointing out all these intriguing and interesting facts and things ...
All of the houses here have their own moorings how cool would that be?
We were just talking about alligators because i've never seen an alligator,
i've seen a crocodile but i've never seen an alligator !
And they were saying that they can actually climb fences!
Can they get in the boat? No, no they can't get in the boat - we're good
Do not go swimming kids, stay in the boat!
With chain-link fences they get their claws in and climb.
yeah they were also saying that a lot of tourists bring their dogs,
and if the dogs are off their leash and they go up to an alligator ......
an alligator can run how fast? about up to 30 miles an hour !
30 miles an hour! That's nuts!
So yeah don't let your dog off the leash if you're here in Florida!
We have got our eyes peeled for birds,
and we've just entered the manatee zone - so we're hoping fingers crossed,
if we're lucky, you may even see a manatee!
We've just stopped the boat,
Kathy spotted an alligator on a log!
That's incredible.
I don't think we should get too close
Can you see its teeth? Oh my God!
They are prehistoric creatures they literally just sat on that log there!
There's a turtle right next to it that's what I said,
oh is that what you can see moving?
It's incredible because you're so lucky when you see an actual animal in nature in the wild,
it's just such a blessing to have that experience.
And it's right there!
It is moving!
That was fantastic, I actually spotted i was looking through the camera and i just saw this turtle!
There was movement in front of it,
I was waiting for the alligator to launch at the turtle! But it didn't happen!
Wow what a shot, that's made my day!
Well spotted Kathy!
I couldn't understand why the turtle was just there in the front?! It's a crazy turtle!
So as we're going along the river we've just spotted some paddle boarders!
They're definitely braver than me after seeing the size of that alligator.
I'm not sure whether i'd want to stand on a paddle board in case i fell off and landed on one !
We love these natural experiences and as keen scuba divers and lovers of the ocean,
we've been looking ahead to where we're going on this adventure.
One of the places we're looking forward to is Baja, we've been watching a programme on Baja on curiosity stream.
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With so much marine life to see down there from turtles, to seals, whales and mola mola fish,
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Okay so we've moored up and then we're going to go for a little walk - no swimming!
So this is where we've jumped off - Blue Springs State Park.
Hold on isn't this a police line? Do not cross?
That's right ! Crime scene - two people eaten by alligators!
There you go! We've just seen this sign - Caution!
In the Blue Springs State Park,
they've got these lovely walkways along the edge of the water,
so that you can come and wait and try and spot manatees.
We've found or seen
loads of fish i said they look like pike, but the general consensus is they are gar is that ?
what it's called garfish,
and in amongst the garfish Terry's just spotted a couple of smaller manatee,
and he's also seen a bald eagle, so Chris has run off with the camera,
I really hope we can bring you how beautiful this park is!
It is stunning!
So just stood here somebody spotted right up there,
is a bald eagle!
That's the first bald eagle i've ever seen!
So we spotted a manatee that we thought had been caught up in like a fishing line or a buoy.
It's got a tracker on it,
and they got a manatee rescue and release ramp here,
so that's how they keep an eye on the rescued manatees,
to make sure they're okay.
And there's one swimming around with the buoy right there!
Walking along these walkways it feels like i'm in the jungles of Borneo?
It's absolutely does! Yeah Sepilok or in Costa Rica?!
Yes, it's incredibly tropical and the sound of the bugs which turns on and off - is bizarre!
I'm loving it, oh Kathy spotted something!
Yeah, is that a manatee or a fish? i think a small manatee - yes another one!
We've come down to where the divers would go in to the river but it's blocked off,
and it's locked, but the lovely thing is there's a sign saying it's because there are manatees in the area,
and obviously they're trying to look after them and not scare them in any way. So good job!
And if you're wondering why it's called Blue Spring, look at the colour of that water !
And that is actually the entrance to the spring ,where all the fresh water comes out!
Well this is the life! Lunch time on the boat cruising down the river!
Oh my god - Marianne's driving
i'm alright in Trudy but i'm not sure about the boat love?! We better get our life jackets!
There you go so we've turned off down the side channels now.
This is so beautiful!
Terry and Kathy rented this boat so we could go on our own adventure,
Wow we are so grateful! Look at this view, it's incredible!
We have seen so much wildlife a lot of which we can't get on camera because
it's happening way too quickly, but it's beautiful.
I'm not going to lie, I feel like i'm on an episode of Jurassic Park!
We are going down these waterways and we're listening out,
Kathy has got so much information about alligators,
and i'm not sure that we would have picked it up on the camera but you can hear them like grunting,
doing this guttural sound to each other,
because it's mating season that's just beginning now,
and she's pointing from one side to the other of the boat because you can hear them calling to each other!
We've just stopped the boat chris spotted a manatee in the grass right there,
having a good old munch!
But he's ducked down now but we're going to just hang out and see whether he pops his head back up!
He's come out of the grass and Chris was just jumping to the front of the boat to be able to film him in the water!
And we can hear alligators grunting around us!
This is this epic!
That's an alligator noise
That is another one!
Can you hear that?
Apparently during mating season they're very vocal ....
that is alligator love! That's the sound of alligator love!
These guys who live here,
said they haven't heard it this vocal,
but we've got at least three over there and there's definitely one over there!
So Marianne spotted a baby one the bank over there,
but then over there is mummy!
We're just coming to the end of our day trip out,
and we have come upon a colossal alligator!
It is massive!
Yeah it's been incredible seeing all the wildlife that we've been able to see.
I just hope you enjoyed it as much as we have?
What a fantastic day thank you guys, for such a fabulous day!
Thank you so much,
It was our pleasure, we had fun too!
Oh good, yes I laugh at Chris all the time!
So we've seen many a mailbox in the States, but that is the first manatee one that i've seen !
Very appropriate for this area!
We hope you enjoyed this episode, if you like to see more nature and wild places?
Then check out this video when we headed up to the North of Georgia,
up to the Georgian / Russian friendship monument.