Alligators have such a bad reputation. I have been told how to outrun one, informed that they eat pythons and have also seen numerous souvenirs with images of ferocious, jaws open wide gators imprinted on them. And yet, any gators I have seen are lazy slugs. They just lay around all day, either in the water or on the bank. I was hoping that I would see some ferociousness at The Deep Hole, home to an infinite number of alligators.
Since only 30 people per day are allowed to hike back to the Deep Hole, passes are required. Apparently, there are days when people are lined up at the ranger station at 7:30 am to wait for the office to open at 8. I made sure to bike up before 9 and was able to obtain four passes. Our friends Jan and Bobby joined us for the 2.5 mile trek to The Deep Hole.
When we reached the Hole we counted about 40 gators, all either laying around in the water or languishing on the bank. Usually, there are more in sight, but the people who got to the hole ahead of us came by canoe and the motion on top of the water caused lots of gators to go deep. As we walked closer to the water's edge the gators nearest to us dropped down lower into the water. In short, they wanted nothing to do with us.
We took lots of pictures, hiked back out and enjoyed an ice cream at the Myakka State Park, all very glad that we did the Deep Hole excursion.
The next day it was time for us to leave Myakka and occupy a site at Oscar Shearer State Park for the next five days. This is the third year in a row that we have spent time at this park; a beautiful park just off the highway between Venice and Sarasota.
Since Oscar Shearer is close to Venice we were able to golf at Bird Bay with the our friends at Venice Ranch. Thanks to Janet and Carl, we played a fun 18 holes. A quick tour of the East Venice Yacht club and Dinner at Robbie's Reef where I had freshly caught Margate, rounded out another great day.
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