My boyfriend Joseph is from Merritt Island, Florida. When he tells me tales of his homeland, he would tell me that alligators are virtually everywhere. And yet, when I visited, I hardly ever saw any. They tell me it was because we came in the wintertime when the gators are underwater because there is no sun, but I was determined to see some!
So his mom and I ventured off and took a 30 minute airboat tour by Twister Airboat Rides located in Cocoa, FL (about 40 minutes out of Orlando, FL). If you’re taking the 30 minute tour, there is no need for a reservation.
I wasn’t quite sure what to expect out of it all. Actually, I was expecting more of a Huckleberry Finn kind of adventure with old rickety boats and a foresty swampish style. What I got was a modern, motorized, loud boat on an open marsh. The sky was so nice and picturesque, especially compared to the previous day’s cloudy and stormy weather. The question then becomes, did I end up seeing gators through this tour?
*Blink Blink* The tour guide was super nice. Before we departed, he offered to take any photos that the passengers would like to have. Throughout the airboat tour, the guide was also helpful and stopped to let us take photos of the various wildlife living out in the marshes.
The boat is loud. The earmuffs that the tour provides really helps eliminate most of the sound while still allowing you to hear what the guide is saying.
Finally, GATORS! This one was quite close to my side of the boat. It crept up towards us, then dove underwater and I couldn’t see any further trace of it. Kind of scared me though; Made me think that it would just jump out onto the boat and I would have been its first victim! Throughout the tour, there weren’t many gators, at least not like as described by Joseph. I think we saw less than 7, and I imaged a truckload.
These cows belongs to a neighbor of the tour boat company. There was quite a few of them roaming around. I was puzzled as to how they got there in the first place but as it turns out, cows can swim! What?!
Thirty minutes really went by fast. There wasn’t much to see, and I’m guessing it’s because of the colder weather. But the boat ride was still very enjoyable. The water was beautiful, the sky was serene, and the boat hardly rocked in a nauseating way (probably because it was going so fast! I was so glad to be wearing glasses).
Afterwards, we went inside their restaurant called Lone Cabbage because they sell a specific meat that I’ve never tried: Alligator!
I got their sampler size just to see what it actually tasted like. The way it was cooked, the meat was sometimes chewy, sometimes dry. Overall, pretty good đ
