Monday February 20th 2023

After the light rain ended near midnight the temperature stayed warm overnight. The morning was sunny and very still. The full sunshine and the lack of breeze allowed the temperature to climb rapidly into the upper half of the eighties. Along with the unseasonably warm temperature there was a lot of humidity. It combination was approaching the uncomfortable level.

The first thing after breakfast, I finished my day after arrival setup tasks and set out on a walk around the campground pond. My mission was to see am alligator or two. There are one or two alligators that claim the pond as their home. The campground hosts give out warnings and alligator instructions to every visitor. In past visits to this campground I’ve seen the gators sunning on the bank and even coming ashore to threaten little dogs that are getting walked a little to close to the edge. Today I didn’t see any gators in the pond, although one of my neighbors claimed there was big one out yesterday. I suspect I’ll see a gator or two in the pond before I leave on Thursday, but I was in a hurry.

Later in the day I drove a couple of miles back west on US 41 to the Oasis Visitors center. The drainage canal between the center and the road is always filled with gators. Today was no exception. There were many gators along with plenty of tourists watching them. The parking lot wasn’t quite as full today as it was yesterday, but the available parking spaces were in short supply. The alligators seemed to be more active today than other times I’ve visited. One big one was even very snappy with a smaller one that had the audacity to approach its location. My quest for alligators was satisfied.