26/8/2011 - Swamp Tour!

Last night, I could not sleep. Simply - I went to bed at midnight, and laid awake until 5 or 6am when I finally dropped off, only to wake up again at 7.30ish. I am living on a maximum of 3 hours sleep, this does not bode well for my mood, or my tolerance level. I laid in bed until 8.30am, drifting in and out of sleep but not really gaining any. This has resulted in me practically being a zombie today.

However I powered through and got shit done! ("And in the interests of powering through...") Not only did I go to Gwen's office to print out my various tickets and booking confirmations, but I also made it to the Post Office. Came back, ate lunch and then went on my tour.

Turned up at the place, around 20 minutes away, and realised I was the only one there for a tour that started in 10 minutes. Brilliant. Nonetheless they ran the tour and $20 later there I am on a boat with an old guy who calls himself 'Cap'n Daniel' for 2 hours, in the middle of a swamp. Sounds safe, no? It was more than sketchy. No I exaggerate, Cap'n Daniel was actually quite nice, if a little odd. It was hot as balls on the boat, but I managed to keep myself in the shade so no burn, yay! Saw some alligators who didn't want to come eat. Then saw some raccoons who really do look like little bandits. Not only do they have the eye mask look going and the striped tail, but they're little hands and fingers are really quick, they're perfect little thieves. Also saw some birds (Blue Herring, Egret) but the best birds were the vultures. Firstly they were really creepy because they followed us and kept flying really close, like they were waiting for us to keel over so they could have dinner! But the reason I loved watching them was they reminded me of the vultures in the Jungle Book - "I dunno, what'd you wanna do?" 


I saw a 12ft alligator who is apparently named Big Mac eat some chicken. 12ft... that is bigger than two of me. This alligator could swallow me whole, twice. That stuff is scary. Also saw a smaller alligator called Old Peg-leg, self-explantory but because he is missing a leg. The swamp is beautiful, actually, but in it's own special ways.

So now I'm watching the news and thinking how lucky I am to be out of New York and North Carolina as Hurricane Irene looks like its going to cause destruction. New York has a mandatory evacuation notice, as well as much of the rest of the East coast.