TheraTx: there have 17 deaths since 1948 from gator attacks in FL. I'm supposed to believe this guy witnessed 6-7 at the same time and this never makes the news? there would have to be an article about this somewhere.

Jesus Christo People! Why the hell would you need to think twice about whether this is a true story or not?

jvl: TheraTx: there have 17 deaths since 1948 from gator attacks in FL. I'm supposed to believe this guy witnessed 6-7 at the same time and this never makes the news? there would have to be an article about this somewhere.

Jesus Christo People! Why the hell would you need to think twice about whether this is a true story or not?

It's true for God's sake! One part I left out -- I'm not proud of this -- but one of the younger Filipino men was swimming toward our canoe. His eyes were huge. He was terrified and thrashing, though swimming well enough to make progress toward our boat. My wife started screaming, so I hit him as hard as I could with the oar. It knocked him out and he was floating face down in the water. I used the oar to push him down as far as I could and held him there. I was afraid that if one of the big alligators lunged out of the water for him, his tail might capsize us. He was down there for what seemed like an eternity and he came to toward the end, but I felt this terrible jerk on the oar, which almost knocked it out of my hand. Then came the underwater mushroom cloud of blood, and the Filipino didn't come up again.

jvl: TheraTx: there have 17 deaths since 1948 from gator attacks in FL. I'm supposed to believe this guy witnessed 6-7 at the same time and this never makes the news? there would have to be an article about this somewhere.

Jesus Christo People! Why the hell would you need to think twice about whether this is a true story or not?

I've spent a lot of time camping/fishing/skiing/kayaking/boating in Florida and never heard of this. I've been to blue springs and never heard of this. I've never had a gator even bother us. We did decide to camp elsewhere though when we saw what had to be a 15 footer basking on the shoreline and not a single fark was given about us in our boat.

So the lesson is Filipinos make great gator bait

Reminds me of the stunt Michelle Kosinski of NBC pulled several years ago (new window)

Bonus: in light of the story reported before the flooding.

spentmiles: When my wife and I lived in Florida, we loved kayaking and canoeing through the springs and swamps. Not only was the surrounding jungle beautiful, but there was always that hint of danger knowing that alligators were lurking beneath the water. We called it quits though after an experience we had near Blue Springs State Park. As we were paddling away from the dock to start our trip, I noticed a group of children were throwing their picnic leftovers into the water, for the ducks. It didn't strike me as odd until it occurred to me later as to what they were actually doing - chumming the waters. The wife and I had a nice trip, uneventful, and were paddling back to the dock about two hours later.

Just as we approached, this canoe of six or seven Filipino men were trying to push off. The canoe could've safely held two, maybe three, but these jackasses had it loaded down so that the edges were near the water. One of him drops his paddle into the water, and as he's reaching for it, he upsets the boat which immediately fills with water and sinks underneath them. They weren't wearing life jackets and it didn't look like any of them knew how to swim. They were thirty yards or so from shore, and an old dead tree was sticking out of the water. They all scrambled and splashed for the tree, pushing each other away as they fought for safety.

There was no way in hell I was going to risk our boat trying to save them. In their panic, they would've surely tipped us over too. So I paddled us back a great enough distance to keep safe. Unfortunately, on shore, the mens' families and children were screaming on the shore, making the situation worse, though understandably frightened. All of the canoes had been rented out, so there wasn't much the park employees could do. They tried throwing them life jackets, which they should've been wearing, but the wide was strong enough to knock them down.

Then all of a sudden, one of the guy screams and goes under. You could still hear him screaming beneath the water. A big red blossom of blood explodes and the terrorized men tried to climb the dead tree to little success. Then another one goes under, but the gator that had him by the legs had competition from another gator. Both alligators lunge up and out of the water, this Filipino guy's legs and midsection stuck in the gator's jaws. He's screaming as the second gator grabs his arm and tears it off, blood spraying across the water. The blood and thrashing quickly drew more gators. And one by one, they pulled the Filipinos under. Heads and feet and hands would bob to the surface before one of the small gators would grab them under.

Quite a sickening experience and it ended my enthusiasm for canoeing in Florida...

You are so full of shiat.

1. The swamp and the springs are on opposite sides of the state.
2. alligators would not attack a group that large. Alligators are lazy little biatches.
3. I would have heard about this wholesale murder in the newspaper.
4. Smaller alligators would not be near this frenzy, for alligators are cannibals.

And I want to add. The water may be three feet deep, but the mud is ten feet deep.

Aaaand, once again, spentmiles has a full stringer.

"Florida..."

Ah, South Florida. Also known as the Swamp of Sadness.

spentmiles: When my wife and I lived in Florida, we loved kayaking and canoeing through the springs and swamps. Not only was the surrounding jungle beautiful, but there was always that hint of danger knowing that alligators were lurking beneath the water. We called it quits though after an experience we had near Blue Springs State Park. As we were paddling away from the dock to start our trip, I noticed a group of children were throwing their picnic leftovers into the water, for the ducks. It didn't strike me as odd until it occurred to me later as to what they were actually doing - chumming the waters. The wife and I had a nice trip, uneventful, and were paddling back to the dock about two hours later.

Just as we approached, this canoe of six or seven Filipino men were trying to push off. The canoe could've safely held two, maybe three, but these jackasses had it loaded down so that the edges were near the water. One of him drops his paddle into the water, and as he's reaching for it, he upsets the boat which immediately fills with water and sinks underneath them. They weren't wearing life jackets and it didn't look like any of them knew how to swim. They were thirty yards or so from shore, and an old dead tree was sticking out of the water. They all scrambled and splashed for the tree, pushing each other away as they fought for safety.

There was no way in hell I was going to risk our boat trying to save them. In their panic, they would've surely tipped us over too. So I paddled us back a great enough distance to keep safe. Unfortunately, on shore, the mens' families and children were screaming on the shore, making the situation worse, though understandably frightened. All of the canoes had been rented out, so there wasn't much the park employees could do. They tried throwing them life jackets, which they should've been wearing, but the wide was strong enough to knock them down.

Then all of a sudden, one of the guy screams and goes under. You could still hear him screaming beneath the water. A big red blossom of blood explodes and the terrorized men tried to climb the dead tree to little success. Then another one goes under, but the gator that had him by the legs had competition from another gator. Both alligators lunge up and out of the water, this Filipino guy's legs and midsection stuck in the gator's jaws. He's screaming as the second gator grabs his arm and tears it off, blood spraying across the water. The blood and thrashing quickly drew more gators. And one by one, they pulled the Filipinos under. Heads and feet and hands would bob to the surface before one of the small gators would grab them under.

Quite a sickening experience and it ended my enthusiasm for canoeing in Florida...

That's an amazing story and you tell it so well but after years of paddling in the Everglades my bullshiat detector is waking up the neighbors.

Oh noes, a big scary gator! It hissed at me a few times and started to walk away. Prolly 8 foot or so. again, oh noes!



/Everglades near Boynton beach, FL

Another scary one! ooooooh!



/it was less than two months ago. Just a cute widdle bayyyyyyyyy-beeeee

Osgood Conklin just declared this to be another American Tragedy.

/obscure-ish
//adjusts onion in belt

KidneyStone:
Oh noes, a big scary gator! It hissed at me a few times and started to walk away. Prolly 8 foot or so. again, oh noes!
Everglades near Boynton beach, FL
Another scary one! ooooooh!
...it was less than two months ago. Just a cute widdle bayyyyyyyyy-beeeee

Damn dude, you are lucky. Considering how cocky you are, your luck probably won't last. In the first picture, your little boat is not far from a female alligator protecting her eggs. If she got the mind to, she could easily capsize your vessel and devour you. Please tell me you at least carry a rifle on these trips. It won't do you much good, but if you fall in the water you may at least be able to kill yourself before the attack. I can tell that you don't get around these guys much, or you'd have more respect for them.

karmaceutical: 3ft of water... 5ft of muck on the bottom.

In the west portion of park the tides & winds are very strong. Couldn't make any forward progress in one of the bays as tide rushed out. In the water you'll get really cut up from the oysters that cover everything. Don't know if sharks come in, but dolphins do.

On a recent fishing trip to the Glades I somehow managed to drop my wallet overboard.As I watched it sink slowly towards bottom a very large,imported carp
grabed it in his jaws. With great dismay I saw him begin swimming away when from the shadows another carp struck,wrenching my wallet from the first carp.
Fast as lightning,another giant carp wrestled the wallet from the sceond fish.
I tell you, for awhile there it was wallet to wallet carpeting.

spentmiles. A winner is you.

spentmiles: KidneyStone:
Oh noes, a big scary gator! It hissed at me a few times and started to walk away. Prolly 8 foot or so. again, oh noes!
Everglades near Boynton beach, FL
Another scary one! ooooooh!
...it was less than two months ago. Just a cute widdle bayyyyyyyyy-beeeee

Damn dude, you are lucky. Considering how cocky you are, your luck probably won't last. In the first picture, your little boat is not far from a female alligator protecting her eggs. If she got the mind to, she could easily capsize your vessel and devour you. Please tell me you at least carry a rifle on these trips. It won't do you much good, but if you fall in the water you may at least be able to kill yourself before the attack. I can tell that you don't get around these guys much, or you'd have more respect for them.

I just want any possible tourists to know that gators are lazy and just do not attack full grown people. You can walk right by those punks. I've also never heard of a gator flipping a boat.

Also a rifle would suck. You want a boom stick.

Bank in the Jurassic age, my family spent a week on some lake in central Florida. There are pictures of us kids paddling to and from a diving platform about 20 feet off shore and a couple of logs floating near the shore. Thank God the pictures are old, faded and somewhat blurry or I would immediately start having nightmares right about now.

spentmiles: When my wife and I lived in Florida, we loved kayaking and canoeing through the springs and swamps. Not only was the surrounding jungle beautiful, but there was always that hint of danger knowing that alligators were lurking beneath the water. We called it quits though after an experience we had near Blue Springs State Park. As we were paddling away from the dock to start our trip, I noticed a group of children were throwing their picnic leftovers into the water, for the ducks. It didn't strike me as odd until it occurred to me later as to what they were actually doing - chumming the waters. The wife and I had a nice trip, uneventful, and were paddling back to the dock about two hours later.

Just as we approached, this canoe of six or seven Filipino men were trying to push off. The canoe could've safely held two, maybe three, but these jackasses had it loaded down so that the edges were near the water. One of him drops his paddle into the water, and as he's reaching for it, he upsets the boat which immediately fills with water and sinks underneath them. They weren't wearing life jackets and it didn't look like any of them knew how to swim. They were thirty yards or so from shore, and an old dead tree was sticking out of the water. They all scrambled and splashed for the tree, pushing each other away as they fought for safety.

There was no way in hell I was going to risk our boat trying to save them. In their panic, they would've surely tipped us over too. So I paddled us back a great enough distance to keep safe. Unfortunately, on shore, the mens' families and children were screaming on the shore, making the situation worse, though understandably frightened. All of the canoes had been rented out, so there wasn't much the park employees could do. They tried throwing them life jackets, which they should've been wearing, but the wide was strong enough to knock them down.

Then all of a sudden, one of the guy screams and goes under. You could still hear him screaming beneath the water. A big red blossom of blood explodes and the terrorized men tried to climb the dead tree to little success. Then another one goes under, but the gator that had him by the legs had competition from another gator. Both alligators lunge up and out of the water, this Filipino guy's legs and midsection stuck in the gator's jaws. He's screaming as the second gator grabs his arm and tears it off, blood spraying across the water. The blood and thrashing quickly drew more gators. And one by one, they pulled the Filipinos under. Heads and feet and hands would bob to the surface before one of the small gators would grab them under.

Quite a sickening experience and it ended my enthusiasm for canoeing in Florida...

Spentmiles, you are literally my favourite farker. As in the only person here I have favourited.

And I am always astounded at how many people take the bait. You make my day.

When I was captaining a yacht out of South Florida, we dropped anchor inside the reef at Dry Tortugas, west of the Florida Keys. At about cocktail time, I saw a SeaRay hauling ass towards the reef and tried to raise them on the VHF to tell say they were missing the cut by about a mile. No response. A minute later, after they hit the reef at about 20 knots, the wife's voice came over channel 16. "Oh my God! We're sinking! Help"

I radioed back, "You're not sinking, ma'am. You're sitting on top of a reef."

spentmiles: KidneyStone:
Oh noes, a big scary gator! It hissed at me a few times and started to walk away. Prolly 8 foot or so. again, oh noes!
Everglades near Boynton beach, FL
Another scary one! ooooooh!
...it was less than two months ago. Just a cute widdle bayyyyyyyyy-beeeee

Damn dude, you are lucky. Considering how cocky you are, your luck probably won't last. In the first picture, your little boat is not far from a female alligator protecting her eggs. If she got the mind to, she could easily capsize your vessel and devour you. Please tell me you at least carry a rifle on these trips. It won't do you much good, but if you fall in the water you may at least be able to kill yourself before the attack. I can tell that you don't get around these guys much, or you'd have more respect for them.

Ah, you're one of those. And a damn fine job you do!