Small Group Airboat Bayou Tour

If you do one thing while visiting New Orleans, I would definitely recommend this.  The small group is worth it.  We were six people in our airboat, plus our guide, and spent two hours out in the bayous of Louisiana.

The bayou is really interesting.  On the one hand, there is brackish water and tall reeds, with water plants thrown in for good measure.  It's easy to spot the old hunting lodges - they are typically on stilts and visible above the reeds. Travelling at high speeds in some places, I felt like I was in the opening scenes of CSI Miami, except this wasn't the everglades.

And then there are the cyprus swamps.  Some are old logging canals, when cyprus trees were being logged.  Those ones tended to be long and straight.  Others were naturally formed, and twisted and turned as we travelled in the boat. Lush cyprus trees, with over hanging branches covered in spanish moss, turtles sunning themselves on patches of land or driftwood, algae floating delicately on the water in places, birds calling in the distsnce.  Paints a beautiful picture, doesn't it? And it is definitely beautiful, and dangerous.  There are snakes and alligators.  Okay, we didn't see any snakes, but our guide, Steve, told us they are often in the tree branches overhanging the water.  Just as well that we didn't see any, because I don't like snakes.  But there ARE alligators, lots of alligators, and we did see them. Sometimes they were in the water in the distance.  Often, they looked like logs covered in algae, until we got up close and realized that the 'log'  had eyes and only the head was visible above the water. Sometimes, they were curious and came up close to the boat.

Bayou crack- ever heard of it? We know it as marshmallows.  Throw a white marshmallow in the bayou and watch what happens.  Alligators eat them.  Seems they are attracted to things that are white.  For me with my white hair, that means don't lean over the edge of the boat.  Where one eats, others come to investigate, and soon we had three or four at the side of the boat.  When Steve took out hot dogs, things got even more interesting. He put a piece of hot dog on the end of a stick about four feet long, and held it out over the water,  and lo and behold, the alligators jumped in the air for it.  One even got his head on the edge if the boat.  Steve told us that alligators can jump about half their body length, so feeding them by hand is a big no no.  Put the food on the end of a stick, and stand well back!

On the way back to the dock, Steve stopped the boat, and had a surprise for us in his cooler- a baby alligator.  Only about 11 months old, and a foot long, its teeth were like needles and could inflict some painful damage if we were not careful.  He showed us how to hold the baby gator.  We all took turns,  what a treat that was.  A great way to end our excursion.

As a bonus, on the way back to the dock, we saw a bald eagle.  Got a few good pictures of it, too.