Don't Rock This Boat: Southern Louisiana Swampland

On our third day in New Orleans, we boarded a tour bus that would take us to Jean Lafitte Tours for a swamp and bayou tour. Although the bus driver was giving a narrative of some of the local history as he was driving, there was a wheelchair ramp at the back of the bus that was folded up against the wall. The ramp was making such a racket banging against the wall, we couldn't hear most of what he was saying.

Nevertheless, when we disembarked from the bus, we boarded the Swamp Queen IV for our tour.

The Swamp Queen IV.

The swamp was actually not exactly what I had envisioned. It was much more watery than I had pictured in my mind, and it was much more open. A few of the channels that we travelled down were old man-made channels that were dredged out by energy companies so they could bring drilling rigs and platforms to various drilling locations in the swamp.

The first 100m was by far the most disgusting water. Green algae and slime floating on the surface, but the water cleared up as we moved away from the dock.

Surprisingly, there have been a lot of movies and television filmed in this area of Louisiana. Django Unchained, 12 Years a Slave, Interview with the Vampire, CSI: New Orleans are a few of the most recognizable titles.

Swamp shack-- a prop left over from a movie set.

December is the off season for swamp tours. Alligators become less and less active as cool weather moves in and water temperatures drop. In the coldest months (December - February), alligators are more likely to be dormant, burrowed into dens in the muddy banks of the bayou. However, we happened to be out on a relatively warm day (around 20 degrees), and there were quite a few creatures out sunning themselves.

Turtles sunning themselves on a log.

Our tour guide told us that in his 15 years of giving swamp tours, there had been several occasions where he had stopped the boat so tourists could take a look at a turtle, only to have a gator jump out of the water to eat that very turtle. We did not see anything like that on our tour, but there were many turtles out in the sun making easy targets of themselves.

Large alligator sunning himself.

Above is one of the largest alligators we saw on the tour-- probably five or six feet in length. Our tour guide tried to get the boat as close as he could so we could take some photos. Eventually we got too close, and the gator slipped off his (or her) log into the water, and swam away. Apparently it is impossible to determine the gender of an alligator without a thorough physical examination.

The tour guide was quite a character. He openly expressed his opinion that energy companies should continue to "drill baby, drill," in the Louisiana area. He also warned us that he would be handing around a baby alligator at the end of the tour, and if anyone was "one of those people who think that animals shouldn't be handed around and handled by people, then you should keep your opinions to yourself. Because the alligator is getting handed around anyway."

Overall, the alligator seemed pretty indifferent to being held.

Tom and baby alligator.

Me and the baby alligator.

Some parts of the swamp are actually quite pretty. I especially liked the area where Spanish moss was dangling off the cypress trees over the water. I imagine it would be a little spooky looking at night.

Spanish moss dangling from cypress trees.

Here's a good shot of Tom and I. Hopefully this will be the last you see of his bushy red beard... It looks particularly out of control in this photo...

Me and Thomas "Redbeard."

In addition to reptiles, the swamp is also home to a plethora of avian life. We saw buzzards , blue herons and egrets wading around in the shallow water, or perched on tree branches.

Ugly buzzards waiting for a meal.

On our way back to the dock, we spotted one more large alligator resting on a log. He (or she) was not particularly pleased about us snapping photos, and swam away quite quickly.

Big boy alligator #2.

We took one last look back at one of the channels we had travelled through before disembarking from the tour. See what I mean about being more open? I had envisioned there would be trees lining the bank, and Spanish moss as far as the eye can see. Maybe there are areas of Louisiana swampland that actually look like that... I'm not sure!