We left Naples and traveled northeast to a free WMA campsite we found at CREW Cypress Dome Wildlife Management Area. Our initial plan was to spend the evening at CREW and head for Sanibel Island and other Gulf destinations the following morning. Our campsite was very nice and we have come to really enjoy camping at WMAs. A special use permit is generally required (and are often free); the campsites are usually well maintained, and we are often the only humans in the vicinity.
This pictures below are from a location near our campsite, but the site itself was inside a small secluded hollow of cedar, palmetto and evergreen trees. It was a very nice setting, and had timing been different, we likely would have stayed another night.
Before leaving CREW, George decided to check out a few of the trails on the motorbike...some of the marked trails permit off-road vehicles. He had ridden several hundred yards along a swamp waterway that was prime habitat for alligators. Sure enough, shortly thereafter he saw, tail laying halfway out into the lane, the largest alligator we've yet seen in Florida. It was easily 10-12 feet long, very well fed, and basking in the warmth of the late morning haze. It was as surprised to see me as I was to see it; as I drove by it picked itself up off the ground on all 4 legs as gators only do when they are ready to move fast and scurried down the bank to the cover of water. I disturbed his nap and he likely wasn't happy about it. A few hundred yards further and the lane came to a dead end, so I had no choice but to turn around and go back the same direction. I looked for the gator on the way back, but I didn't see him as he had clearly retreated to the cover of the swamp.
The approximate location of the alligator encounter was along the long straight trail running the width of the photo, right in the center of the picture.
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