The Okefenokee Swamp
It
was 5:30 AM, on a rather chilly May morning when we pulled into
the parking lot of Okefenokee Pastimes. There we were met by Steve
and his wife Jo, the owner/operators of Pastimes. We talked for a
minute, then headed up to the office where we took one last bathroom
break and packed a few essential to take with us like drinking water
and sunscreen. We loaded our stuff, while Steve finished attaching
the boat and trailer, then we all piled into the truck. From there,
it was a short ride to the main entrance of the park where the fun
was about to begin. As I stepped down on to the little flat bottom
boat that would provide our transportation for the next eight hours,
I just knew this was going to be something special. No sooner than
we had pushed off the dock our guide, Steve, pointed at the dark
water and at just above a whisper called out "gator."
In the predawn light I watched a line of bubbles about six feet
out in front of the boat coming right at us, we sat quietly as the
bubbles pasted under the boat and out the other side. Just minutes
later we spotted two more swimming across the narrow channel that
led to the swamp. One was much larger than the other and the big
one wasn't giving an inch. We had just enough room to pass him,
but he let us know he wasn't happy about it. His mouth opened wide
and out came a rather loud, and long hsssssss. As we inched even
closer, he snapped around to face the boat, paused, stared at us
for a moment and with a big resentfully slap of his tail, SMACK
disappeared into the black water. Shaking my head and laughing to
myself I remember thinking . . . AWESOME!! As I turned to look at
Barb (my wife) I notice her mouth was open too and so were her eyes
– like she’d just seen a ghost or something. Unlike
the gator however, it wasn't anger I saw on her face it was more
like - well fear, just bordering on panic. Teasing with her a bit
I said yea, and don't even think about getting out of the boat for
a swim. She mustered-up about half a smile. I heard her take a breath
and as the color started to return to her face she snapped around
looked at Steve and said. “Do they always do that, do we have
to be worried about them?” Steve answered “no, just
as long as you don’t get out of the boat.” He joked
with Barb a little and as she started to relax I asked “ummm,
can I have my arm back now???”
Say
the word "swamp" and something in our collective human
conciseness conjures up dark, creepy, ugly, images when actually
nothing could be further from the truth. It's hard for me to explain
to you what I saw and felt that day in a way that does the Okefenokee
justice. This is a beautiful and ancient place not yet spoiled by
human hands. Enter the swamp, and it’s as if you’ve
somehow been transported into another world, one with a strange
and watery landscape. The lose interpretation of the Indian word
Okefenokee is “land of the quaking earth.” It appears
there are pockets of dry land all around you in the form of small
islands, but looks can be deceiving. Upon closer inspection, what
you are actually looking at are floating islands of peat or simply
mounds of reeds and arrow weed. Set one foot out of the boat and
chances are you going to get wet. The swamp although beautiful is
in fact, a harsh environment, but one in which the plants and animals
who call it home have adapted extremely well.
As
we toured the Okefenokee with our guide Steve, one thing became
perfectly clear. In this place, we were the intruders and all the
wild things here knew it. We were being watched from every angle
as if we were sitting in a strange car, driving slowly through some
middle class suburban neighborhood. Never approached or in any real
danger but all the animals seemed to know where we were at and what
we were doing at all times. And although I like to consider myself
a student of nature, I must admit, I have never seen anything quite
like the Okefenokee Swamp. Truly this is a place worthy of our care
and respect. Even Barb agrees after her initial shock . . . she
enjoyed the trip tremendously.