Adventures with Alligators

One of the activities that we introduced Catelyn to while we were in Myrtle Beach was an alligator refuge -- an Alligator Adventure to be exact. It is a chunk of land that they devoted to alligators (like a zoo), and they have slowly added other animals to the mix, like tigers, otters, birds, turtles, etc. Mike discovered it while he was driving around scouting out a restaurant we were trying to find. And let me just say, Catelyn was in HEAVEN.

She loved all of the different animals that we saw and had a blast pointing out all of the babies, mommies and daddies. We arrived just in time for one of the alligator feedings so we made our way to the other side of the park, weaving our way through the different exhibits. We had to walk over a wooden walkway across the lake that the alligators were swimming around in. And let's just say, momma was not pleased. A nervous wreck to be exact. There was a high fence along both sides of the railing to keep the visitors in and the creatures out, but it was still quite unnerving to be hovering directly above the toothy occupants. We made it to the feeding, in one piece, and had a pretty direct view of the zoo keepers dropping chicken parts down to the hungry alligators below. While the alligators lunged out of the water for their snack, the keepers told us about an alligator's diet and their activities. I didn't hear too much of the conversation because I was so transfixed on these several hundred pound alligators leaping straight up in the air to catch the falling chicken (first photo below). Catelyn was pretty mesmerized herself (second photo below). It was quite a show.

Once the crowd of alligators were fat and happy, we made our way back across the plank (uh, walkway) and visited the rest of the zoo. We saw Bengal tigers, parrots, river otters, snakes galore, "baby" alligators (at least that's what Catelyn called them -- they were some sort of pygmy croc or something), Galapagos turtles.... the list goes on and on. It was a great afternoon and Catelyn enjoyed every minute of it. We even found her a stuffed owl to take home as her souvenir -- she is quite the fan of owls. So if you're ever in the Myrtle Beach area, take a day to stop by and visit the Alligator Adventure park. You won't regret it.