Florida pictures.
May. 20th, 2004 12:51 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
camwynAlas, I do not have pics of me holding the baby gator yet; those were on my film camera, which has yet to be developed. But through the wonders of digital photography we have these instead.
A view of the Fort Lauderdale beach this past 13 May 2004
See that yellow flag in the middle? That means it's REALLY NOT A GOOD IDEA to swim that side of the beach. This is what the Fort Lauderdale beach looked like on the first day of the DEADLY KILLER RIPTIDES. (I took that picture before I found out what the flag meant. As in, the day I went swimming in the ocean. Le sigh.)
Word of advice: if the palm tree leaves are blown back at 90-degree angles to the trunk, don't try to swim. That's my grandma in the foreground, btw.
Yours truly. As I said, swimming on killer riptide day = bad idea.
You can't tell at 200 x 200 pixels, but some gink is out parasailing in the 25-mph winds and killer riptides.
Again, hard to tell in this picture, but someone's parasailing. Same winds. Same riptides.
Why would a beach have a swimming pool set up at the sand's edge?
So that folks like me could test out scuba gear in safe water, that's why. Ocean Fest 2004: Fort Lauderdale's 'come and learn about diving' event.
Oooooo! Trampolines! And BIG FECKING RUBBER BANDS! These things are loads of fun regardless of age (as long as you weigh between 40 and 270 lbs. and aren't osteoporotic or otherwise a health risk), but bear in mind that the giant collection of rubber bands is attached to a harness that basically results in your entire weight being borne by the territory between your upper thigh and your inner crotch. Still, jumping eight feet in the air is nothing to sneeze at.
Fort Lauderdale city beach from just past the trampolines.
These guys were clustering around at the parking lot of the place in the Everglades where I went to see gators. They'll literally eat out of your hand, although in a snatch-and-grab fashion, not land-and-nosh.
The Everglades were cloudy and windy, and the boat was moving. But I liked the scenery anyway.
No, seriously. It's just swamp. I happen to like swamp. Deal.
And this is what silence looks like once you're out of Alaska. When the airboat stopped and the guide stopped talking, there was no sound of genus Homo's making to be heard- anywhere. Rushing wind, moving grass, buzzing bugs... but nothing said, done, or shaped by order Primates. Not even an airplane, not even a car. I appreciate silence.
The closest I got to a wild alligator. Unlike the parasailing nimrods, the gator isn't even in this shot, dammit. He or she left when the boat stopped.
Some species of tortoise the place had on display. I wish I could remember what sort. He had a shelter that looked like a converted dog kennel and two or three other tortoises as companions, but this was the clearest shot I got of him. Her. Whatever.
BEEEEEEG LEEZARD. Perhaps you would like to get a viable shot of both the 1300-lb. alligator and his enclosure in one dinky camera? No? Didn't think so.
They don't wrestle the gators at this place. It puts too much stress on the animals. But the guy does go in and pat Cannibal on the nose and scratch him friendly-like to show off the gator's teeth and such.
More pics when I get the film developed, but these are probably the best you can expect.
A view of the Fort Lauderdale beach this past 13 May 2004
See that yellow flag in the middle? That means it's REALLY NOT A GOOD IDEA to swim that side of the beach. This is what the Fort Lauderdale beach looked like on the first day of the DEADLY KILLER RIPTIDES. (I took that picture before I found out what the flag meant. As in, the day I went swimming in the ocean. Le sigh.)
Word of advice: if the palm tree leaves are blown back at 90-degree angles to the trunk, don't try to swim. That's my grandma in the foreground, btw.
Yours truly. As I said, swimming on killer riptide day = bad idea.
You can't tell at 200 x 200 pixels, but some gink is out parasailing in the 25-mph winds and killer riptides.
Again, hard to tell in this picture, but someone's parasailing. Same winds. Same riptides.
Why would a beach have a swimming pool set up at the sand's edge?
So that folks like me could test out scuba gear in safe water, that's why. Ocean Fest 2004: Fort Lauderdale's 'come and learn about diving' event.
Oooooo! Trampolines! And BIG FECKING RUBBER BANDS! These things are loads of fun regardless of age (as long as you weigh between 40 and 270 lbs. and aren't osteoporotic or otherwise a health risk), but bear in mind that the giant collection of rubber bands is attached to a harness that basically results in your entire weight being borne by the territory between your upper thigh and your inner crotch. Still, jumping eight feet in the air is nothing to sneeze at.
Fort Lauderdale city beach from just past the trampolines.
These guys were clustering around at the parking lot of the place in the Everglades where I went to see gators. They'll literally eat out of your hand, although in a snatch-and-grab fashion, not land-and-nosh.
The Everglades were cloudy and windy, and the boat was moving. But I liked the scenery anyway.
No, seriously. It's just swamp. I happen to like swamp. Deal.
And this is what silence looks like once you're out of Alaska. When the airboat stopped and the guide stopped talking, there was no sound of genus Homo's making to be heard- anywhere. Rushing wind, moving grass, buzzing bugs... but nothing said, done, or shaped by order Primates. Not even an airplane, not even a car. I appreciate silence.
The closest I got to a wild alligator. Unlike the parasailing nimrods, the gator isn't even in this shot, dammit. He or she left when the boat stopped.
Some species of tortoise the place had on display. I wish I could remember what sort. He had a shelter that looked like a converted dog kennel and two or three other tortoises as companions, but this was the clearest shot I got of him. Her. Whatever.
BEEEEEEG LEEZARD. Perhaps you would like to get a viable shot of both the 1300-lb. alligator and his enclosure in one dinky camera? No? Didn't think so.
They don't wrestle the gators at this place. It puts too much stress on the animals. But the guy does go in and pat Cannibal on the nose and scratch him friendly-like to show off the gator's teeth and such.
More pics when I get the film developed, but these are probably the best you can expect.
