#3 The Crocodilians and the Canon

If you have ever traveled through Florida, you have probably seen one of those places that advertises dangerous, live, man eating alligators! It seems they are just about everywhere along the roadside. Well, St Augustine is keeping up the tradition with the St Augustine Zoological Park.

While admission was a bit pricey, we were not disappointed at all with the park, which boasts examples of every species of crocodilian on the planet - 23 alligator (fresh water) and crocodile (salt water) species in total. Here is a rare albino alligator, first discovered in Louisiana in 1992.



We watched this guy for 10 or 15 minutes and he never moved a muscle - even when the turtle crawled up on his back!

Cold blooded animals who rely on the sun for warmth, the alligators sometimes crowd together for a spot in the sun - like young people on the beach. They think nothing of crawling over one another for a choice spot. The water in the pools comes from a natural hot spring and remains at 74 degrees F year-round.



With lots of teeth, some of these guys looked pretty ferocious.



The park had many long boardwalks and paths for viewing the different types of alligators.



One of the biologists gave a short talk and fed some of the alligators. He told us afterwards that some of the animals can recognize their name after only a few days use, and that they are generally about as smart as a collie dog! They are pretty inactive and may eat only once or twice a month. If they are in good condition, they can go for up to a full year without any food!



Although their eyesight is very poor, they can move faster than any swimmer in the water - even Michael Phelps! For us, this picture explains why you do not want to swim in some of the rivers in Florida:



The largest alligator in the park currently is Maximo, a 15' 3" fellow who weighs in at 1249 pounds!



If you don't count this three foot skull of the prehistoric sarcosuchus, the largest alligator to live in the Alligator Park was 17 foot and 1500+ pound Gomek, who was caught in South America and lived here until 1998.



The stuffed Gomek is shown behind the sarcosuchus above in a feeding pose (we saw a video of the keeper giving him a whole chicken for which he had to perform for the crowd).

In addition to the crocodilians, this well run park had quite a few birds, monkeys, and some snakes that seemed to be chosen for their unique bright colors, an open air rookery and even a Komodo Dragon.

A separate venue at the park was an overhead obstacle course consisting of jungle walkways, ladders, and zip lines that take the adventurous participant over many of the alligator ponds. See the young woman on the walk?

We decided to pass on that. .........

The oldest fort in the US is right here in – you guessed it – St. Augustine. Construction started on the Castillo de San Marcos in 1672. Possession of the fort went from Spain to England to the US as Florida changed hands between these powers, but it never changed hands through a lost battle. In fact, during its colorful history, only 6 soldiers from the fort were killed in battle, three of those from this canon that exploded when the unfortunate fellows fired it.

This aerial view (from the net) gives a good idea of the fort’s overall design.

After 251 years of military use, the fort was declared a National Monument in 1924, and is now administered by the National Park Service. The self guided tour is enhanced with some presentations by rangers. The courtyard is surrounded by  rooms that were used for military stores, soldier’s quarters, a chapel, and other needs. Now there are some artifacts and stories about the fort and its occupants housed in these fortified rooms.

The fort is built with a local material, coquina, which is formed from the sedimentation of shell fragments and limestone and is only available in a few places in the world.

The second level provides sweeping views of the bay and one can easily imagine the Spaniards looking outward for possible attack.

Canon and mortars point towards long gone enemies.

All four corners of the fort have fortified lookout points, or bastions.

Anne liked this guard’s uniform.

You probably know that John needs to check out the flea markets in just about every town we visit, and St Augustine is no different. The market here actually had quite a bit of real junk – you know, not the fake Chinese junk. They even had a pretty good singer, whose voice reminded us both of Jim Croce – remember him?

 

later ……