Leaving Michigan for Florida? Want to See Some Alligators?

If you're a Michigander heading out on Spring Break to Florida and want to see some alligators, I just learned of a great place to go for free.

Spring Break in Florida

For as long as I can remember families and students have been traveling from Michigan to Florida for Spring Break.

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I was recently invited to stay with one of my good friends who lives in the Clearwater/Tampa Bay area of Florida. I only went for 5 days but they were jam-packed with lots to do. I wanted to see manatees, sharks, dolphins, and alligators. Thanks to my friend I was able to see them all and more.

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A Great Place to See Alligators in Florida

We went to a park called the Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland, Florida. The park was free to enter and all the trails were well marked. There is a section of the park called Alligator Alley. Unfortunately, that part of the park was temporarily shut down because of hurricane damage from the two that ravaged Florida last year. The rest of the park was still open and we saw 22 alligators, 4 armadillos, 2 eagles, several varieties of birds, and a baby great horned owl. If you visit the park take your camera, walk slowly, and keep your eyes peeled because there are monster gators in the area.

The first alligator that I spotted was about 3 and a half feet long. We were not sure if we would see anymore and it was quite a walk before things picked up.

As soon as we got into a more open area with more water and feed for alligators they began popping out everywhere. The gator in the photo above is much larger than it may look in this photo, but I was in such awe when it splashed around in the lilypads I didn't take a photograph.

This is when things got real on our gator hunt. This alligator was sitting at the end of a drain pipe to connect two bodies of water and was waiting for fish to swim right to his mouth. This gator was just a few feet away.

All of a sudden it was gator after gator. If you saw one you would almost always find another or more.

I heard a chomping sound and barely saw the top of this alligator's mouth biting down on something. At first, I thought the gator caught one of the birds I had been seeing near the alligators but turned out to be a fish. It was intense hearing this gator chomp this fish down.

It was so amazing finding these gators on our own. It was one of the most intense things I have ever done.

Seeing these creatures in their natural habitat was special.

This was a big gator with its mouth open and it was the most intense thing I had ever been a part of.

This gator popped up on the trail so we turned and walked a different way back but still got a few photos. One we learned was to respect the alligators and not disturb them.

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On the way back to the car we spotted a baby great horned owl in a tree to top off a great hike. If you ever think of spotting some alligators in Florida the Circle B Bar Reserve in Lakeland, Florida is a great place.