River trip in the swamp - pic heavy

[avb3]

Just did a float down the Hillsborough River starting near it's source, the Green Swamp in Florida outside of Tampa. This was the first trip in the new to folding Portebote. I'm going to love this thing, it works as advertised and folds down to 4".

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[Fishslayer99]

You must have had some faith in the boat, trying it out in alligator infested waters. You sir are a brave man! I am glad it worked for you, as I am sure you are too.

[RandyBoBandy]

VERY NICE!! Thanks for the share :)

[58thecat]

Folding boats and gators...:thinking-006:

[avb3]

Porte botes have a well deserved reputation for toughness, and are used in all sorts of challenging conditions. Besides which you and I have a much larger chance of being attacked by a bear fatally when we go out in the bush in Alberta, vs alligator attacks in Florida. I know I found it hard to believe myself also. I am more worried about water moccasins then concerned about the alligators.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_alligator_attacks_in_the_United_Stat es_by_decade

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fatal_bear_attacks_in_North_America

[rugatika]

Very cool avb3, thanks for the pics. Looks gorgeous there, I always wondered about those boats. We used to pack a small canoe into out of the way trout lakes, that boat looks like it would have fit that bill perfectly.

[avb3]

Very cool avb3, thanks for the pics. Looks gorgeous there, I always wondered about those boats. We used to pack a small canoe into out of the way trout lakes, that boat looks like it would have fit that bill perfectly.
They come on a number of sizes, mine is a 12 footer, weighs 81 pounds. One can get a dolly assembly for it, which would make things easier over a longer trek. And sails if one wants to try it, but with no keel to speak of or dagger boards, I'm not sure how well that would work.

[Sooner]

Like, do you see gators out and about when your were on the river? Do gators get aggressive to boats? Never seen any on shows go after small boats, just seem to swim away or go deep. That would be a fun float on a river with gators.

[avb3]

Like, do you see gators out and about when your were on the river? Do gators get aggressive to boats? Never seen any on shows go after small boats, just seem to swim away or go deep. That would be a fun float on a river with gators.
The gators just seem to lay there. It's been colder the few days before this, and the gators we saw were mostly just sunning themselves absorbing the heat. One fellow who we met who was canoeing had been a bit further upstream than from the point where we went in, and told us about a 14 footer that was on the side of the river. That's a big gator, the one you see pictured here might be 7 foot.

I have talked to a number people down here and nobody seems to be concerned with canoeing or even using the open body kayaks in the same river that there are alligators. As I mentioned before, the incidents that gators attack people is rare, and I've only heard of one incident that apparently happened about 6 years ago where a gator bumped against a boat on purpose.

What surprised me most, was that there were virtually no bugs around. Not sure what it would be like at a different time of the year, but it was interesting that there were no mosquitoes, no flies, nor any other sort of flying insects that could annoy you.

[Gerv]

very cool, thanks for sharing!

[Leeper]

We frequently spend a couple of weeks in the Everglades, camping and conoeing. Alligators are relatively benign but the crocodiles (fairly rare) are another matter and make me a bit nervous. They have an evil eye! The crocs are mostly found in the brackish water while the alligators mostly stick to fresh water.
I've seen a couple of the Folbotes and Portabotes down there and like the look of them. Leeper

[bb356]

Cool ... Thank's !!!

[32-40win]

Weather report for Miami looks a bit cooler than it should be this time of year.
Was just reading a fishing guide's post on Facebook about how he froze his butt off, out night fishing for tarpon.