Cox Ferry
The day began with a nice cool breeze and bumpy van ride but was soon transformed into a hot afternoon. When our class arrived at Cox Ferry, we were greeted by a goofy guide with shoulder-length brown hair and a big brown hat on top of it. He instructed us to sign a waiver so that if we were eaten by an alligator, we couldn’t sue him. Before the tour officially started, the CCU photographer who tagged along to take pictures of us, spotted a snake. Our guide immediately went over, determined what type of snake it was, and picked it up. The guide went on to tell us that the snake was a non-venomous water snake. It was about eighteen inches and most likely male. After the snake show-and-tell, the guide had us suit up with our life vests and carefully board our vessels for the day. We pushed off of the shore and into the deep, black water and began heading down the river. Trees engulfed the area on both sides. The wildlife and plant life were amazing to us city dwellers not used to seeing snakes, alligators, frogs, and indigenous moss laden cypress trees in their natural habitat along the shoreline. The sound of the birds, insects, and frogs seemed accentuated by the silence of the snakes and alligators slithering through the water or submerged just below the surface. It was hard to tell if something moving in the water was a floating tree appendage or something alive, moving stealthily along, awaiting an opportunity to pounce on or wrestle an unsuspecting meal to its demise. The overhanging cypress branches offered a buffer zone between the land and the river which many creatures used to their advantage to maneuver from place to place and to assist in augmenting their diet. Where we would look and see nothing, our guide would paddle over and pick up two tree frogs. He had a very keen eye, and paid attention to detail, and heexplained to us that although tree frogs are near water, they do not swim in it. When the tree frogs touched the water, they started to climb up the guide’s arm. Then we paddled back out to the more open water. After several minutes spent paddling through the lake, our class entered a more closed off space one by one. This area was surrounded by trees much like the others, but was more narrow and contained a richer abundance of life. Here we discovered multiple more snakes wrapped around the branches of trees and almost blending in as a part of the tree itself. Poison ivy was also present along with a plant that had cactus-like needles on its branches that would latch onto anyone who touched them. After exploring this enriched area, we all turned around and went back the way we had come to return to shore. We went through this thick swamp for twenty minutes or so before our guide jumped off of his kayak and waded towards the shallower waters and bushes. He saw a snake that he wanted to catch, so he did everything in his power to get it. He was very close but at the last second the snake made a move for the water. Even though it was difficult paddling through the little area, it was the best part of the trip. All around us we heard birds singing and tree frogs chirping. The tour guide pointed out a couple more frogs and snakes and even a baby dragonfly cocoon. He told us that dragonflies are vicious meat-eating insects and the main predators of smaller insects such as ants. As we crossed over to the other side of the river to begin our return trip, we could hear what Paul identified as the call of an osprey, also known as a river hawk—a fish-eating raptor which operates during the day with specialized physical characteristics to assist in hunting and catching prey. We wondered what other evolutionary specialists of the river exists here that normally goes unseen? And then, about thirty yards from our launch area there was a baby alligator swimming by, and farther down the river was the bigger one. It occurred to us that thus is a place of becoming through unbecoming. A small reflection in our world of how the whole universe continues to exist.
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