Facing My Fears at Gatorland

Maybe it is unfounded, maybe it is irrational, but I am deftly afraid of alligators and crocodiles. I even have nightmares about them whose residual images still haunt me. With that, I'm betting you could imagine what went racing through my mind when the boss said our next team builder would be in Orlando at a place called Gatorland.

To make matters worse he tells me we will be zip-lining OVER the gator infested swamp!!

Needless to say I wasn't very excited about this plan.  Trying to figure out how to get out of the event I was actually happy to find out that I was over the weight limit for the zip line. That's got to be the first time I was happy to hear that. Of course, the boss already worked through this as (for a reason) the SE region of our consulting team is often referred to as the "big guys". He lined up a behind the scenes VIP tour.

I confessed my secret to the two guides and they all but high-fived each other and announced that they would "cure me of my fear". Very reassuring I'll have you know. The first thing they wanted to show us was their prized white (not albino) alligators. They took (dragged?) us INTO one of the exhibits. There we were just a few feet from our first SNAPPING alligator of the day.

Then he took us to see the 15 foot "Oscar" in the next exhibit. I was a bit worried before, but now I find myself about 15 feet away from this incredibly large creature that could bolt out of the water and have any of us for lunch all while our guides were taunting him to poke his head out of the water. Thankfully, Oscar decided he would stay submerged.

Don't get the impression I was feeling brave or anything like it. I made darn sure all four of the other people in the exhibit were between myself and Oscar. In fact, once we were clear of the exhibit I let my companions know the generations of Martins have survived by running from and all danger!  In fact, back in the 90's I altered my "No Fear" rear-window car sticker to only read "Fear". 

We then took it down a notch and went further "behind the scenes" and got to see some of the animals not on display.  We started with checking out some big white pythons and Jon and Terry from my team were much more adventurous than I and let the constrictors be draped over their shoulders.

Did I forget to mention I'm not a big fan of "Jake the Snake" either?  We also checked out some reptiles and I reluctantly agreed to hold a cute little baby alligator.

I guess that one wasn't big enough and they wanted to really freak me out so we went to the wrestling pit and threw me in the middle of it.

Of course, the fella who was walking us around did it much better.

Next up was a walk around the swamp where we saw many large alligators all around the boardwalk.

Then for the scariest thing of the day our guides took us to an opening in the pond where we got to feed these beasts.  I stayed back and then out of nowhere two little girls jumped in front of me to get a closer look at all the action.  WHERE THE HECK WERE THESE GIRLS PARENTS?!?!

Then the good folks at Gatorland asked us to turn around for a nice photo.  Sure, why not turn your back to a swamp full of alligators!!

Obviously, we didn't get eaten (notice I was farthest away!).  We then wrapped up our time at Gatorland watching a feeding show.

All in all an interesting day for sure.  Did I have a good time?  Of course!  Did I get over my fear of alligators?  Nope – just somehow suspended it for a while!!