Captain Ray

Just a little over a year ago, our granddaughter, Ahni Marie turned 16 years old. All she wanted for her birthday was to come to Florida for 5 days and hang out with us. She barely finished the sentence and I had her plane ticket purchased. 

When Ahni arrived, I peppered her with ideas. DisneyWorld, the beach, Universal, Kennedy Space Station, etc. All she really wanted to do was hang out with us at home, have her favorite home-cooked meals, and play cards. I was good with that plan but I wanted to do something special for her birthday.

That's when I remembered Captain Ray. I told Ahni about this guy I'd heard about named Captain Ray that would take people out on his airboat to see gators. When I asked her if she'd like to do that for her birthday, she was all about it.

"Nona, I'm a little scared. You'll protect me, right?"

"Hey, if gators come after us, you're going in first."

Yeah, I'm that Grandma.

Sunrise at the dock. Looks safe enough.

Ahni on her 16th birthday with Captain Ray's boat in the background. 

No longer looks safe enough.

I am literally hanging on to Ahni for dear life and we haven't even left the dock yet.

We finally get underway and all I can think is this just keeps getting creepier and creepier.

Cows? Why. Are. There. Cows!?!?! In the water!?!?!?

 The water full of gators!?!?!?! What is happening!?!?!?!

Suddenly, we find ourselves in the middle of what surely must be a National Geographic documentary. One poor old cow is dead and bloated, bobbing in the water like a blow-up beach ball while too many alligators to count are jumping for joy all around this poor thing. It was like a train wreck. You don't want to watch but you can't look away because you just can't believe what you're seeing. 

Finally, Captain Ray moves along into more peaceful territory. The airboat glides across land and water effortlessly and we feel our blood pressure returning to normal. 

There are beautiful birds everywhere, with the comforting sounds of nature all around us. Ahni and I discuss how amazing it is and how happy we are that we can see this side of our morning's adventure. 

Are you kidding me? Shoo! You are way too close to this boat mister. That's when Captain Ray tells us to look at the sidestep of the boat, right next to my feet. He explains those marks that look like teeth marks are actually teeth marks because this mama gator he personally knows gets grumpy at times. That's when I look at Ahni as I'm pulling my feet up on the seat and let her know she is never to tell her parents what we did today. I offer her cash.

And then we made the mistake of looking around us.

Captain Ray could feel we needed a bit of a gator break so he took us to what he referred to as the Enchanted Forest. I was really hoping we weren't going to end up on the evening news at this point.

Ok, Captain Ray was right. This place is like an enchanted forest. It's absolutely stunningly beautiful.

To see it in person instead of on a travel show was amazing.

It made all the heart-thumping craziness of the morning worth every minute of the two-hour trip. 

Ah, geez!

Captain Ray says the gators are more afraid of us than we are of them. 

Captain Ray is a liar.

Happy Birthday Memory, Ahni! Just wait until you see what we planned for this year.