Champagne Cajun Swamp Tour

Abbeville, LA
Betty's RV Park

This morning we stopped by Jim and Nancy's to say "see 'ya".  Jim wasn't feeling well last night at Happy Hour but he looked a lot better this morning.  We'll see them at the Escapade.  

We then drove to Beaux Bridge outside of Lafayette.  As we entered town they had crawfish flags everywhere.  The reason is they are the crawfish capital of the world.  This maybe the crawfish capital of the world, but we're not going to have crawfish in this town.  Betty hasn't steered us wrong yet, so we'll have to go to T-Bones for them.  

Why are we in Beaux Bridge?  This is where we are taking the Champagne Cajun Swamp Tour.  It's a good thing we left early for our noon reservation as the police had the bridge blocked off for some kind of celebration. We ended up going a lot further than we had to.  

 This place was also recommended by Betty.  

 We watched all of these boats come in and they were filled to capacity--18 seats.  In the past we took an air boat ride to see alligators in Florida, but this was very smooth and quiet.  

When it came time to board there were three people from Kentucky and  Martin, a man from Cincinnati, who flew in for the day to take the tour.  Martin told us the other tours in the area were $80 and this one was $20 for a two hour trip.  I'm glad it wasn't crowded.  Six people were perfect.

This place also rented kayaks and canoes.  

Our last trip in a canoe was with Don and Sharon Del Rosario.  It was a lot of fun, but Bill and I do not have the skills to take one of those out in water with alligators.  Besides they don't have GPS or road maps.

For some reason we were both looking forward to the trip.  Not being water people, that surprised

 me.

In no time at all we found a gator and we haven't left the dock yet.  

Mason gave us a safety lecture.  No arm, feet, or body parts over the side of the boat.  Yeah, he needed to tell me that.

The swamp had a mysterious beauty.  It was relaxing and even had a calming effect even though there were a lot of alligators.

Mason was very knowledgeable about the swamp and answered everyone's questions.  The boat didn't bother the birds of the gators.

This is the mating month.

It's difficult to see the gators in the photos.

This was an osprey nest.  The momma bird was in the nest.

Lots of turtles that the Cajuns use for soup and then put the shells together and sell the shells to the tourists.

There were many duck blinds, but Mason told us they were terrible shots and couldn't hit the ducks.  It might have something to do with the liquid refreshment they were drinking.

Lot's of pictures, but pictures can't describe this experience.  We saw gators up to about 14 feet.

The temperature was near 80 degrees and it was perfect.  I wouldn't want to do an afternoon tour in the summer.

After the tour we would have liked to have visited Longfellows, but once again we were out of time.  We headed directly back to Abbeville as tonight was seafood night.

We joined 5 other people at Black's Oyster Bar and Seafood. Tonight was half price night.  Not just half price on one thing but everything seafood including the appetizers.  Neither Bill nor I have ever tasted anything so good.  We both ordered the seafood platter which Betty suggested.  I had 3 large shrimp, 3 oysters, crabcake, 3 big pieces of catfish, crawfish, gumbo, rice, and sidewinders.  

I never tasted raw oysters before, I think I might like them.

The food was delicious.  Anyone that knows me, knows I can consume my share of food.  On the other hand Bill never eats as much as I do.  

Bill was the only one to clean his platter.  It was a wonderful evening with great people and conversation.

Once again, Betty comes through.

Turtle Safely........