We Were Swamp People (For a Day)

(Abbeville, LA)  Hi 86 Lo 56 – One thing we wanted to be sure to do while here in southern Louisiana was a swamp tour. Betty recommended Champaign’s Swamp Tours in Beaux Bridge. Our neighbors Larry and Goldie joined us. They had some other errands to run later today, so they followed us in their Jeep for the 32-mile drive. We took some state and county roads out into the country east of Lafayette, and after a two-mile drive down a gravel road arrived at our destination. (Click on photos to enlarge them.)


The proprietors have a unique sense of humor.


Dee was pretty nervous about this. She isn’t a “water” person…in fact she HATES the water. She loves beaches, but doesn’t like being on the water in any kind of boat, especially one like the one we’d be in today.


It’s a flat bottom boat able to make its way through water less than a foot deep. It has a large outboard motor with a specially designed propeller that doesn’t get damaged from hitting logs, stumps, and the bottom. It was pretty amazing some of the areas we went through.

We loaded up and pulled away from the dock, and entered another world!




We saw quite a few birds during the two-hour tour, including Great White Herons.




And Blue Herons.


Brian, our tour guide, was an expert at handling the boat in very shallow and tight areas.


He would occasionally turn off the motor, and the silence was spooky!








In some of the areas the surface of the water was covered with vegetation, and it looked like you could get out of the boat and walk on it.




Brian was fun to listen to with his thick Cajun accent. He was good at explaining what we were seeing, like these Cypress Knees, which are part of the root system of the Cypress trees.


And the lotus plants, which make a beautiful flower.


He picked one for us to pass around.


The center part of the lake was open water, so we got a good variety of scenery.




We saw many alligators awimming in the water…


…and sunning themselves on logs and rocks.



This one was nice enough to pose for us, and let us get quite close before he scampered into the water. I like the little flower jacket he’s wearing. :)


Without realizing it we came up on our starting point.


We docked and unloaded, and Dee was glad to get back on solid ground. It was a very interesting couple of hours. The cost we think might be a little high for some at $20 apiece, but for a one-time thing we’re ok with it. We’re now anxious to watch “Swamp People” on TV when the new season starts. :)

The four of us stopped for lunch at a place Betty recommended called The Villager Café in the small town of Maurice.


Like many of the local eating places they specialize in poor boy sandwiches (or depending on what part of the country you’re in, submarine sandwiches, or heroes, or hoagies). Dee and I both had a shrimp poor boy, and they were good but not quite as good as the ones we had yesterday at Bon Creole Lunch Counter. The Villager is very small, with a small kitchen. Dee snapped a photo of the kitchen area, and we told the kitchen crew about our blog. They promised to read it if we put their picture in it. So here you go gang…


It’s now time for happy hour, so I’ll sign off, grab a beer, and wander over to Betty’s porch to see what’s going on this evening. Cheers!