Kayaking with Gators in the Okefenokee Swamp | Testing the Decathlon Itiwit X500
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 มิ.ย. 2023
- The best way to test a kayak, is to go on a real paddling adventure. That's what I did to test the Decathlon Itiwit X500 inflatable kayak. In this episode of Paddle Tales, I'm getting my first taste of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge - a 400,000 acre swamp in Georgia/Florida.
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Living in central Florida, I am only about three hours away from where you are paddling in this video. I have not paddled in the swamp itself, but have done a bit on the St. Mary's and many, many miles on the Suwannee (please shoot a video on the Suwannee and run our famous class 3 rapid!). On the waterways of Florida and Georgia, we are close to gators all the time. You are absolutely right, they are no danger at all as long as you show respect and keep an appropriate distance (I usually stay at least 10 to 15 feet away; if you get any closer, they usually disappear--or hiss at you, which means you'd better back off). Glad you were able to enjoy the amazing swamp and our giant lizards!!!
Being from Georgia it was so awesome to see this video. I spent a week in the Swamp in high school back in 1991. Thank you for making these great videos.
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That is one cool Naturalist/Guide!
What an incredible location to be paddling in! An amazing video and nice to see the Itiwit X500 out there. Here in Sweden we have precious few gators, though I sometimes joke about the problem of polar bears constantly knocking over trash cans in central Stockholm. Except for a repeated bird attack while X500 expeditioning this weekend, and meeting a moose up close in the water in an inflatable kayak last summer, wildlife encounters are fairly non-stressful in these parts. 🙂Just amazing to see this, so thanks, Ken, for yet another awesome video, and sharing this adventure with us.
My absolute pleasure! :)
Watching just to see the kayak in action. (Adding this inflatable yak to my shortlist)
How breathtakingly beautiful 😊
Definitely on my bucket list!
I literally go to church with some of the folks who own and work at Wainwrights sausage!! Their sausage is great. Now I'm really wanting to take a trip in that beautiful swamp. Always been weary of the alligators knowing they get big.
Im so glad my Wainwrights Sausage shout-out didnt go unnoticed!
I just returned from a solo 4 night kayak trip in the very same swamp. Didn't see another human soul for two of them. If you need some time away from people, I highly recommend paddling this swamp from shelter to shelter to camp.
Nice!!!
Definitely on my bucket list. I live in Georgia NE of Atlanta. The refuge is five hours away, but I'll take the road trip this year. I just bought the last v2 X500 from Decathalon largely thanks to you. Breath bated.
Hope you love the X500! Enjoy the refuge!
Excellant content as always, thank you.
Thanks!
Hi Ken I was wondering if you could do a video if you haven't already on how best to clean a Kayak. What products to use etc etc. I live in the UK, and some of our lakes have blue / green algae. Also we are told to clean our Kayaks before going to other lakes to stop invasive animals and plants from contaminating different lakes.
I’d also be interested in seeing something about this. I see signs around lakes out west about cleaning your boat and being invasive species aware. I would love to take my boat with me, but don’t want to unwittingly introduce nonnative species into an area.
I'm gona get there someday soon ... bring my fiddle and a kayak or canoe, and play some tunes, and eat some good food. Florida was cool. But, some platform camping and a longer multi day paddle is in my future!
100% agree! Stay tuned for the next video from the Okefenokee. We did a 3-day trip across the Refuge. Unbelievable trip!
I spent Y2K paddling across the Everglades hopping from chickee to chickee. Great trip.
Dunno why but when I saw Ken wearing that hat, that short sleeve shirt with a bowl of them shrimps I thought about one dude called Forrest :D
Your in a inflatable kayak in gator waters your more badass than 90% of population
Ha! I have to admit... I did question my judgement. :)
I was looking for this comment 😅
Fantastic! I envy you.
You should go a little south to big shoals on the Suwanee River. A friend of mine and I did this a couple months on paddle boards. It’s got it all with swamp, gators and rapids.
I was just telling someone I want to take my SUP on the Big Shoals rapids! I am hoping it will be much easier than a kayak. Many kayaks have flipped over on those rapids!
Just go at low water and prepare for the hole in the first drop river right. Here’s our video of our trip. I want to say level was 52 ft. th-cam.com/video/-g4ZKw61Xyw/w-d-xo.html
I love the names of places you get to paddle in the US!! And the alligators would be great to see (though being Australian, I tend to avoid large reptiles near my kayak!) 🤣
Must be fun seeing this as an Aussie, I mean picture doing this in croc waters.. what a feast.. for them..
Ken I hope that isn’t all for the Okeefenokee. I really been looking forward to this. We talked before you came down and I had just finished a 3 day camp and paddle here. Was my first time here as well and I’m embarrassed to say that I have lived in Georgia for 56 years and never paddled the Okeefenokee until this year.
Lots more coming! I did a day of kayak fishing, and then a 3-day trip across the Refuge - which was amazing!
@@PaddleTV ❤️
i have done several overnights and MANY day trips in the Okefenokee over the past 17 years. what an incredible place and great fishing as well! if you search my name here, i have multiple how to videos for the swamp. love that black water, cypress and big lizards!!!
Hey Chris. I found out about the Okefenokee through James - who found out about it from you! :) Thanks for indirectly introducing me to one of the coolest places on the planet!
@@PaddleTV outstanding!!! If y'all ever need help in my area, please holler at me. I'd be honored to lend a hand or paddle with ya!
Super cool !!
Great that you got to see this place.
I live 90 minutes away in Jacksonville.
I was just there 2 weeks ago....I lost my sunglasses...
they fell in as I exited my kayak....right there at coffee bay shelter.
Did you see them?🤨
I have a season pass....its 15$.....for a year!
Hope you got out to Chesser Island Homestead...
Its very cool...I made videos for my channel.
I'll go diving for your sunglasses next time I'm at Coffee Bay! ;)
@@PaddleTV ...yeah .. not the place to stick your hand in the water
and start waving it around 🧐 Really glad you got to see one of my favorite places to paddle.
Other great paddles in this neck of the woods include the Cumberland Island National Seashore and Talbot Island. Wildlife includes porpoises, and nuclear submarines departing from and returning to Kings Bay Naval Base.
Can't wait to get back to this part of the country!
So rad! Hey, who shoots and edits these videos for you guys? I need to start following them aswell - Phenominal production value!
Please review some Point 65° N kayaks as well
Auto captions said "fresh George and shrimp". Must be what the alligator is having.
Ha!! That's awesome.
Hi Ken, what a great place to kayak. Do they let you take the kayak that you have or can you only kayak with theirs? Because it is a good destination for the Itiwit x500.
You can use any kayak or canoe you want - or rent one of theirs.
love it.
you should make a video about your collection of kayak would love to see it !!!!!!!
Ha! I don't know if I can find enough space to lay them all out! :)
Great video. What mount are you using at the front of your kayak for your action cam?
Gotta give the USA one thing : they sure know how to give access to nature.
Want real open space Australia is the place to be
@@yfelwulf One day for sure.
pretty neat!
Are there any firefly during anytime of the year?
Well Ken what a beautiful place to look at on my computer.
However as a Brit I can tell you there's no way on earth you would ever get me to paddle with alligators all around I don't care what you say because a wild animal is unpredictable so no way.
A beautiful paddle to watch Ken, but as for paddling their Hellllllllllll Nooooooo
Although great video and I'm glad you're liking the x500
I agree, i get paranoid paddling past swans let alone alligators
Think of it as hiking in the woods or swimming in the ocean. Bears and sharks live in those places, but 99% of the time, they leave you alone.
Ha! I can appreciate that... but if you paddle in the ocean, you're doing the same thing! There are lots of BIGGER animals in the ocean. :)
@@wrenwillow9430 But its the 1% that you have to worry about.
I have been there but not by kayak...cheers how long is the canoe and kayak you guys were using?
The kayak I was using (Decathlon Itiwit X500) is 12.5 feet long.
Peace 🙏
What did you think of the itiwit paddle you were using? Is it worth the price tag?
Yup. At $130, it's good bang for the buck.
...Ken, enjoy your video's, and keep them coming...but as a native Floridian, and lifetime kayaker, I must disagree with the notion of "don't bother the 'gaters, and they won't bother you " ... "enter the water, and you enter the food chain", is a much more realistic statement when alligators are present...and if it is dark water, they are ALWAYS present, and they are, at all times a predator...
Take a drink every time he says "Okefenokee".lol
It's fun to say... once I figured out how to say it right!
Did you catch that? He said "SOUTH-ern" 😂
give him a break, he's Canadian. ;-) Imagine what he says about us down here? LOL!
Doh! :) The Canadian came out.
@@PaddleTV I love it! :-)
Nope...I'll stay in colder water away from the alligators.
I live in southern Mississippi but didn't think alligators were in the lakes in my area. Turns out I was wrong about that, but in my experience, the alligators all run away from my kayak. Of course all it takes is one.
I also don't paddle toward them...anymore.
My first time paddling down here I thought I saw an otter or beaver swimming across the lake, but when I got closer to it I saw the ridges following the head and realized what I was paddling toward.
@@zimmejoc that’s awesome. Love them as long as they keep their distance. Spent a fair amount of my Summers in Baton Rouge and developed a healthy fear of them. Now I’m a Rocky Mountain alpine dweller so I’ve traded in Alligators for bears and mountain lions. :)
Sorry, I would not recommend this trip. Several years ago I met a friend at the Pee Dee River and I95 intending to paddle to the coast, camp out on the beach and return the same way. Relax, there was no gator attack but it's pretty intimidating watching a gator, bigger than the boat your in (sea kayak) launch itself off the river bank and disappear underwater. There were three or four instances of this on the river, not including the smaller alligators. Your head is constantly swiveling looking for a tell tale ripple on the water surface. We completed the trip with all the body parts we started with but the presence of these creatures was distracting.
so I am curious why you went on this trip in the first place knowing the gators were even there in the first place?
I'll admit... it's not as relaxing, but is it every amazing to see those creatures in the wild!
Reminds me of a trip to Loxahatchee NWR in Florida. Signs in the swamp saying "kayak trail" and all I could see from the dock were 10 foot gators. Never mind...
@@mountainhobbit1971 Not sure. I'm from Florida, or was at the time, and were well acquainted with gator tales. Maybe we thought they wouldn't be so plentiful that far north.
@@jimkramer6142 yeah that makes sense...I am sure I would be intimidated by gators that big when in the water too.
Are dogs allowed? A lot of people 'yak with their pooches, yet videos like this seldom, if at all, mention dogs.
Don't know... and don't know if I'd want a dog in these alligator filled waters...
@PaddleTV I put some more time thinking about this. Every time I have camped, hiked, or yakked with friends with a dog(s) around, there's always a problem. Barking, hazing wildlife, biting, the owner incessantly yelling at their dog, etc. I literally can't think of one time a dog simply didn't cause some sort of issue. I'm kind of frustrated that I didn't notice earlier, not really.
Gators love dogs. It's not worth risking your pet. Too, just having one in your boat would certainly garner more attention from them.
No pets allowed on refuge waterways and boardwalks due to the Alligators, but they are allowed on the upland hiking trails, as long as they're leashed
Nope nope nope nope!!!