Rosie and The Operator are heading out for a tour of a Louisiana Swamp. Just out of Breaux Bridge is the boat ramp for launching onto lake St Martin…yes, that is a bride…yes, it is only 9.30am…the light was beautiful and there wasn’t a breath of wind.
Down the road was Champagnes Swamp Tours , this company is in the middle of nowhere, a shingle track winds around the lake and leads to their business operations which is a wee shack.
The are a friendly bunch of Southern Folk and it was pretty much a full boat that young Captain Morgan was hosting…
I kid you not he would have only been about 20 yrs old, he was as pleased as punch that we were the only ones that laughed when he said his name…’y’all are rum drinkers me bets,’ he said, ‘welcome to the swamp.’
For two hours Capt Morgan guided us through the swamp, bayou and lake area. He grew up in ‘these here parts and lived here all my life’.
It was so interesting and the quiet beauty of the place was outstanding. The sky was blue, the air was nice and cool and there wasn’t a ripple in the lake ,it was like glass. Plenty of recreational fishermen were on the water already and the bass were running, as well as catfish and bream being caught.
Into the swamp we ventured, the trees that grow in the water are mainly Cypress, a very hard wood, some of the trees in the swamp are 500 years old, the Tupelo is a soft easily carved wood,
Capt Morgon shapes his duck decoys out of Tupelo, make sure to paint it or it will rot, was his tip of the day.
Spanish moss romantically drips from the trees, the dripping part is actually the airborne root system. This moss was used back in the day to stuff mattress and chairs….make sure you kill the bugs in it first….
Henry Ford stuffed the seats of the first model T Ford with Spanish Moss, which prompted the first automotive recall to come about when little bugs started creeping out…True
Then we saw our first Gator sunning himself on a log, gators grow a foot a year, rule of thumb is however long your gator is…that’s how old he will be.
This one was only three foot long, so estimated age is 3 years old. Gators can lay up to 40/50 eggs a year, the survival rate is pretty low at only about 3%…there are alot of predators in the swamp….daddy gators are the worst culprits, they love to snack on their babies, the grumpy mommas keep them away, owls, osprey, eagles and fish also like the babies.
Rosie was worried the swamp would be humming with mosquito’s…..there wasn’t one, the swamp trees leach tannins, the tannins are present in the green algae on the swamp surface which is a natural mosquito repellent, the dragon flies however were the size of sparrows. We saw owls, osprey, storks, herons and egrets to name a few, also turtles sitting on logs sunning themselves and lizards scampering up trees, we also saw a huge spider web stretching between trees….Rosie is glad we didn’t see the spider that spun it.
The water is always a murky brown, the slow moving channels are called bayou, they were only about 5 feet deep. The mossy still looking water is swamp, be careful of what looks like grassy bank, pictured, this is called Cajun Quicksand, they are floating banks of vegetation and not solid ground at all.
This gator was 15 feet long, he was just cruising along, we were literally about three feet from him in the boat, he was a big boy and we were lucky to see him. Capt Morgan reckons there are at least 3000 gators in this swamp, the biggest are about 19 feet, it is forbidden to kill them as they are protected in this area. Outside the wild life sanctuary you are allowed to shoot them with a license.
What a serene time we had cruising these waterways, Rosie has never seen anything in nature quite like this, it was very special. Would love to go duck hunting on the lake with these guys! Here is a look at the type of boats the locals use.
After our swamp tour we went to the Bon Temps Grill for some swamp legs…gator and duck – the gator was a little tough, surprise surprise and the duck had a lovely mango sauce.
They are self proclaimed to make the ‘best crab cake in Louisiana…it was pretty good, Rosie also saved room, just, for the famed Bread and Butter Pudding with Rum Sauce, it was dense, rich and so goooooooood.
Time for a walk Rosie thinks, to shake that down. Tomorrow we are heading to The Big Easy, the famed city of New Orleans, Rosie cannot wait to hit the big smoke again. We are going with no expectations and a lot of excitement – see you tomorrow!
