Gator info.

[Superlyte27]

Did you kill them while diving?

no we called the sheriff who called FWC who called a trapper, who killed them.

[MichaelAngelo]

I had a guy in cozumel try to convince me to grab a croc's tail when he chased him towards me.

[tj]

Alligators in the area are photo opportunities. I've never been threatened by one yet, and I've shared many a dive with them.

My most memorable gator was a very large and wide 8 foot gator that hung out at Buford in 2004-2006. That 8 foot gator was always there when I was surveying the place, most often by myself. Back then the visibility was never better than 20'. On a particularly cold winter day, with a thermocline around 15', it was not on the 20-30' ledge when I got there to deco after a long dive. The surface water, down to 15' was nearly zero vis and much colder. I didn't feel comfortable doing my 10' stop with her 'missing'...,and in cold and zero vis water, so I didn't... When I finally finished my extended deco at 20', back under the ceiling, I surfaced and was very 'anxious' that I would 'bump' into her as I swam and crawled back to the tram (trail). Back then the swamp was very wet and you could mostly float your gear out to the spring. I just knew I was going to run into it... Now, I think the gator just swam over to the next spring downstream. It was just too cold in the upper level to 'hang out' that water. I think the increased 'traffic' there eventually convinced it to move on. A skinny 7 footer with an attitude took its place, but it didn't stay long. That one almost gave me a great photo opportunity while Paul Heinerth was encouraging it to move along... but Paul turned out to be faster.

Alexander Springs had a gator make its home in the spring for years. The park staff tolerated it until, I guess, it got too big. It was 'friendly' and often hung out in the middle of the spring. It often needed some encouragement to 'move along' when arriving there with other divers that didn't share my confidence.

We do some search and recovery exercises in Central Florida lakes, and the gators always come out to watch. But we've never had an incident with them. While feeling around in the muck on the bottom of the lake, its always on your mind that you'll grab one, but so far, we haven't. When and if we do, it will make a great story.

[Leslie Sapp]

I've seen them at 20-25 ft in the Suwannee. Almost kissed a 12 footer on the right rear ham in about 15' of water in the Waccassa once. I don't know what his reaction was, as I left too quickly to observe it.
I've never been bothered by one while underwater (topside is another story). Most of the ones I've seen have not reacted to my presence at all.

[deepairmike]

I had a guy in cozumel try to convince me to grab a croc's tail when he chased him towards me.

No all you had to do was take the photo as he lunged at you. (I get so many abandoned cameras this way)

[MichaelAngelo]

No all you had to do was take the photo as he lunged at you. (I get so many abandoned cameras this way)

"suck what?"

[WEPIV]

During deco one time at Eagle's Nest I felt like I was being watched although I did not think much about it. A short time later my son swam down to wave at me and I indicated to him I was almost done. A few minutes later we were swimming back to the stairs and my wife asked what was swimming behind us. Although we couldn't see it that well, it turned out to be a five or six footer who just seemed curious about us.
As we were getting out of the water, TJ and crew were just getting in -- and it was starting to get dark! I recall them saying they kept their lights going around during deco but didn't see anything...? (Maybe they'll chime in here for their side of it.)
This was mentioned too in a post/thread from a few years ago.

[Superlyte27]

My only fearful encounter was the three gators in Yeehaw junction. I was given a call from my tender. "mccumber, get out of the water". I replied with "hold on, i'm almost done". My supervisor then got on the phone, "mccumber, GET OUT OF THE WATER". I replied with, "be right there".

I got out of the water to find the 12'7" gator making a wake toward where I was diving. I took off my hat, and sat down for a few, while we waited for it to disappear. The gator submerged and after 5 minutes we witnessed what appeared to be the same gator back out about 40 yards. My supervisor said, "ok, it's gone, go ahead and get back in and finish up". I replied with, "dude, that's another gator". But I suited up nonetheless. I started walking down to the water when I got about 3' from the waters edge, guess what popped up? The 12'7" gator, less than 4' from where I was standing.

The trapper came, took out the gator and went home. 2 hours later I get a call on the radio, "mccumber, GET OUT OF THE WATER". Wash, rinse repeat.

Usually gators don't mess with you. But just like the guy who got munched on the head a few years ago diving in Silver Springs, sometimes they do hurt people.

[tj]

During deco one time at Eagle's Nest I felt like I was being watched although I did not think much about it. A short time later my son swam down to wave at me and I indicated to him I was almost done. A few minutes later we were swimming back to the stairs and my wife asked what was swimming behind us. Although we couldn't see it that well, it turned out to be a five or six footer who just seemed curious about us.
As we were getting out of the water, TJ and crew were just getting in -- and it was starting to get dark! I recall them saying they kept their lights going around during deco but didn't see anything...? (Maybe they'll chime in here for their side of it.)
This was mentioned too in a post/thread from a few years ago.

It came by in the dark, while on deco, but only Denise saw it. She didn't say anything until we surfaced. One of our divers didn't bother taking off his deco bottles at the steps...

[Squirrel Girl]

OK, this isn't exactly what Mike was looking for, but the BBC had a story on an alligator hunter in Louisiana. It seems like I should post the link *somewhere*.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16783803