It was a beautiful morning on Chokoloskee Island. The sun shone brightly up in the blue sky, puffs of clouds trailed the horizon, and a gentle breeze wafted through the air. Pelicans flew over the many coconut palms, some of them still possessing coconuts, others not. The inviting warmth of the island drew me out from the camper and onto the dock directly behind our RV site. I had a sense of tranquility as I stood at the wooden railing and gazed out across the water, the soft breeze playing with my hair. I thought it would be pretty cool to spot a dolphin or a giant fish jump out of the water, although neither did. I also thought it’d be quite nice to sip chilled coconut water right from the coconut husk – you know, to enhance the Floridian-tropics experience. After all, the last time I drank coconut water right from the coconut itself was at a hawker center in Singapore, so I felt I was overdue for another. It was so warm that I could have taken a swim in the pool which was just a few yards away, but my family had other plans for the day – we were going airboating!

I grabbed my camera, fitted it with a telephoto lens, snatched my sunglasses, and piled into our car with my parents and three younger sisters. I had never been on an airboat before, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect.

The drive from Chokoloskee Island to the airboat tour company wasn’t long. Along the way, we passed many, many, coconut trees brimming with ripe fruit. I stared wide-eyed out my window, thinking about how many coconuts I could harvest from just one tree.

Once we arrived at the airboating tour company, we purchased our tickets and got wristbands in return. We only waited a few minutes before we boarded the seven-person (including the guide’s seat) airboat and clamped noise-cancelling headphones over our ears. I didn’t think that a giant fan-looking propeller could produce so much noise, but I was wrong. If it weren’t for the headphones, I’m not sure we would be able to hear each other speak, even if we yelled at the top of our lungs! Instead of having a propeller under the water, an airboat has a large propeller (which looks like a giant-sized fan) strapped up top at the back of the boat. This design allows the boat to operate in shallow water by skimming over the surface, and doesn’t injure underwater plant or animal life like a propeller beneath the water would do.

Our ride started off slowly, as we passed other airboats and waterfront RV sites, but we ramped up on speed as we reached the mangrove forests. It was quite a sight to see so many mangrove trees, their long, gangly roots protruding from the water – it was also quite a thrill to whiz through the narrow pathways that cut through the tangle of trees. I remember my youngest sister asking, “Where are the seatbelts?” That was a pretty decent question, especially considering how fast we were zooming over the water. However, airboats don’t have seatbelts.

I’m honestly unsure about how our tour guide was able to navigate through all those tight mangrove forests at such a high speed. We came so close to so many trees – I figured there was a fifty percent chance that we’d get thrown overboard. I was already reconsidering having brought my camera for wildlife photos.

However, I was more concerned about my mom’s phone than my camera getting water damaged if we hit a tree and were flung overboard. She had been taking pictures and videos of our ride, and I cringed each time we came close enough for a tree branch to snag the phone right out of her hand – which was quite often. I wondered how many phones lay beneath the water, guarded by the thicket of mangrove roots. Since I sat on the end of one of the two rows of seats, I tried not to lean over the side of the boat at all so that I wouldn’t get smacked in the face by a tree limb – the risk was pretty high!

Despite all that, I had an amazing time. In the end, we didn’t hit any trees (not even one!), get tossed overboard, lose a phone, or get smacked in the face by a mangrove branch. Our captain was very experienced, and gave us a highly enjoyable and thrilling ride through the mangroves. Although we didn’t spot any alligators, which was a little unusual, we did get to see a few anhinga birds (sometimes called a snake bird or water turkey) sunning their wings while perched at the tops of trees. One thing that’s interesting about these water turkeys is that they spread their wings in order to dry them because their feathers aren’t water proof. I did get a picture of the birds on my camera, but due to the angle of the sun, it isn’t anywhere near the greatest picture of all time.

Here’s a short video from our ride:

Dare to explore!

Vivienne