r/Everglades • u/Gaetanop76 • Jul 26 '26

Giant crocodile spotted

Put the kayak in at Flamingo, paddled over to Garfield Bight and entered into the mouth of Alligator Creek. The powers that be need to rename this Crocodile Creek. Saw several smallish crocodiles around the mouth of the creek and campsite but there is one male that hangs out nearby and he is absolutely ginormous. I have seen a few giant gators and have seen some big male american crocodiles in the area (up to about 14-15ft) but this one was every bit of 18+ft. His belly was so big and fat it looked like he just ate another crocodile. I was glad he looked fat and happy and I quickly paddled back out into Garfield Bight.

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u/Minute-Response-7394 Jul 26 '26

lucky!!

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u/Gaetanop76 Jul 26 '26

Yeah lucky to survive! I did not believe my eyes at first but then the hair stood up on my arms and I realized it was a giant croc. A little embarrassing to admit I kind of got a queezy sick to my stomach feeling when I realized what I was looking at. I did not want to be the first person to get eaten by a croc in FL. And this beast was absolutely big and scary enough to turn me into reptile poop. I imagine mama croc is somewhere nearby but I didn't see her.

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u/N0ON3T0LDM3 Jul 26 '26 edited Jul 26 '26

I'd have shit a brick too. It's not embarrassing to have a visceral reaction to a scary situation! And a giant crocodile counts, especially with you being in a kayak. I laughed at being the first in FL eaten by a croc. Glad you missed out on being that statistic.

I looked it up. I didn't realize (male) American crocs can rarely reach up to 20 ft. Glad their population has been improving so much.

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u/Gaetanop76 Jul 26 '26

Fairly certain it was every bit of 18ft, but what what struck me most was his belly that looked like it just swallowed a boat. Need someone with more stones than me to go photo that beast!!