Dylan..only three feet?
I'm talking an average closer to 8 feet. A park ranger pointed the place out to me. It's easy to get to by car, so if you're afraid you can sit on the car and take pics.
It's east of Everglades City north on a dirt road off the Tamiami trail. When I said hundreds, I wasn't exagerating.

If you're interested, let me know, I have a pickup truck great for riding in the back of and taking great gator video. To high for the gators to jump into. hehehe. Bring a good zoom setup, you can tell your Canadian freinds you were right down by the water. instead of 20 feet away. I promise not to drive crazy... really.

Sounds like fun actually!

I'm trying to get an exact shooting schedule, trying to decide between 10-14 days. Hopefully we can wrap it up in 8-10 days and I'll have a couple extra to do some fun stuff.
Can you guys reccomend the top 4 things I should do while I'm there? Besides hit Disneyworld?

Isn't it Florida where they have walking catfish that attack people?

Better bring your mosquito, fire ant, Bott fly, catfish, gator, and Jeff repellent, Dylan.

It comes in a spray form John, it's called SmartA** repellent. I'm not sure if it still has my likeness on the can, though.

John- The catfish do walk across dry land, but they won't attack... which is more than I can say for some of the natives :)

Dylan- As far as things to do, I recommend Universal and Epcot as theme parks to hit. Other than that, I have no idea what might peak YOUR interest. What would you like to do? Historical sites? St. Augastine, the oldest city in Fla? Fort Christmas is just outside of Orlando. Daytona Beach is always fun. It is up to you. I'm sure several of us would be happy to play the part of tour guide. Maybe all of us could get together and swarm the state in a drunken frenzy?

I've been to St. Augustine actually, about 15 years ago.

Theme parks for sure. I planned on hitting Epcot/Disneyworld.
Other stuff would have to be within an hour or two of Orlando, since I might only get half-days free.
I'd like to make it out to the coast and do some snorkling, if there are any easliy accessible reefs in the area.

I've got lots of golf lined up already in the evenings.

I missed Spring Break so there's no point going to Daytona, is there? :)

"I missed Spring Break so there's no point going to Daytona, is there? "

I can't help it if you don't know how to manage shooting schedules... Timing, timing, timing :) However, Daytona is still a fun place, even without the coeds gone wild.

As far as snokeling, I can't say... I don't dive. Besides... It's shark season. There are some springs out near Orlando that are supposed to be great for diving. Shark-free, even :)

While theme parks are fun, there's a lot to do in Orlando that's a lot let expensive. There's a Ripley's Believe it or Not museum, an FAO Schwartz (so fun!) Church Street Station, a great Imax theater, a Hard Rock Cafe, Cirque du Soliel... hell, you name it.

And That's what I know with the limited amout of time I've spent there. I'm sure others could tell you more.

Uno's Pizza.....Mmmmmm....

-Shawn

Gators
 

If you are looking for gators closer to O-town than Miami, try Payne's Prairie near Gainesville.

Damn thaings are all over the place. There is one portion where after a short walk you can get closer to live alligators than you would want to. Right off the Gainesville end of the Gainesville-Hawthorne rail trail is a side adventure that will take you there.

Of course, there are lots of UF gators also, but that's a different story. I had the opportunity to help Nino G. videograph some of the UF type live gators yesterday. The experience was most illuminating, as was ESPN's Erin Andrews' smile. I had to wear polarized sunglasses most of the time to escape the dazzle.

Post it
 

Being that this post is nearly 4 years old, I'll assume that Dylan found what he was looking for.


In response to the Daytona question, since I went to photo school there, I'll add that in addition to spring break (which is going full blast now) you have Nascar Speed Week and related activities and Bike Week. You can't drive all the way up and down the beach as was possible when I worked as an Orlando Sentinel stringer there, but sections of it are open to vehicles for a fee. It's an all day parade of cars and people and entertaining to watch.

Most people don't think of Gainesville as a tourist destination but thousands of college students live here and it makes quite a party at times. You can also check out the sporting events, minus several extremely talented Gator basketball players who will soon go pro.