Pete Joyce was paddling Sunday in a swampy section of the Waccamaw River when the alligator attacked him. The impact threw him into the water, but he was able to grab some branches of the trees to prevent the boat from capsizing.
Joyce, an experienced kayaker, had a video camera on his chest, which captured the entire encounter.
“The video really doesn’t do the impact justice because it hit enough that I could shift my balance and that’s where I started rolling,” he said.
At first Joyce thought it was a fish leaping close to shore.
“When I was about three feet from the side of the boat, it was when I really got a good look at the head,” he said. “There is not enough time to react anyway.
Joyce, who is a firefighter and paramedic, did not see the crocodile after the collision, but could feel it brushing the bottom of his boat as he swam.
Once it straightened up, it struck the side of its kayak three times, hoping that it might scare the reptile. “
He took a few long, deep breaths and then grabbed his paddle and left the area as fast as he could, in case the alligator was chasing him.
“That’s what I thought was that the thing was going to take a second hit or something,” he said.
Alicia Davis, an alligator biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, said the alligator was probably also scared and went in the other direction.
Alligators are quite active during this time of year, because the mating season is over and the females tend to their nests, he said.
“It could have been a female that was trying to intimidate him, maybe a little bit, because they are a little aggressive with their nests,” he said. “They’re mainly trying to intimidate you if you get too close.”
She said it is also possible that Joyce scared the crocodile and swam in the boat by mistake.
Alligators generally pose a small threat to humans, Davis said, adding that the biggest problems arise when people feed them or let pets get too close to the water’s edge.
Joyce said she plans to kayak the entire 140-mile-long Waccamaw River, which runs from North Carolina to South Carolina. She’s doing it in segments, so she says she’ll wait to tackle that section until winter, when alligators are dormant.
He said he had become a little complacent with alligators because he sees them all the time when he is kayaking and even on the golf course near his home.
“I have a different appreciation of the animal,” he said. “I mean, once it comes after you, a good time you look at it a little differently.”
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