A North Carolina man hopes he doesn’t see the alligator that crashed into his boat later.
Pete Joyce, a firefighter and paramedic, said he was paddling in a swampy section of the Waccamaw River when he saw the crocodile about three feet away from him. He was stunned and didn’t have enough time to react before the alligator pounced on him and overturned his boat, but a video camera on his chest captured all of the interaction so he could process it later.
“I was about to turn around when it came to me,” said Joyce, 46. “The video does not show how strong the impact was. The crocodile hit the kayak with such force that I lost my balance and started rolling.”
However, the meeting did not end there. Joyce said he could feel the alligator swimming underneath his boat. When he got back into the kayak, he hit it three times, hoping it would scare the creature.
Although Joyce is an experienced kayaker who does water sports at least once a week and plans to kayak across the Waccamaw River, a 140-mile body of water that spans both North and South Carolina, years of kayaking did not They had prepared to face the bug. She said she grabbed her paddle and walked away from the area as fast as she could, afraid that the crocodile might return.
“I never worried about alligators,” said Joyce. “When I’ve seen them in the past, they go their own way and don’t mess with you.”
But this experience was different and taught the veteran kayaker that even he still had something to learn about one of his favorite hobbies.
“This time of year is bad for rowing because we are in the mating season and the animals are tending their nests,” said Joyce. “Kayaking is a great hobby, but you need to get to know your surroundings. You are getting into wildlife, so you have to do research.”
Although Joyce recognizes the need to be more careful, she does not let her encounter with the crocodile prevent her from kayaking. You still have tens of miles of the Waccamaw River to explore.
