>> Speaking of the uncanny feeling of shallow water, there are parts of the Florida keys ...

> Leeches freak me out, I can't imagine swimming with (or falling on) the gators!

FWIW, neither leeches nor alligators are indigenous to salt water, which is what surrounds the Florida keys.

Alligators maybe not, but in the one time that I have paddleboarded in the keys I saw a crocodile. Probably a crocodile rather than a gator, I didn’t get that close… but from reading articles they’ll occasionally eat a small dog around there, so they are definitely out there.

	▲	AdieuToLogic 5 days ago \| parent [-]
		Saltwater crocs do exist in southern Florida, no doubt. And there's some chance a gator could swim from one island to another (or the mainland). The easiest way to discern each is based on their snout. If the reptile you saw has a blunt nose about the same width as its jaw, then it's a gator. If, instead, the jaw looked more like a trapezoid, then it's a croc. Both are opportunistic hunters capable of taking down mammals up to adult bovines or horses. The latter two examples are rare as the size of the croc/gator has to be rather large.