Alligator Bayou

Alligator Bayou	Prairieville, Louisiana
Paddle Date	05-17-2008
Directions from New Orleans	I-10 West to Exit 166 at Highland Road. Hang a right on La. Hwy. 42 (Highland Road) for half a block and turn right on East Perkins Road. Turn right again at traffic light at La. Hwy 928. Immediately after crossing over I-10, turn right on Alligator Bayou Road. The 15-foot alligator points the way. There are on the left, down a bit from road level. Find the section that says "Tour Information."
Launch area description	Very nice concrete graduated launch. The concrete is broken on the right hand side of the launch when looking at it from the water - be careful about landing there.
Price	$5 or $10 per vessel (sign says $5, but they say it costs $10, but they charged us $5 per boat - I wasn't complaining!)
Rating (out of 5 gators)	4 gators!
Notable	Beautiful cypress flats area. Many really large alligators that are somewhat curious of kayakers. The large tour boat goes out at noon (and other times?)

Click: Alligator Bayou official website.

We loved Alligator Bayou! It was easy to get to, easy to launch, and beautiful. There was one other kayaker in the water when we put-in, though we only saw them on the water a few times. We paddled from about 10AM until 1PM. We saw about 20 'gators, many of which seemed interested in our kayaks and would head our way a bit before sliding beneath the surface of the water. I am not an alligator expert (yet) but some of these suckers were huge - I don't think 12 feet long is an exaggeration! We also saw cranes, herons, turtles, jumping fish, small gators etc. The "cypress flats" area was gorgeous and peaceful. At noon-ish, we were passed by a large barge type boat on which the official Alligator Swamp tour was taking place. It had churned up the water a bit and disturbed the peacefulness of the bayou, but it couldn't detract much from our experience.

The Launch site from land and water