Airboat Ride in the Atchafalaya Basin in Louisiana

This is the second part of the day spent in Baton Rouge, Louisiana as part of the extended review of the Viking Mississippi cruise from St Paul, Minnesota to New Orleans.

After a quick lunch following the walking tour of Baton Rouge, we were off in the coaches again to catch an Airboat at the Atchafalaya Basin which is about an hour’s drive from the city. When we arrived at the basin, the tour company, the Atchafalaya Basin Landing Airboat Swamp Tour people were very well organized and got us in groups of 10 or so onto the airboats, which had raised stadium type seating so that everyone had a great view of the terrain. Hearing protectors were provided as well as the noise from the aircraft propellor is quite intense!

The swamps in this area were originally heavily wooded bald cypress trees which were systematically felled and shipped upstream for buildings all through the USA and you can get some idea of the sheer number of trees that must have existed with the stumps that still stand in the still waters:

From time to time (at least in this area) you get a stand of fully grown trees, which would make a lovely art print in black and white!

I was fully ready for this trip with my 400mm telephoto lens, which for those not steeped in photography is about the equivalent of a pair of 8x binoculars. So, I was ready for my bird and alligator shots, and I didn’t have long to wait to see some!

The noise of the approaching boat almost always caused the birds to fly into the air (which does make for some great action shots), but some must be quite used to the noise and stood just waiting for us to pass by:

As we turned each bend in the waterways, I was always ready to capture the birds before they had a chance to get away. This Great Blue Heron only just managed to get off the water surface as we turned into his quiet part of the swamp!

The early parts of the ride were over open water including an exciting spell running between the concrete pillars of one of the longest bridges in the USA carrying the I-10 from Baton Rouge to Lafayette:

It’s interesting to see the different water levels that are found in these swamps – it must look very different at flood stage level!

I was also intrigued by some of the ruins that dot the banks. This cabin was collapsing into the swamp, but it was interesting to see that at some point they had a barbeque on the deck and air conditioning! Imagine what this is like in the summer with the mosquitos that must eat you alive!

As we got further off the beaten track, the waterways turned into mudways, but nothing was a problem for our airboat pilot:

There is always some excitement of whether you will see alligators on these tours, but it was pretty clear that they knew exactly where to go to meet some of the larger reptiles that can be found in the area:

It feels quite safe when up on a solid metal boat, but I can imagine a bit more fear if you were in the water at this stage! The boat captain had some food at the ready (and the alligator had a name, Hercules!) and they were quite comfortable being up close and friendly with the crew:

But note the bite taken out of the oar that he was using to attract the alligators by paddling and patting the water surface!

After maybe 20 minutes with this group of six or so alligators, it was time to bid farewell and make our way back towards the landing:

The scenery, while relatively similar around the swamp, occasionally gave way to some magnificent trees:

And we also saw many more birds, including this blue heron that seems to be struggling to free his feet from the mud:

Finally, as we rounded another corner a great flock of Roseate spoonbill birds took flight from the top branches of some trees, but I was lucky enough to capture them before they got too far away:

The whole tour lasted about 90 minutes and was one of the highlights of the entire cruise. The ride home in the coach turned out to be quite a bit longer with heavy traffic, but I’m glad to say the boat waited for us and we set sail, as usual, as the sun began to set. This time we had some clouds over the horizon, but that gave some spectacular sun rays as the sun got lower in the sky:

Not just as dramatic over the city itself, but a warm glow over the skyline of Baton Rouge, nonetheless.

You can surely imagine me at this point – up on the top deck (with a beer) roaming from side to side of the boat trying to decide which was the better photograph. This one of a ship docked in Port Allen on the opposite bank to Baton Rouge really caught my eye:

And with that, we left the city behind, but still an opportunity to capture a barge with a dramatic sunset behind it:

We settled down to our final dinner on the boat after packing our suitcases. Tomorrow morning was going to be disembarkation in New Orleans, but we still had one final night in a hotel there and plenty of time to explore the city on the Halloween weekend!