(upbeat guitar music) - [Ken] While swamp exploration might not be found on most people's bucket list, Okefenokee Swamp should be the exception.

Over 400,000 acres in size, the swamp is a richly diverse and strikingly beautiful ecosystem that straddles the Georgia, Florida border and is protected by the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge and the Okefenokee Wilderness.

Considered one of the seven natural wonders of Georgia, the swamp is a 7,000 year old peat-filled bog that Native Americans inhabited as early as 2500 BC.

It's home to countless birds, carnivorous plants, mammals, and reptiles.

Most notably though, Okefenokee is known for its impressive population of American alligators.

While most swamps are highly inaccessible, a series of misguided industrial adventures in the late 1800s and early 1900s resulted in the digging of a canal.

This canal, along with the St. Marys River and the Suwannee River, which both originate in the swamp, have helped create over 120 miles of water trails, and with them, one of the most incredible paddling destinations in the world.

(funky horn music) ♪ Hey ♪ Hey, hey - [Ken] My name's Ken Whiting, and for over 30 years, my life has been guided by the paddle in my hand.

Ooh wee.

This is my search for the world's most spectacular paddling destinations.

This is "Facing Waves."

♪ Go on and do your thing Funding for facing waves is provided by Discover the World.

Collette offers small group explorations, tours, destinations and local experiences designed especially for small groups.

Explorations by Collette Guided travel since 1918 Postum Instant warm beverage made with wheat, grain and molasses.

It's non-GMO and caffeine free.

Since 1895, all three flavors are available online at Postum.com and by these additional sponsors.

♪♪♪ (funky horn music) ♪ Go on and do your th-thing (banjo music) - So, the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is a huge piece of swampland and its surrounding forest.

Okefenokee Adventures and Okefenokee Swamp Park have partnered with the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge to provide a way for people like me, like you, to actually experience the swamp.

(banjo music continues) - So, we're in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, which is a 407,000 acre refuge managed by the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service.

A lot of what we do is provide visitor services and educational services.

We have a really robust environmental science education program, and we also lead folks on tours like this.

It's a really unique refuge, probably the most visited refuge in the United States.

120 miles of water trails and wilderness platforms that you can camp on.

Apply for a permit through the National Wildlife Refuge, and then we'll guide you into the Okefenokee to have an extraordinary wilderness experience.

- Made it to the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.

(sighing) I've been waiting for this for quite some time, and I'm on a bit of a mission today to kick things off here.

I'm hooking up with Dan and Kim from Okefenokee Adventures, and we're going on a 5 1/2 mile paddle to a day-use platform in there.

We're gonna have a good Southern meal out there, get some energy back before paddling our way back home.

And so, I'm gonna get this boat pumped up.

We're gonna hit the water.

(acoustic guitar music) - I'm the Executive Director at Okefenokee Swamp Park and Okefenokee Adventures.

We are the private visitation partner to the National Wildlife Refuge in the U.S.

Fish and Wildlife Service.

You know, we have a couple of components to our mission.

It's delivering educational opportunities and visitation opportunities that inspire conservation advocacy for the Okefenokee.

I joined the organization in 2020.

It's a 76-year-old nonprofit.

- Wow.

- One of the oldest and longest community-serving nonprofits in the Okefenokee region.

And I'm their first executive director.

- Hey.

- Yeah, hey!

(both laugh) So, I first came into the Okefenokee with my children on a camping trip.

We love being in wilderness settings, being outside.

It's a place of peace.

It's absolutely a spiritual retreat for many.

It is a place that really hasn't received the acknowledgement, the celebration of it being an incredible resource that what follows that is, you know, preservation.

And that's really the priority for our planet at the moment, is preserving these wild places and these wild spaces.

So, that's what brought me here.

One of the reasons I was brought on was really to lift the organization, help it find relevancy, inspire investment, and work regionally to develop a natural resources economy in the Okefenokee.

And so, the Okefenokee Swamp Park, which we call the OSP, is leading the charge.

- Okay.

- [Kim] on that work.

(acoustic guitar music continues) - Well, unfortunately for Kim, she had to make her way back home, but Dan and I, we've got nowhere to go but to Coffee Bay, which is around three miles ahead.

And so, it's time to get a move on.

(electric guitar music) - So, we're paddling out today from the eastern entrance of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge, the Suwannee Canal National Recreation Area, and this is a massive area.

The Okefenokee is almost 700 square miles altogether, and it encompasses a lot of different environments in that area.

From the open prairies of the east side, to the very dense cypress forest of the west side near Stephen C. Foster State Park.

And over the course of the week, you're gonna get to visit a lot of these different communities and take that in.

And this eastern side is really well known for the prairie areas, and we access mostly through the Suwannee Canal.

And this was a drainage project done, actually trying to destroy the swamp in 1891 and to turn this into farmland and to log this area.

It's had a really positive legacy, and the east side of the swamp is our access point here.

And so, we're gonna follow this out and visit some really beautiful areas.

And this eastern prairie area is without this water trail available to us, very, very shallow, very inaccessible, to humans that is, not to wildlife.

- The great thing about paddling in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is that it is such an intimate experience.

You're so close to everything 'cause the waterways are so narrow.

And with that, you see so much onshore, so much of the plant life, the bird life, the wildlife, everything is right there.

And so, paddling with someone like Dan, a naturalist who knows exactly what's going on, is really nice.

(electric guitar music continues) (alligator bellows) - One of the reasons people come to visit the Okefenokee is to come to see our American alligators.

It's just an incredible experience to be able to paddle alongside our alligators here in the swamp.

And it can be a little intimidating when you see a large, 12-foot alligator basking near you or even in the water near your boat.

But they never bother us, and if we give them space, you know, it's never gonna be an issue.

And it's just an incredible opportunity to get such a great closeup look at such a beautiful animal.

And we'll see everything from them basking on the banks trying to sun in the winter months to right now in their mating season, the males become very, very territorial.

They're very visible.

They're patrolling their territory on the surface.

And we get to see that behavior while we're out there paddling around.

- When you're paddling in a place with literally 10,000 plus gators, it's hard not to think, "Hmm, is this a good idea to be canoeing and kayaking water like this?"

The reality is, as long as you respect the gators, they're going to respect you.

(alligator bellowing) (acoustic guitar music) Was not expecting to find this (Dan laughs) in the middle of the swamp, six miles out.

Looks like a pretty good spot for a meal to me.

- Oh, and tonight we got jambalaya with some local fresh Georgia shrimp - Oh, nice.

- and some sausage made right here in Folkston, Georgia from Wainright's.

- Twist my arm.

(Dan laughs) (acoustic guitar music continues) He wants some jambalaya too.

(Ken laughs) Oh yeah.

Oh yeah, that's good.

Cheers.

- What a day.

Thank you.

- Oh yeah.

To a great day.

- Fresh Georgian shrimp right off the boat.

Well, I could pretty much spend the whole night here, and if we don't get moving pretty soon, we might end up spending the whole night here.

The sun is dropping and we're 5 1/2 miles out.

We still got a ways to get back, so we're gonna have to hustle on.

- Get fueled up, and we'll be ready to go.

- All right.

Mm-mm-mm.

(acoustic guitar music continues) We're back on the Okefenokee, and I'm here with another couple of guys from Okefenokee Adventures, Levi and DJ, and we're going fishing.

We're gonna try to catch something toothy, but not too toothy.

(alligator bellows) (lighthearted guitar music) - The Okefenokee Swamp is about 440,000 acres, home to over 620 plant species, 50 mammal species, 234 bird species, half of which use this as a migratory stop.

And the refuge now encompasses approximately 411,000 acres of the swamp, which is also the headwaters of two main rivers, the St. Marys and the Suwannee.

So, not only is this the largest black water swamp in North America, being a home and habitat for a variety of plants and animals, but it is also, you know, partially responsible for what happens and the wellbeing for the Suwannee and St. Marys rivers.

- So, we haven't made it very far.

Ultimately, what's the goal today?

- We are currently on the Suwannee Canal, which is a lot deeper than many, if not all of the other places within the swamp.

And there are certainly better places with more structure to fish along the canal.

But you have a canal that's approximately six feet deep, you have structure on the sides of the canal, and pretty much by working your way down, you know, you're gonna run into some fish in many different places throughout the canal.

So, you'll see certain hot spots, you know, two miles down, a mile down.

But we're possibly gonna be catching fish along the entirety of the canal here.

- All right.

So, today I am fishing with DJ and Levi from Okefenokee Adventures.

And it's good to be out here with these guys because they not only know kayak and canoe fishing, but they know how to fish these waters.

- Yeah, the alligators haven't been as much of a presence, and there's times where they really are.

I mean, they're right around you, - [Ken] Yeah.

- while you're fishing, and that can really make things interesting.

- It's still, water's a bit cool, and- - I'm wondering if that's it.

Yeah, maybe, you know, we've had some cooler rains that have dropped the temperatures a little bit in the water and that might have lowered their activity levels a bit, but that's just speculation.

- They're still around, that's for sure.

- Yeah.

- And if we were in the boat basin where more people tend to fish because you can fish from land there, you don't need a boat or anything, we'd be running into 'em more.

- Yeah.

(lighthearted guitar music continues) - All right.

So, our first fish of the day is the bowfin, which down here, they're commonly referred to as the mudfish.

They're a good game fish, they're a toothy predator, and they get to a pretty good size.

It's not too uncommon to catch them, you know, seven pounds plus out here in the swamp.

Not particularly known for their eating, but they're a fun fish to catch.

Fishing is something that can be done here in the swamp year round, although it does start to really pick up around this time of the year, April into the spring when it is, you know, the warmouth spawning season.

Warmouth is a pretty large panfish that is very good eating.

So, that's definitely the most sought after fish.

But there are opportunities to catch others, such as catfish and then what we've been catching, the mudfish or the bowfin, and then the jackfish, which is also called the chain pickerel, larger, more predatory game fish.

- Look at that.

(laughing) So, very foolishly.

I started heckling DJ when he didn't catch a fish in the first five minutes.

I'm just letting them get the little fish out of the way.

I'm all about quality, not quantity.

(laughing) And of course right after that, he started banging them off.

(energetic country guitar music) I wasn't catching anything.

DJ?

- [DJ] Yeah?

- Can I see what a fish looks like?

(DJ laughs) I would love to say that it's because he was poaching the good spots, he was going ahead and fishing the good spots.

But I was actually doing the poaching, I was leading the charge and fishing the best spots, and he was catching most of them right behind me in the places that I just fished.

And so, I knew I had to change something up.

Pretty sure it was color.

Must be the color, right?

Color of the lure?

Yeah.

Yeah.

If not the color of the lure, it's gotta be the line, the line he's using 'cause it certainly can't be angler skill, no.

(laughing) I won't concede to that for at least another couple of fish.

Oh.

Oh yeah!

(fish splashes) (Ken laughs) That was awesome.

Right off the top of the water.

Oh, I gotta get 'em in.

See, this is the part I'm not used to, rushing a fish in.

DJ had told me that once you hook a fish, you gotta get it into the boat right away because gators are attracted by that splashing fish, and they'll try to steal it from you.

So, just get it into your boat right away.

Well, I didn't really think that's through.

I pulled that fish into the boat.

But now you have a green, a lively fish jumping around, and you've got hooks in it and it's got its sharp little teeth and bouncing around in between your legs.

Chaos.

Not a bad little fish.

They are freaky looking though, aren't they?

- [DJ] Yes, they are.

- Huh.

Gone.

That was a great example.

Net it.

Something about having a treble hook and a toothy critter bouncing around your lap that's a little nerve wracking.

(acoustic guitar music) Paddling in the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is a really intimate experience 'cause everything is so close.

You're so close to both shorelines, you're close to the wildlife, the bird life, the vegetation.

It's all right there, but the cool thing about kayak fishing is you work your way very slowly through these places that you'd otherwise be paddling through.

So, it's almost an even a more intimate experience 'cause you're really spending extra time to explore those little nooks and crannies.

(funky horn music) ♪ Go on and do your thing - [Ken] Hey.

(fish splashes) Nice.

- Ooh, this is a good one.

Yeah, here comes a gator.

- Kayak fishing adds a whole new angle to exploring a body of water.

I love just paddling and exploring a body of water, but when you're fishing, it just adds that other dimension to it.

But there is a third dimension when you're kayak fishing here, and that's the gators.

And it's not just that, hey, they're around and they're cool, but the gators look at you as not you as a source of food, but the fish that you're catching.

They look at you as an opportunity for a free lunch.

- The more active fishing season, that is also when the alligators start to become active after their winter brumation.

So, clashes between the people fishing here and the alligators is inevitable.

It's something that happens and it's, you know, kind of an interesting thing when you're fishing and there's something a lot larger trying to steal the fish from the end of your line there.

So, it's something that you need to learn to deal with and also be respectful.

Understand that the refuge here is the home for those American alligators.

They are not going to go anywhere and neither are the fishermen.

So, you have to learn to coexist with them and, you know, fish responsibly and ethically so that you can minimize the amount of alligator and human interactions in that way.

So, it's definitely interesting, but with the right countermeasures and precautions, it's, you know, something that shouldn't be that big of a problem.

Oh, oh, pickerel?

All right, gator, uhn uhn, uhn uhn, uhn uhn.

(Ken laughs) No sir.

His mouth is open too.

Come on, 'cause he's coming.

He's coming.

Is he gone?

- [Producer] Yeah.

- Okay.

We might wanna consider moving locations.

(laughing) - It is comforting to know that the gators, they're not looking at us as a source of food.

They're just interested in that fish on the end of the line.

And so, whether you're paddling, whether you're fishing, the trick in dealing with gators, it's just being respectful of them and mindful of them.

And you respect them, they'll respect you.

And in this case, it's just time to move on, move to a different area and continue fishing further down the road.

(gentle guitar music) Well, we've escaped the gator (laughing) seems like, so we're gonna try fishing again in a really cool spot.

All this Spanish moss on the cypress.

We might even try to catch some panfish here or a tree fish.

(laughing) (gentle guitar music continues) Well, that was a fun day of fishing, a lot of sporty fish, a little bit of adventure with the alligators, but this is the kind of day that would've been a great day of fishing, even if we hadn't caught fish.

Just such a beautiful spot to be.

And we only made it two miles into the refuge.

Well, tomorrow we're going a lot further though.

And so, it's time to get out of the sun, save our energy, and get ready for a big day of adventure.

(gentle guitar music continues) (gentle guitar music continues) Funding for facing waves is provided by Discover the World.

Collette offers small group explorations, tours, destinations and local experiences designed especially for small groups.

Explorations by Collette Guided travel since 1918 Postum Instant warm beverage made with wheat, grain and molasses.

It's non-GMO and caffeine free.

Since 1895, all three flavors are available online at Postum.com and by these additional sponsors.

♪♪♪