Even though it had snowed 10 inches just three days before I arrived. Even though it was winter and it would be too cold for the alligators to be out in the water. (Instead, they're burrowing in some mud somewhere for heat.)
Fortunately, I was traveling with a group who wanted to do the same.
And despite the chilly weather, it seemed like the perfect afternoon to drink a giant frozen margarita out of a bright orange sippy cup.
Airboat Adventures operates out of visitor's center (replete with an albino alligator named Sugar in captivity) in Lafitte, Louisiana, where it takes airboats (literally propelled by a giant fan in the back, above) and pontoons (below) out on the water from its marina...
...starting out through the Bayou Barataria (a tributary of Barataria Bay, off the Gulf of Mexico), just outside of Jean Lafitte National Historical Park and Preserve.
At first, the wide open waterway gave us plenty of opportunity to see the types of houses that have been lifted up on stilts along the water because of flooding (either regular flooding or, like, hurricane-level flooding)...
...as well as the many seabirds that live and hunt and forage there...
...like brown pelicans (the Louisiana state bird), perching on wooden pilings.
No hunters were hiding behind the duck blinds, waiting for waterfowl...
...and no one had chartered a fishing boats to try to catch redfish (popular blackened in New Orleans seafood dishes).
The tour traveled through a 20,000-acre parcel of swamp—pretty wide open in the beginning, and not the flooded forest I expected.
But then the tidewater cypress trees came into better view...
...and the path became more winding...
...to the point where we could almost reach out and grab the Spanish moss that hangs off the cypress.
Spanish moss (which isn't a true moss) is reportedly full of biting mites called chiggers—so that kept us from giving it a yank.
Other vegetation that provides habitat for birds and many other swamp critters (which unfortunately we did not see) includes dwarf palmetto (a type of low-growing palm) and tupelo gum trees. 
The water was calm and the scene, serene...
...especially watching a cormorant spread its wings to sun itself and dry off.
The only disturbances came from an airboat that buzzed on by, rocking the waters and causing a swell.
Turkey vultures glided silently above, with nary a flap.
Airboat Adventures says this is where Disney got the inspiration for the bayou scenes in The Princess and the Frog.
Although I know it's just the Deep South, I still think it looks a bit otherworldly.
But then I'm brought back down to earth thinking about spotting an eagle perched on a snag...
...and the dead that are buried at one of the dozen or so nearby cemeteries, their bodies once delivered by boat.
As the boat circled back to its starting point...
...there was time for just one last glance at a preening pelican, feet in water, before the boat brought us to dry land.
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