The Reason You Can't Swim In Bay Lake...

[dolphindan1]

We've spotted gators in the drainage ditches of the roadsides on WDW property. Just another reason why people are discouraged to go jogging on the roads at WDW (few/no sidewalks as well.)

Lake swimming was permitted in the past because info about Naegleria wasn't as well publicized as it is now.

If there is water expect to see a alligator....

 

[Skrutti]

We saw a small alligator in the lake at Coronado Springs Resort in may last year. It was about a meter long (3 feet). And we saw him several times at night by the bridge between the digsite and cabanas 9.

 

[dolphindan1]

We saw a small alligator in the lake at Coronado Springs Resort in may last year. It was about a meter long (3 feet). And we saw him several times at night by the bridge between the digsite and cabanas 9.

In my experience these are the worst gators...young gators...3 feet or less...why

they are trying to find there way and are very curious and are attracted to noise....they can still take your hand or fingers too....they are not killers like a 7 footer or above but they are really pesky....and much harder to shoot....

 

[MNRMommy]

From what I understand, Disney works hard to "re-locate" these gators when they are found in an undesirable area. Disney world is humongous so it shouldn't be hard to take them elsewhere.

We were coming off Splash Mountain once and there was a crew in the grassy area near the exit pathway. One had this huge stick with a kind of pinchers thing on it and the other CM was holding a bag. When we stopped to see what was going on they casually scooped up a HUGE snake with the pinchers and got him in the bag in seconds. Looks like they are used to animal removal to me. I am kind of spooked out about the Splash waters now but oh well I still ride.

 

[chicagoshannon]

The only time I've seen a gator was on the beach to the right of the ferry boats at the TTC. That said I was always TERRIFIED that they were in the water at River Country. I"d go down the tube slide and then swim as fast as I could back to land. lol

 

[bytheblood]

I would not want to swim where gators swim anyhow.

 

[ironz]

Does anyone know if anything has ever happened to any of the triathalon participants after swimming in Bay Lake? My DH wants to do this event & I'm just not convinced of the safety of it

He did the NYC tri last summer & a guy from Argentina that he was swimming right next to actually died right in front of him b/c there were so many jelly-fish in the water (hudson river ) stinging the swimmers & this guy was allergic to the stings and had an anaphalaxic reaction. They pulled the guy out but it was too late. Sad.

That was a sad case at the NYC tri.

Here's my opinion on doing the triathlon at WDW, having done the 1/2 Ironman (70.3) 4 times there starting in 2004.

The triathlons at Disney are well patrolled--plenty of boats and jetskis around in case someone gets into trouble on the swim.
The earlier races (Danskin, and the Florida 70.3 half Ironman) wouldn't have as high a risk of the amoeba because the lake hasn't been hot for as long. They did post a warning about the amoeba before one of the fall races (Athletes for a Cure), and suggested that people wear nose plugs if they were concerned. Probably a little less chance that a distance swimmer would get the amoeba...it basically has to go way up your nose--that's how it gets into the nervous system and brain. When we are swimming, we are breathing out through our noses and very little water gets in. Plus, we get out into the open water and are not near the shore for very long. But wearing a nose clip would give you an extra measure of protection.

Water quality in Bay Lake otherwise is so-so...since it is heavily used by boats all day every day, there probably is a fair amount of gas/oil products in there. That didn't bother me, though. I have swum in worse, and swum in better.
The water is dark, though...I have been told that it has a lot to do with the cypress trees (or some kind of tree) around that produce tannins (like in tea) and the water is dark. You can see that effect very well if you take the boat from POR to DTD as well...that canal also has dark water.

The other thing is...the swims are not going to be wetsuit legal...so your husband will need to be comfortable with whatever distance in open water without his wetsuit.

Hope that helps! I really like the 1/2 Ironman event there (though won't be there this year)....and have heard good things about the Athletes for a Cure race (which I may sign up for).

 

[rapriebe]

There are always little gators in the canals in Fort Wilderness. It not unusual to be walking along near the canals and see a gator. Gotta be careful when walking the dogs!!

 

[dzorn]

In my experience these are the worst gators...young gators...3 feet or less...why

they are trying to find there way and are very curious and are attracted to noise....they can still take your hand or fingers too....they are not killers like a 7 footer or above but they are really pesky....and much harder to shoot....

Ok were's the picture of the 3 footer that was found in the bathroom in Adventure land curled behind the toilet last year.

It just would seem appropriate about now.

Denise in MI

 

[JPN4265]

However you can still waterski, tube and jetski in the lake. Not to mention I've also seen people fall out of the sea raycers. The risk can't be too great to allow these activities to continue.

Good points. The main reason is safety. No life guards, and too many boats.

 

[Klowee]

Oh my goodness!! I would have never thought that alligators would be all over like that....don't know what I exactly thought...but not that! Wow! And the snakes...ick.

That would definitely be an experience if we saw one...wow.

Thanks for all the great info, I am so glad I asked!

Behind the toilet...oh my!

 

[dmccarty]

Most lakes in Florida don not drain into a river. They are spring or runoff fed.

Tannin is released from decaying plants and turns what would be clear water black. The water is not "dirty" with filth. Its "tanned". Not that you should drink the water, , but its not sewage either. The river near my house is icky brown because of all of the silt/dirt in the water. Course it used to be much worse, it was multicolored back in the early 70's before the textile plants stopped dumping dyes in the water.

Gators have killed 20 people since the 40s. There were three deaths back in 2006 which is very unusual. I remember three gator attacks on people back in the early 90s. One attack happened when a man said he was cleaning the weeds from his prop. The real story was he wanted to wrestle the gator. He lost the match when the gator bit him. Another man said he fell off his sea wall and the gators attacked him. He may have fallen off the wall but he was standing there feeding the gators which is stupid and illegal. The third attack killed a 10 year old in the Loxahatchee river.

We just happened to kayak down the Loxahatchee after the boy was killed. A trapper was putting in his boat to go get the gator. What was interesting is that this part of the river is very narrow, fairly fast moving, and CLEAR. Our kayaks are around 17 feet long and most of the first part of the 20ish mile trip was "fun" because the boats where kinda too long to make the turns easily in the "river". A few miles down stream we found the gator. I have a fuzzy photo of it somewhere. Maybe 6-8 feet long. Real easy to spot in the clear water. That gator only had a few hours left to live when the trapper would take it out. The river was no more than 20 feet wide. In most places only a 12-24 inches deep. VERY clear water. I don't see how the family of the boy could not see that gator. My guess has always been they were feeding the critter when the attack took place.

Don't go into the water between dusk and dawn. DONT FEED the gators. Gators have a brain the size of a walnut. If a two footed creature is giving them food it might as well be food. Especially if the two footed creature is smaller than them. I have been in area in the Everglades that during the day you see no gators for miles and miles and miles. But at dusk/night if you shine a flashlight on the water you will see dozens and dozens of pairs of red eyes. One would not last long in that water at night. I saw a gar fish get hit by a gator in this spot. The gar did not die immediately. It started swimming in circles. The gator that hit the gar swam slowly after the fish. Gators from the sawgrass somehow knew of the injured gar and started to swim right at the fish.... It did not last long.

The amoeba links were interesting. They said 20 people have died from the amoeba since 1962 in FLA. 200 world wide. Florida averages 456 drowning deaths a year. We had between 3 and 6 kids that died playing school sports in my area last year. I would much rather swim in a FLA lake than the ocean. The ocean has sharks, jelly fish, Men of war, 'cudda's, sting rays, and worst of all, rip currents. But you do not hear people saying don't go to the ocean beach. A few years ago in NC we had Fisteria bloom that was quite nasty. The Fisteria was in salt water. I'll take a lake over the ocean.

I have read other reports that state the amoeba can be killed with antibiotics. But this is not mentioned in the links.

An average of five people die from rip currents in Florida every year. 12 people have been killed in shark attacks in Florida since 1976. Do you think the media in Florida is going to tell people to stay away from the beach?

The photo of the people in the lake show that they are wading and not swimming. Does WDW signs say don't swim or wade? I can't remember.

Would I go swimming in a lake in Florida. Yep. Used to spend most of the summer swimming in lakes. I know someone that got bit by a shark but not by a gator or a amoeba. Would I swim in a lake at WDW? Nope, WDW says not too.

Later,
Dan

 

[reginaastralis]

An average of five people die from rip currents in Florida every year. 12 people have been killed in shark attacks in Florida since 1976. Do you think the media in Florida is going to tell people to stay away from the beach?

Actually, the media down here DOES tell you when it's not a good time to be in the water (dusk and dawn = feeding time). I'm a lifelong resident, and every year they show on the news HUNDREDS of sharks right off the coast, and tourist (and probably residents) as well, just feet from them. I live off the Gulf coast, and it's just amazing the amount of sharks you can see in the water.

The media also warns about rip currents, and how to get out of them. I don't think enough people think about these things before they come on vacation. I mean, seriously, who wants to. It's a fact of life here. They also talk each season about the "sting ray shuffle" so you can avoid getting stung by them. It's still going to happen, people are still going to get stung by them, people are still going to go surfing in the middle of a hurricane ... people are going to feed gators ... people are just going to be STUPID (not that it's entirley a stupid thing to get stung by a sting ray ... those buggers are tricky).

I think the media can talk about this information until they are blue in the face, but people won't listen.

I don't really swim in either the oceans or the lakes around here. I don't trust gators, and I wouldn't buy a piece of property with water on it. That's why, even though we live on a peninsula, we own a pool. (Let's not even get into gators getting into inground pools )

 

[Belle & Ariel]

Anyone else think RC closed because of the possibility of major lawsuits if someone even suggested they had gotten sick from the amoeba there?

I think if this was the 70's or 80's when lawsuits weren't such a threat, Disney would have kept the park open.

We have many pictures and fond memories of trips there. I loved the big pool slide and that tube ride where you kept getting stuck and had to wait for someone to come along and bump you free.
And what about those slides with the recording of "Welcome to Hootin holler hollow"? Boy I wish it could reopen.

 

[dmccarty]

Actually, the media down here DOES tell you when it's not a good time to be in the water (dusk and dawn = feeding time). )

I guess I was not clear in what I meant. Swimming at an ocean beach is far more dangerous than the amoeba threat. Some people make it sound like if you go into a Florida lake you are taking a huge risk. The numbers say otherwise. The far larger risk is swimming at Daytona Beach. The media may warn about the dangers at the beach, as well they should, but they certainly are not going to say don't ever go swimming at the beach. The media should warn about the amoeba but they should be clear on the risk as well. And treatment.

My family has been in FLA for generations. People went swimming in the lakes. Nobody in my family or anyone we knew had a pool when I was a kid. As a kid, I and my cousins would spend as much of the time as we could swimming in the summer. On cousin I stayed with did not have AC. Going swimming was how you escaped the heat and humidity. And we swam in a lake! To hear some people we should all be dead from gator's and amoebas. We did not just jump in the lake and get out. We would wake up in the morning, eat some food and go swimming. We would get out for lunch. Go back and not get out until dinner. We stayed in the lake all day. And many times we would go fishing at night. And we did this most days of the weeks if we were at my grandparents.

The most dangerous thing related to swimming in the lake that we experienced was the time I ran from the porch to the lake and almost stepped on a 5-6 foot long copperhead. It was curled up on a step and as I was running I saw it and managed to leap over it at the last second. It then moved and went into the crawl space where we kept some of our inflatable rafts and fishing gear. We was a wee bit careful getting our stuff out from under there the rest of the summer.

Later,
Dan

 

[Gaiusrex]

OF course that was then and this is now. Something must have changed.

Yes, the litigious nature of our society.

 

[bsbrady]

Didnt the beach at Ft. Wilderness, years ago, used to actually have roped off swimming areas. I remember this as a kid.

 

[jngwright]

Here is the link to the gator in the bathroom pic:
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1894568