In August 2018, I was able to visit the Huntington Beach State Park in South Carolina and watch American alligators (Alligator mississippiensis). The park is a great place to watch these majestic animals. As you enter the park, you drive along a causeway that separates Mullet Pond from a swampy area around Oaks Creek. Alligators can be seen along either side of the causeway, but stopping on the causeway is prohibited. There is a parking area at the end of the causeway. You can park there, and then walk back along the causeway. This provides a great way to view alligators in the open water.
You can also drive back to the park office & gift shop, and walk along the Atalaya Straight Road between Mullet Pond and Mallard Pond. There are many trees and other vegetation growing along the path here, and a lot more emergent vegetation in the water. So your views of the alligators will be very different.
Here are a few of the photos I took of alligators along the causeway near sunset. If you’d like to purchase a print or digital license, just click on the photo, and it will take you to my smugmug natural history photography site.
A large alligator at sunset:
A close-up of an alligator’s head as it swims through the water:
An alligator swims diagonally across the frame, leaving a wake behind it:
This is perhaps the favorite photo I’ve taken in 2018. I love the MC Escher-esque effect of black and white patterns on the water, with a gator in the middle:
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