Michael Mccarthy has had many unique wildlife encounters in his life. Mccarthy is the owner of See Through Canoes, a Central Florida-based company that sells clear canoes. The company ships the canoes all over the world, and they also rent them out locally through their company See More Adventures.
The clear canoes allow customers to see what’s floating underneath them. Usually, they’ll see fish, dolphins, and the occasional manatee.
But in 2016, Mccarthy had an encounter with a different type of animal while he was in one of his canoes: a massive alligator!
Mccarthy was canoeing on a river near his home, and he was enjoying the peaceful atmosphere. Suddenly, his canoe hit what he thought was a jagged rock. Mccarthy tried to figure out to get unstuck, but then, the rock started moving!
To Mccarthy’s shock, a huge alligator head popped up from below the canoe!
“After rising up under the canoe, the gator sat there for a full 30 seconds, which seemed like a really long time,” Mccarthy told Inside Edition. “Then he backed up for a few feet before he submerged and disappeared.”
Once Mccarthy’s heart rate returned to normal, he headed back to shore. Thankfully, he hasn’t had too many other encounters with alligators since then!
In September 2018, Mccarthy shared a video of his encounter with the alligator on See More Canoe’s Facebook page. The shocking clip quickly went viral.
Everyone was amazed by Mccarthy’s encounter with the alligator. They were also impressed with the way Mccarthy kept his cool.
One YouTube commenters simply asked Mccarthy, “did you die?” Mccarthy had the perfect answer.
Mccarthy also shares videos of his less-terrifying encounters with Florida’s wildlife.
On See Through Canoe’s Facebook page, Mccarthy shared an adorable video of a manatee hanging out under one of his canoes.
Mccarthy also shared a cute video of a mother dolphin and her calf swimming around one of his canoes. The two animals seemed to be very intrigued by this new type of canoe!
We’re sure Mccarthy was terrified when the alligator popped up from under his canoe. We’re impressed with the way he kept his cool and even managed to shoot video of the encounter! If you’d like to see the shocking moment Mccarthy realizes he’s hit an alligator and not a rock, check out the video below.
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