ORLANDO -- A vacationing couple from Springfield, Missouri got quite the shocking welcome to Florida when an alligator jumped aboard their tour boat.
And it was all broadcast live on Facebook.
Tylor Hindery and his wife Emerald went out to enjoy the natural beauty of the wetlands on January 17 when their boat approached an 8-foot-long gator resting peacefully on a bank.
The video stays focused on the alligator as the tour guide announces that he will have to push away from the bank "to get away from this dude." The guide then asks Tylor, "Can you reach out and slap him, can't you?"
Tylor replies, "If I wanted to, yeah."
The guide asks Tylor if he is nervous and as if on cue the alligator lunges into the boat. There is a commotion as Tylor moves himself and his phone out of the way but he puts the camera back on the alligator as it tries to escape the boat. The gator gets stuck on the railing but manages to squeeze through and back into the water.
Neither Tylor, his wife or the other occupants in the boat were harmed during the encounter, according to NBC affiliate KY3 TV in Springfield.
The Hinderys told KY3 that the incident will not sway them from a future visit back to Florida, but they will likely skip another gator adventure.
"Maybe we don't really want to top it; we'll just plateau right at this one and maybe a little tamer trips from now on," Emerald said.
