In January of 2019, I partnered up with Greyhound to take a trip north to Orlando, Florida to learn about the side of the city that has nothing to do with the world-famous theme parks in the area. I brought my dad along with me and together we explored all of the amazing, non-touristy things Orlando and the surrounding have to offer. Come along with us as we go on an airboat swamp tour in nearby St. Cloud and dine on some exotic Floridian food afterward!
We started off about 45 minutes south of downtown Orlando at Wild Willy’s Airboat Tours on Lake Tohopekaliga (also known as Lake Toho) in St. Cloud, Florida, an area that is known for its bass fishing, birdwatching, and wetland wildlife, including alligators, otters, deer, turtles, snakes, turkeys, raccoons, and more. This area is a part of the Everglades, a massive swamp that takes up much of the southern half of Florida.
We donned our headphones (airboats are VERY noisy) and set off across the lake! Very early on, we spotted some small turtles and alligators that fled quickly, but we later saw an American bald eagle and a 10 or 11-foot-long alligator.
Our tour guide, Brandon, told us that the larger gators are harder to find because they’ve learned to avoid the sound of the airboat, but the smaller alligators don’t know this yet, so they tend to be easier to find. There are cows here as well, but they’re safe from the alligators because they’re so big. We saw a few more larger gators and more birds as well before we returned back to the shop.
Back at the shop, Brandon let me and my dad hold a young alligator named Sergio, who was farmed here and can’t be released out into the wild because he wouldn’t survive out there.
From there, we requested an Uber to take us to The Catfish Place, a restaurant 15 minutes away that has been open since 1973. The Catfish Place serves up fried versions of a lot of the animals we saw on our airboat tour! We couldn’t wait to eat, especially since we skipped breakfast!
We started off with some coleslaw and salted crackers. It was really light and I loved the cabbage in it. It was a perfect marriage and it was one of my favorite coleslaws of all-time.
Next, we ordered the Florida Cracker Special, which consists of fried alligator tail, fried turtle, fried frog legs, and fried catfish, along with puppies and fried snapper. We also had Tiger Sauce, melted butter, and locally-produced honey on the side. It was a full-on fried Floridian feast!
I went for the fried turtle first and had it with the Tiger Sauce. I couldn’t believe it was turtle! It was incredible! The turtle meat was very tender, even more tender than chicken. I’d stayed away from it until now because I’m a big turtle lover. Next up was the fried alligator with tartar sauce. Unlike other gators I’ve had, this was perfectly cooked and wasn’t too thick or rubbery.
The hush puppies were incredible with the local honey, and the fried catfish was perfection with the tartar sauce. Fried fish with tartar sauce is a match made in heaven! Then we went with the fried snapper, which I loved with the melted butter. It was outstanding!
Finally, we dug into the fried frog legs, which were amazing on their own and were like a more delicate version of chicken. But the tartar sauce took them to a whole new level! This exotic swamp food meal was out of this world!
I hope you guys loved this video of our airboat swamp tour and exotic Floridian lunch! If you did, please give it a thumbs up and leave me a comment below. Also, please subscribe to my channel if you haven’t already so you don’t miss out on any of my upcoming food and travel videos!
Tartar sauce.
That should go well with the fish.
Gator.
Mmm.
What's up guys?
David Hoffman here from David's Bin here in beautiful St. Cloud, Florida.
This is about a 45 minute drive south from downtown Orlando.
And today we're going out on Lake Toho to see wildlife.
To see alligators, turtles, snakes, birds.
We're here with Wild Willys.
We're gonna get on this boat right now.
Are you guys ready? Are you excited?
Oh, and we're also going after this to the Catfish Place to try some exotic Floridian food.
Which includes alligator tail, frog legs, and catfish.
Are you guys excited?
Are you ready?
I'm ready to roll.
Let's do it.
Let's go.
Wow.
It's a Ferrari of airboats.
I haven't seen one this nice.
It's got actually a brand new engine.
You're working with less than 100 hours on this engine.
See how new it looks still.
Perfect.
Yeah, brand new.
Yeah, you need earphones.
This airboat is noisy as hell.
I'm sure it is.
Yeah, I don't hear anything now.
Hey guys, Captain Brandon here from Wild Willys Airboat Tours.
We're here in St. Cloud, Florida.
We're out here on Lake Toho.
Wild Willys started 11 years ago.
Business has really grown over that time.
Six boats now.
Five captains.
Get you guys into Florida nature.
Seeing alligators and birds, turtles, snakes.
Everything we have to offer here.
Running alongside a ranch here today.
You have opportunity to see deer and turkey.
A lot of raccoons, otters, you name it.
If it's here in the Everglades, we have it here at Wild Willys.
Hey Dave, there's a little alligator.
Where?
You want to go ahead and walk up on the front.
See if you can catch this over here on the front, Dave.
Right here?
Yeah.
Alright, so I have to look for some turtles, some gators.
We saw some, but they were very small.
They disappeared really quick.
There's a bald eagle perched up there.
Oh wow.
American bald eagle.
American bald eagle right there?
They definitely exist out here in big numbers.
But when they get to be this age, they're very smart.
They're wise.
They stay away from this noise.
Really lucky to come across one this big like this laid up for you.
Saw our first alligator.
10, 11 foot gator right here.
A little timid.
He's trying to stay away.
I mean, we don't really want to scare him.
So we're going to get out of here and leave him alone.
We're going to keep looking for more gators.
He's telling us the small gators are part of the easiest to capture right here next to the boat.
The bigger gators get scared off.
And then turtles.
We've seen a few, but they've been under the lily pads.
And yeah, I mean, this place is beautiful.
It actually feels like I'm in the middle.
Alligators, unlike crocodiles, they eat where they can manage to swallow a whole.
They don't exert the energy to take down something that large.
Cows are completely safe.
Unless they are desperate, of course.
What do you think?
But if they are desperate, they're probably not desperate here because there's plenty of food here.
When alligators are mature, they can actually survive a whole year without eating anything at all.
But they get super thin, right?
They will.
They will get really thin.
They're probably more aggressive.
Maybe take down a cow.
Florida is the second largest producer of cattle or beef.
As you can see right here is a little bit of the cattle industry here in Florida.
Oh man, just down in South Florida where you're at.
Along the way from here to Yeehaw Junction and then on down to Okeechobee County.
It's nothing but cattle and citrus down that way.
You know, the Florida Turnpike heading south is just dividing up a bunch of ranch land.
Florida is just so vast in green vegetation and improved pasture.
Another big alligator right over here, guys.
Really big.
Look at the small ones, Dad.
It's not so small.
No, this guy.
See the babies?
Turtle, too.
Turtle right there.
That's where that snake comes from.
He disappeared.
Look at this little guy, though.
Yeah, right?
Just pop up.
I've got a four-year-old here.
Okay.
You know, four and five years old.
A good rule of thumb is that the alligators out here are going to grow about eight inches to a foot a year for the first six years of their life.
And then after that, the growth slows down a lot.
That's kind of when they're transitioning into adulthood.
The growth is known to slow down to as little as one to three inches per year.
Oh, wow.
So with an average lifespan around 50 years, that gives you an idea how long it takes for them to grow into themselves.
It's a really amazing experience.
This is like real Florida.
You're going to come here and do it.
This is something I always tell people.
Whenever you come to Florida, you have to go on an airboat ride and experience it because this is how Florida traditionally was.
I mean, it was just swampland.
Swampland.
Amazing.
The marsh.
But beautiful wildlife.
Look at those birds.
You guys have a good time?
Hey, loved it, man.
Thank you so much.
We're not quite done yet.
I got an alligator for you to hold now, okay?
Okay.
Okay, awesome.
You're going to hold it?
Yes, sir.
No breakfast whatsoever.
Oh, my God.
I think I need some more coffee.
That's for sure.
Yeah, we'll have another coffee.
You've never held an alligator before?
No, no.
No?
This is the first time.
Is that a joke?
No, I'm not.
Have you held an alligator before?
Like a hundred times.
Really?
Yeah.
Our alligators are so well behaved that we don't even have to shut their mouths.
Oh, my God.
Not even if they're hungry?
No, this is Sergio.
Good news is that he just ate this morning.
So he's not going to bite.
Your fingers don't look that tasty.
Okay.
Just gently underneath his neck here.
That's perfect.
Yeah, so he just ate, so he's not going to do anything.
They're really strong.
If he starts wiggling.
Yeah.
Just gently by the neck and around the tail.
He's good right here.
Okay, David.
He's strong.
Don't tell him what we're eating next.
Yeah.
He'll get upset.
We're eating his tail later.
Not his tail.
No, not his tail.
Somebody else's tail.
And this is actually a farmed gator, so he can never be released in the wild, right?
He can't survive.
He won't survive.
And that's it.
One hour airboat ride is done.
That was an incredible experience.
But the best thing to do is order an Uber from here.
It takes about 20 minutes.
Once the Uber gets here, it's about a 30-minute drive to the Catfish Place.
That's the restaurant we're going to now.
And then we're going to try some catfish.
We're going to try some frog legs and some gator tail.
Excited for the food?
I'm super excited.
Let's go eat a gator.
The Catfish Place is located right here in the town of St. Cloud.
It's about a 15-minute Uber drive to get there.
And, yeah, I mean, the reason we're going there is really to try exotic Floridian food.
I really want to show you guys what Florida food is all about.
You know, if you go down to the Everglades or here to a lake, a swamp land,
you'll be able to try these delicacies, which is obviously the gator, the frog legs, and the catfish.
But I also think they have some other stuff from here.
They have some fish.
I'm hungry.
We didn't have breakfast today.
We're intermediate fasties.
Catfish Place, we've arrived.
Okay.
Since 1973.
It looks poppy.
Let's go inside.
Huh?
Are you ready for some catfish?
I'm ready.
Let's do it.
I'm hungry, man.
We haven't had any breakfast.
What's up, man?
How you doing?
I'm Randy.
Pleasure.
Nice to meet you.
Good to see you, man.
I'm Randy Johnson from the Catfish Place here in St. Cloud.
Been here since 1973.
This is my sister, Dina Taylor.
Our family opened the restaurant when I was nine months old.
And we serve gator, turtle, frogs.
So, really like Floridian food.
Oh, yeah.
Local stuff.
Everything's fried or we got a mix?
Most of it's fried.
Yeah?
Not health food.
The best coleslaw you'll ever eat.
Okay.
The hush puppies are outstanding.
Oh, my God.
That sounds amazing.
Fried lobster's really good.
We got whatever.
We have hamburgers, steaks, chicken.
Pork chops.
Anything.
Okay.
All right.
So, we're starting off with their famous coleslaw.
And the way you eat it is you get some crackers and this is the spoon.
I never know this.
You didn't know this?
No.
Me either.
Something new, right?
Something new.
And today what we're going to try is we're going to try a dish called the cracker.
And the cracker comes with fried turtle, fried gator bites, frog legs, catfish.
And we're also going to try some hush puppies.
Amazing.
Amazing, right?
So, what do you do?
You eat the...
So, you use one as a spoon and the other one like a lift to the spoon.
Oh, wow.
Very light.
Loving the cabbage and the salty crackers.
Together, it's a perfect marriage.
Perfect.
I never knew you could eat this like that.
Oh, my God.
This is delicious, guys.
Like, it really is.
Not too much mayo in it, right?
Dude, I think this is one of my favorite coleslaws of all time.
Yeah, man.
This is fantastic.
It's a little addictive.
I might eat too much because I'm not going to fill up too fast.
I'm going to eat one more.
They're very good.
They're addictive.
Here we have the cracker platter.
It comes with four different things.
We have alligator tail.
We have turtle, fried turtle.
We have frog legs right here.
And then here we have catfish.
And then this plate over here, we have hush puppies and fried snapper.
So, you see, this is like a fried feast of exotic Floridian dishes or animals.
What do you want to try first?
Oh, I'm sorry.
This is the, what's it called?
Tiger sauce.
There we go.
Tiger sauce.
And there's other sauces.
And then here we have the honey.
This is a locally produced honey, locally sourced honey from Randy, the owner's friend from high school.
Pretty amazing.
Over 50 years making honey.
How do you want to start?
I think I'm going to start with turtle.
You lead the way.
Turtle.
Oh, God.
I think we have to start with turtle.
Okay.
What do you have the tiger sauce for?
Turtle?
Turtle.
Turtle and gator?
Okay.
Let's try it.
I'm giving it a turtle.
It doesn't taste like turtle at all.
I feel like it's just like a, like regular, not chicken, but a little tender, more tender
than chicken.
This is the gator, right?
The gator.
Let's try the gator.
And what's the other sauce?
I don't know.
Tartar sauce?
Regular tartar?
Mm.
Tartar sauce.
It should go well with the fish.
Gator.
Mm.
Because usually I've tried gator and it's a little too thick for me, like a little rubbery.
This one's perfect.
Mm.
Man, the turtle's addictive though.
A little bit of honey, right?
Mm-hmm.
Whoa.
Okay.
Honey is good for you.
Amazing hushpuppies.
Dude, I'm going to bathe it.
So here we have catfish.
Catfish.
And we're going with tartar sauce for the catfish.
Tastes gamey or just?
No, no.
Mm.
I mean, it goes amazing with tartar sauce.
Tartar sauce and fried fish is like the perfect combination.
It always goes really good.
And then here we have fried snapper.
I'm going to grab it with my hands.
And this one, I'm going to submerge it here into the butter.
Oh, my God.
Oh, wow.
Mm.
Should I try the same one?
Outstanding.
Look at that.
Just like, I mean, I'll tell you, I love eating all this fried food, but I don't know if I'm
going to feel good later.
You will.
We're going to have some beer later.
Mm.
Turtle's amazing.
I've never had turtle before.
I've always stayed away from it because I'm a big turtle lover, but whatever.
Oh.
Here we have some frog legs.
Yeah.
I've had frog legs in the Everglades and a few other places.
Tartar sauce.
Mm.
But alone is amazing, too.
Alone?
Let's try it alone first.
Mm.
It feels like a more delicate chicken.
The tartar sauce takes it to a whole other level.
So you get the cracker platter for $22.99.
Man, the Huck's puppies, man.
Mm.
It's too much.
I mean, you can eat that tartar sauce with everything.
Mm.
You can eat it with everything.
Here's your turtle.
No, we have a lot of turtle here.
There's a lot of turtle here.
Well, guys, if you find yourself in downtown Orlando, definitely take a drive down here.
St. Cloud is about a 45-minute drive south from downtown.
And here you can go on the airboat ride with Wild Willys.
That's an awesome Floridian experience.
Then come out here to the Catfish Place and try some delicious fried exotic Floridian
foods.
catfish.
Gator tail.
We got frog legs.
Snapper and hush puppies.
And I want to eat one more.
One more turtle?
I have to.
Well, guys, I hope you loved this video.
If you did, please give me a thumbs up.
Leave me a comment below.
And subscribe to my channel for more awesome travel content.
I'll see you on the next travel food adventure in somewhere in the world.
Somewhere.
All right.
