I used to see a lot of alligators around Palm Harbor where I lived from 1996 through 2005. There were often alligators around John Chestnut Park in Palm Harbor which borders Lake Tarpon. That lake had thousands of gators.

The park officials would usually get rid of the bigger gators at John Chestnut. There was about a 12 to 14 footer there for quite some time which tourists would often get way too close to in order to get their picture with it.

Once was visiting John Chestnut Park and saw two men sitting on top of a picnic table. Approached them slowly wondering what was going on from behind them. The picnic table faced a pond near Lake Tarpon. A 10 foot gator or so was waiting just past the picnic table for some kind of hand out. The men told me that the people at the picnic table previously to them must have fed it as he was waiting for me. Those two guys were still on the picnic table when I walked past coming back from my walk around a part of John Chestnut park 45 minutes later.

Have not seen an alligator in the Villages seen we moved here in 2005. Wondering how many gators people have seen here in the Villages? How big was this gator if you saw one?