*** a woman was canoeing when she encountered an alligator and went into the water***
The article doesn’t say she “got out of her kayak” in the way you seem to be suggesting, I don’t think she got in the water voluntarily. I’m betting the alligator knocked her off balance and she fell in the water. It’s hard to say from the little the article says, but I’m thinking the alligator was being aggressive towards her.
Initial reports I saw here were that gator grabbed her out of the kayak.