We live in ETX and have a place on the Ouchita North of Monroe LA.
Me = South Louisiana Swamp Rat in my youth. We had huge alligator gars in our bayous and swam with them. We were in no danger. Alligators are different. An alligator considers fish and turtles an ordure but a human the the main course. This was back in the 60s. Alligators had been hunted extensively and on the decline. Rational laws were passed and the alligator population exploded. I would not swim in some of those bayous today.