The twin props of the air boat screamed as the wind whipped our hair violently. I cannot say how fast our aluminum hull sliced through the Everglades channel. I can only tell you it felt fast.
As if adrenaline hadn’t already kicked in, Captain “Swampy Jay” from the Everglades Holiday Park somehow shoved our boat sideways into a dense pile of thick vegetation. My wife and I half expected a thunderous impact, as the clump of greenery had all the appearance of something no boat could expect to plow through without destruction. Turns out, it wasn't harmful. Among other things, we plowed through a patch of Spatterdock (think lily pads with a bulbous yellow flower).
Leaning out into the water–something I would not have done, given our sighting of a large alligator moments earlier–Captain Swampy Jay yanked off the stalk of one of these Spatterdock plants. He informed us that this ubiquitous leafy plant was actually home to the Bonnet worm, the larvae of a Floridian moth.
To prove the point, he split open the stalk and—lo and behold—there was a wriggling white wormy thing. Swampy Jay informed us this wiggling wonder could be eaten in an emergency and was actually a great source of protein for anyone stranded in the everglades.
Rolling the worm into a ball, Swampy offered any of us landlubbers a chance to taste for ourselves. At this point, I blurted out with a hint of dare, “Why don't you show us how?”
Swampy Jay lived up to his name as he quietly sucked the worm it into his mouth and chomped it down. Bold move? No doubt.
But who knew that a Bonnet worm even existed?
Who knew that it lived inside a thing that looks like a lily pad?
Who knew that one day, those little white worms become moths soaring high above the Everglades?
God did. That's who.
Isn't God amazing?