Man's rope swing into a Florida river could have been much worse

As summer approaches, it's a good time to start thinking about water safety.

And in case you didn't grow up with a cartoon goanna in an Akubra teaching you the ins and outs of farm safety, we'll tell ya that creeks like this one in this video can be dangerous.

You just never know what kind of debris could be built up under the surface.

So you'd want to be pretty bloody certain you weren't going to impale yourself on a rogue branch before swinging into water like this.

But it turns out there's a danger in this Florida waterway that you wouldn't often see in your average farm dam in regional Australia.

And that's a damn alligator (not to be confused with a dam alligator).

[Via Warner Bros]

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But that's what was lurking underneath the water in Florida's Loxahatchee River when this video was shot.

It comes from David Salem, who was kayaking with a group of mates and came across a rope swing.

Salem's friend was holding his GoPro when he swung into the river and caught a cheeky gator hanging out in the murky waters underneath the surface.  

We asked about the authenticity of the video because the shot looked too good to be true, but Salem says it's 100% legit.

"It wasn't 'til looking at the footage that we noticed it," he told Pickle.

[Via Universal]

"We were freaking out once we saw the footage but the alligator looked like it wanted to get away from us instead of harming us."

Yeeesh.

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Florida is essentially the far north Queensland of the US, with alligators being America's answer to our crocs.

And they're pretty common in those parts, with most Floridians being naturally wary of water in case it's harbouring a gator.

"There's usually gator signs around most water areas but it's pretty common to know they're around," Salem said.

We guess those signs weren't lying.

Let's just hope this is the last close gator encounter for Salem and his mates.