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Experience Bald Head
An American alligator floating in a dark lagoon near a vegetated bank

American alligator

The lagoons have landlords. Bald Head's freshwater ponds and creeks host alligators that sun on the banks and cruise like slow submarines.

The first alligator sighting of a Bald Head trip usually happens the same way: someone on a golf cart slows down, points at what looks like a log in a lagoon, and the log blinks.

Alligators are native residents here, part of what makes the island’s freshwater system healthy. They spend most of their time doing absolutely nothing, which is why a basking gator draws a respectful crowd of carts at the lagoon edges. Mothers guard their nests in late summer; that is the one season to be extra generous with distance.

They want nothing to do with you, and the arrangement works as long as everyone honors it. Watch from the road, keep the snacks in the cooler, and enjoy sharing an island with an animal older than the trees.