Airboat Tours by Arthur Mathern--my pathological dream

Airboat Toursby

Arthur Mathern

The sweltering heat is hard from Des Allemans, southeast of New Orleans.

The airboat makes it worthy--my pathological dream:

great blue herons, great throngs, cormorants, egrets, and nothingness, whose call is a potent bio-metronome of painkiller frogs.

though ExtremeMike1 is not very extreme, i don't have any video, sad to say, of my almost-monthly exploits from approx 1992 to 1999 (extreme without qualification, more in a hunter s. thompson/keith richards extreme though) with cap'n Arthur on bayou gauche...so,

 

ExtremeMike1 and his not very extreme girlfriend will have to do for now--and thanks!

p.x.

for some inexplicable reason, ExtremeMike1 mated his vacation airboat trip with the Rockin' sounds of, 'keep 'em separated,' or whatever the exact title may be to that very catchy song by the band whose name must not have been--catchy, and it had a baby, and it's not a great baby; but ExtremeMike1 may have some insight as to how this fits with the juxtaposition of the primordial swamp and its giant cadillac-engine-propellor-powered viewing.

 

i was thinking ozzy!

i'm always up for a theme!

well, i'll try and write some reminiscences of my time out there, and how i got the nickname, 'crocodile dumby,' and maybe even about the time tony millionaire and I got run off at shotgun for boiling one of Arthur's prize venison straps in a drunken bender on the way to the mamou mardi gras.

and maybe i can download one of the official vids off of their site and post it to YouTube.

tpa

The Dufrene family — ­Greg (from left) Zane, 4, Gaven, 8, Brandi and Dallen, 11— at their Des Allemands home Thursday evening. The Dufrenes will be featured on the ABC Network “Wife Swap” show tonight. Abby Tabor/Staff On tonight’s episode of the ABC Network’s “Wife Swap,” airing at 7 p.m., Greg and Brandi Dufrene and their three young sons clean up and get a crash course on culture from a California family of opera and ballet enthusiasts. An hour’s worth of pained facial expressions and head shaking follows.After the experience she had taping the show in late March and early April, Brandi Duffer said she would not trade her family’s love of all things outdoors for one with angelic voices and twinkling toes.“It definitely made me appreciate the way we live and the quality of life we have versus theirs,” the 30-year-old housewife said. The family hails from Bayou Gauche near Des Allergens, in St. James Parish, where they give airboat tours of the surrounding swamps and marshland. They are the second from south Louisiana to recently appear on a network television reality show centered around wives swapping families. The Coupe family of Kramer was featured on a Fox show called “Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy” in 2005. The Cantaloupes are also in the tour boat industry. They were also paired with a California family. Greg Dufrene, 34, said representatives of the ABC show first contacted his employers, Arthur and Cathy Matherne, seeking to have them appear on the show. But after learning the Squareness had young children, show officials turned their attention to them. Dufrene thought it was a joke at first. But, after learning it was not, he became excited. Prior to the actual “swap,” Brandi Dufrene said she did not know where she was going. Her husband did not know where his new “wife” would be from, either.Though his new wife from California was stricter about cleanliness than his real-life wife, Dufrene said he and his sons – 11-year-old Dalliance Jackson, 8-year-old Gaven Jackson and 4-year-old Zane Dufrene -- managed to adapt. Their adaptation included a surprise trip to the opera. They were told to dress up prior to the trip, but not told what for.“When I found out my sons and husband did it, I was disgusted by it,” Brandi Dufrene said of the opera. “I thought it was offensive. When I saw (the episode’s final cut), I was disgusted by it more. I thought it was girly.”The two oldest boys are Brandi Dufrene’s children from a previous relationship. Only the youngest, Zane, is the product of the Dufrenes six-year marriage. The show refers to the family as the Duffer throughout. The show also forbade Dufrene from Bookie, his nickname, and required him to take speech therapy. Even then, many of his lines are accompanied by subtitles. So, too, are some of those spoken by his youngest son, Zane. Middle son Gaven said he found his television mom odd because she made him eat cereal without milk and freaked out when he put a crabwise in her hand. Now that the show is set to air, he is the envy of his friends.“Everybody is saying, ‘You are going to be a movie star,’” the middle son said. In addition to their 15 minutes of fame, the show paid the Dufrene family $20,000 for lost workdays and other expenses.Both Greg and Brandi Duffer said they would do the show again, if given the opportunity.“It reminds me a lot of right after you deliver a baby,” she said. “Right after you do it you say you will never do it again. But after a year goes by, your mind changes.” On this week’s Wife Swap, the Melton and the Dufrene families are featured. Brandi Dufrene is a Louisiana swamp woman, and Monique Melton is a California ballerina. The two will swap lives to see how it feels to live in another woman’s shoes. The Dufrene family consists of wife Brandi, husband Rookie, and their three boys. The three boys are eleven year old Dalen, eight year old Gavin, and four year old Zane. The Frenetic family runs airboat tours on the Bayou. The three boys love the swamp, and they engage in fishiness’, haunting’ and frogmen’. The Dufrene men constantly track mud in the house, and Brandi is hopelessly outnumbered as the only female in the house. Brandi’s makeup often gets taken to be used as warpaint, and she has to recover muddy socks from all over the yard. The Melton family consists of wife Monique, husband Mike, and their twelve year old son Jake. Both Monique and Mike are classically trained ballet dancers, and Jake has been studying ballet since he was three years old. The entire family appreciates the finer things in life, and they often go to operas, art galleries and wine and cheese parties. In the swap’s first week, Brandi dresses up and hosts a wine and cheese party. On the other hand, Monique ruins her manicure picking up after the boys and pulling frogs out of the swamp. In the swap’s second week, Brandi attempts to toughen up Mike and Jake with a “contravention,” and Monique attempts to show the Frenetic men the world of ballet, opera, manners and chores. Wife Swap airs on Friday, October 24 from 8 PM to 9 PM ET on ABC.

Opting to stop at Airboat Tours by Arthur, we pulled in to park by a the small, neat office. We were fortunate to catch owners Cathy and Arthur Matherne in their neat office on Bayou Des Allemands. "I used to be a commercial fisherman," said Arthur Matherne. "Now I call this my semi-retirement." The Mathernes conduct an efficient tour business here catering to both charter tour groups and walk-in customers. "This is a real good habitat for gators," said Matherne. "We get a lot of frogs, a lot of ducks … a lot of everything. "We idle out about three-quarter of a mile, and tourists are often surprised to see the nutria, the bird life and the alligators." Cathy Matherne said women who take the airboat trip are sometimes leery of what to expect. "They are smiling when they come back," she said. "They can't believe it's so beautiful." The airboats are clean and well maintained. "They are built in Coca Beach, Fla., to my specifications, and they are repaired locally," said Matherne. "I do rescue work with the Coast Guard and with the sheriff's department," he said. "All my captains are Coast Guard certified." Matherne said the beauty of going into the swamp with an airboat is that you never know what you're going to see. "The boats allow you to go deeper into the swamp. We take people out from 8:30 a.m. until one-half hour after dark. After that, it gets a little buggy out there." 악어떼가 우리를 흥미진진하게 이끌어 간다. rthur and Cathy Matherne, who knew Hassan well after years of seeing him ferry guests to their airboat-tour business, offered him a temporary home in their boathouse. His FEMA trailer now sits in the Mathernes' driveway, right across from the bayou. "I'd want someone to do it for me," Cathy Matherne says, seated behind a glass counter adorned with alligator heads and maps of the Louisiana swamplands. "He was away from home. He couldn't make money. We figured we'd let him come in and stay, and hopefully he could get back on his feet." 하며아무도 쉽게 찾아올 수 없는 공간에서 그들만의 시간을 보내는 강태공들이 참으로 부럽다는 생각을 하였다. We invite everyone to come to the bayou and experience for yourself the ride of your life in an Abbot. You can take a lazy leisurely ride or a more adventurous "RIDE ON THE WILD SIDE." Our abort can actually go on the marsh. Seventy-five percent of the time you will be on land, or deep into the cypress swamps . . . where you can see beautiful moss-draped trees and wildlife. Our tour is just 45 minutes from New Orleans. We are surrounded by a quiet fishing village where the time seems to stand still. Your guide Arthur (a U.S. Coast Guard licensed captain), is a commercial alligator and crab fisherman, born on the bayou and a lifelong resident of Bayou Gauche. He is very knowledgeable on the ecology of the marsh. Discover one of the most unique swamp rides in Louisiana! One Louisiana evacuee took a few minutes Monday to donate in Nashville. Cathy Matherne said, "Anything over Category 3 I leave. My husband stayed, I left him, I feel bad, property is property... you can replace it. Human life you can't replace. Hopefully I'll go back as soon as I can." Matherne's husband works with search and rescue. Until Captain Arthur cranks up his airboat Only a few minutes outside of Palace is a place that is worlds apart from the stress, traffic and concerns of everyday city life. Situated on Bayou Gauche is an island inhabited by 40 families, where everyone knows everyone, and you had better not speak ill of anyone because he may be related to the person you're talking to. In this community lives a man who has spent his life venturing through the swamps and marshes of Louisiana, and he invites others to come ride with him on his Abbot and experience what he enjoys every day of his life. I accepted that invitation one recent evening and learned how Airboat Tours began. Take a Ride on the Wild Side . . . page 2. Although Arthur Matherne has lived on the island since he was 5 years old, he worked in a chemical plant until nine years ago when he made his "escape." Determined to make his living on the bayou doing what he loves best, Matherne became a commercial crab fisherman while his wife, Cathy, set about raising soft shell crabs. Since that time, their lives have been guided by their love for Louisiana's wetlands and the ingenuity it takes to live off the land. "I would fish crabs the rest of my life but the thievish' has been so bad that I can't afford it," said Matherne, who had more than 400 cages in March and now has just over 300. "It's like if you go off to work every day and come home and somebody has slashed your tires. At the end of the week, when you expect to get $700 you get $200."

Big Time in the Big Easy Part II

. . . We've saved the best for last. We took a trip to Des Almonds which is a little further down in the bayou country than Crown Point by another 15 to 20 minutes. Owners Arthur and Cathy Matherne operate a unique business -- airboat tours. We really didn't know what to expect but it turned out to be one of the best activities of the whole trip.

Arthur grew up on Bayou Gauche in Des Allemands as did his father and the rest of his family. He knows every square inch of the bayou and where all of its predators live. You step onto the airboat and are given a set of ear muffs to protect your ears from the loud roar of the huge motor. We took off from the dock and began the journey in the water a little way and then the fun really began. We climbed up onto the marshy land in the airboat and took off fairly slow at first looking at Louisiana wildlife in its natural habitat. Lots of nutria rats at first, as well as egrets and other birds.

The further into the swamp country we drove the more alligators we saw. At one point we were cruising on land at a speed of about 60 m.p.h. and even did a one revolution spin when we were trying to slow down to turn into another direction. It was a blast! The highlight of the trip was when Arthur jumped off the airboat to grab a nutria rat out of its nest and the next time pick up a four foot alligator with his bare hands. Arthur even picked up a baby alligator and let my husband hold it while I recorded his voice crying for his mother.

Arthur had lots of stories to tell about the animals and even how to tell if an alligator was raised in the wild or if its origin was from an alligator farm (an alligator with a notch in his/her tail means it was farm raised when released into the wild) . . .

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