swimmin like an alli-gator

So I was swimming laps yesterday afternoon and I was using long flippers whilst keeping my arms at my sides. They (flippers) gave me such a kick that I was able to cruise through the water with speed and keep my head above it the whole time. I was the only one in the pool and it was dead quiet except for watery sounds...there was a mist that came off the skylight and if you looked, all you saw was gray sky and the naked limbs of trees.
So of course (like anyone else) I imagined what it would be like to be an otter or a gator, cruising effortlessly through some swampy channel with only the calls of birds, frogs and the twisted reflections of mangrove roots as company. It was niiiice :}