A couple was sitting by a Florida lake enjoying a romantic picnic when a hungry alligator emerged from the water.

According to KFDM, Taylor Forte and her fiancé Trevor Walters were snacking by Lake Alice trying to enjoy a quiet night before Trevor leaves for the Marines.

“He swims up to the bank and just looks us dead in the eyes and then he immediately just sprints up onto the beach,” Trevor said.

“He annihilated an entire block of cheese,” he added. “Gobbled it down, lickity split. The salami didn’t stand a chance.”

“The worst part is we had a big bowl of guac made. He eats the whole bowl. He put the whole bowl in his mouth.”

But they wouldn’t escape. Trevor claims he took on the gator, and when he was a child he discovered that if you made yourself large, these animals would walk away (although it’s never recommended to take on any dangerous creature). He said, “I learned this back in my childhood to scare bears you get up and make yourself big. It’s called the bear scare.”

Luckily the strategy seemed to have worked and the gator ran away.

“Unfortunately it sounds like that gator has been fed previously and has lost its weariness of people and is beginning to associate people with food,” said Karen Parker with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

That’s why she strongly discourages people from feeding the animals.

Watch out this summer by the water!