Happy to stand in fear at water's edge?

I don't know what changed ...

But this time last year I walked fearlessly straight into the pool below.

April 2012

Maybe I'm just getting softer in my old age, as in the saying:

"Another year older, another year slower."

Same view the year before
April 2011

Or maybe it had something with all the alligators jammed packed in this year's pool (top photo). A year ago (bottom photo), with the pool completely dried down, all the same gators were nowhere to be seen.  Where did they go?  Presumably in the nearby canal.  But if I remember correctly even those, or large stretches of them, went dry last year, too.  Compared to last year, it's reassuring to see the water still hanging on in the dry season refugia pools.

I'd rather stand in fear at the water's edge
than walk across (with dry feet) feeling safe.