....Well - if you're returning from the boardwalk hides and find the gate locked, you could walk right along the inside of the fence to where the fence ends at pond 22 and simply walk around it - although this, of course, puts you at the opposite end of the reserve to where you want to be....
I did it many many yrs ago.... the gate was locked at about 6:30 PM in Nov or Dec. Walking along the inner fence at dusk was not a funny experience.
The reward was we saw 100-200 crows flying around mangrove.
