Beach? Alligators don't like saltwater. They like lakes and rivers and such. Maybe he was swimming in a lake. Lakes wouldn't have lifeguards.

Also, anyone in Florida knows you don't swim in lakes. You treat all bodies of water as if they have a gator in them.

Granted, we're talking about an idiot that would swim with alligators. So that part might be true, but a lot of this story is suspect to me.