Sunshine States

Florida, with its uniquely variegated contours, is the subject under the spirited scrutiny of a Tampa freelance journalist and former editor of Country Music magazine. Carr ``hangs out'' engagingly with the Aquamaids in tourist-beckoning Cypress Gardens, takes us on a fearsome alligator hunt, studies water pollution problems of the lush peninsula and provides a dramatic account of joining the cops on undercover narcotics forays in North Miami. His uninhibited reporting on an everchanging scene, such as on the influx of Nicaraguans into the Miami area, is funny, earthy, informative. (Jan.)