Kayaking 9/26- Wacissa River, FL - Alligator Alley

Average Speed 2.0 mph, Max Speed 16.7mph (What?)                         4.6 miles       942.5 total

Breakfast at Holiday Inn, then straight to a clinic in Valdosta that opened at 7:30.  I got a steroid shot in my hip - nice way to start the day for street throat.  It hurt me all night long so I knew I had to do something before a week of paddling. We ended up waiting for an hour for antibiotics.  We put in at Wacissa Springs at 12:00, such a beautiful boat launch with crystal clear waters, lily pads, Spanish moss and bright blue skies.  We paddled about a mile down and
Had to ask 2 boaters where Was Blue Springs.  There are lots of Springs along the Wacissa River and their entrances are narrow AND we passed alligators.  Needless to say we weren't anxious to venture into a narrow inlet with possible natives.  We went down a narrow creek when the guys told us alligators didn't like the cold water coming from the spring.  I bravely got out of my boat into the water to go over a log as quickly as An old lady like me with arthritic knees can move.  Meanwhile Scotty found access around the log and never even had to leave his kayak.  Blue Springs is about 40 feet across in diameter, and about 30 feet deep according to another kayaker.  There were a total of 5 of us there, and apparently it is packed on the weekends with a party like atmosphere.  Today was the perfect atmosphere for us.  We jumped into the 68° water for a quick refreshing wake up call. We swam around the perimeter of the springs and could see cliffs below us and lots of plants, but no fish. We swam for maybe 15 minutes before we had to get out onto the dock and warm up again. We paddled out into the river again and went down stream for another 2 miles.  All together today we saw nine alligators and kept far far far from them. We turned around and paddled upstream which was a little bit harder as the current was stronger than we had imagined from all the springs leading into the river.  We got back to the boat launch, loaded up and headed off to Yellow Jacket RV Resort along the Suwanee River.  We set up camp and had dinner of mashed potatoes and chicken. We saw a beautiful sunset on the Suwanee River. We did some research for the next day.   Julie did her civic duty and watch the presidential debate with only minor yelling as Scotty was sleeping in the other cot.

Yikes! Do you see what I see?

Look closely!