Kayaking 9/27 - Fanning Springs and Cedar Key - Yum Seafood!

Average Speed 2.8 mph, Max Speed 5.3 mph                            6.3 miles          948.8 total
Average Speed 2.5 mph, Max Speed 4.4 mph                             3.2 miles         952 total

Shingle Landing?
We took down camp and had breakfast and headed to Shingle Landing. It's located right on the Suwanee River and there was a beautiful reflection with bright blue skies and white clouds in the sky. Shingle landing is just south of Otter Springs.   It's a public launch and a perfect little entry into the Suwanee River. We paddled 6.2 miles in two hours and 12 minutes.  The scenery doesn't change much, it's a wide river with lots of cypress trees along the side and knobs sticking up with beautiful reflections along the way.  We saw lots of fish jumping and as we get closer to Fanning Springs we noticed a sign for sturgeon. We saw a few jumping and they were huge so they must've been sturgeon.  We left the kayaks at the boat launch area and Scotty rode his bike 6 miles up to Otter Springs. I swam around at Fanning Springs which is 72°. Where the water bubbles up is not very dramatic, it's a big hole and there were only a few fish swimming around in the fenced off area. But the water is a beautiful clear water and it was fun swimming around.

This was the view from the launch!  A preview of a pretty day!

And we're off!

We drove to Cedar Key immediately to Tony's restaurant. We split a bowl of clam chowder that was absolutely delicious and split a salad and a seafood platter and then to top it all off we had a piece of Key Lime pie. We were stuffed and happy.  By now it was 3 o'clock so we took the kayaks out and paddled around the closest island. It appeared that we were paddling against the waves and it took us about 20 minutes to get over to the island. We paddled around the backside of the island and found a sandy spot where we got out and did a little bit of swimming to cool off. Soon after we came to a spot where we saw a few sharks swimming under the water, they were only 3 to 4 feet long.  We weren't intending to paddle long so we paddled back to Cedar Key and once again it seemed as if we were paddling against the waves.  We loaded up the kayak and set the GPS to get over to Lake Louisa State Park. We managed to arrive just at sunset which is the last time of the day when they will give out a tent site. So in the dark we set up our tent on the concrete slab under the pavilion. Sadly our extension cord didn't reach into the tent so no fan tonight and it's a still hot night.

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!