Three Sisters Spring–Crystal River

 
Crystal River Florida
GPS Coordinates: 28.887959, -82.589456
Date: 1/2/2011

We have a pair of kayaks, but we needed at third since our daughter Allison was joining us on this trip. So, we drove south to the Crystal River Kayak Company. This business, right on US-19  in Crustal River, has a good selection of kayaks for rent and is also just a short paddle to the Three Sisters Springs. From the put in the springs is an easy 10 minute paddle through a series of canals. During the winter, this area is a haven for manatees, with a great number of them hanging out by the spring run. . We were early enough that the crowds were not too bad yet. We kayaked around and returned about an hour later and it was a very busy time with lots of charter/tour boats. If you want to do this trip, then I would recommend visiting Three Sisters Springs in the early morning or NOT on a weekend!!

Nice blue skies make for a good day on the water.

This is the area right outside the Three Sisters Springs. The area beyond the roped off area is if for Manatees only and gives them a place to get away from all the commotion.

One of the manatees swimming near our kayak in the nice clear spring water.

You can tell from this picture that the area is starting to get crowded with tour boats and other motor boats.

We kayaked up the short spring run to the Three Sisters Springs. It is usually much quieter in here and usually there’s a few manatees hanging out in the spring boils.

My daughter in the rental kayak. The rentals were much nicer than the kayaks that we have, but guess they probably cost more also!!

You don’t see too many pictures of me in this blog since I’m always the one taking the pictures, but somehow one slipped in here.

This picture shows how nice and clear the spring water is and there’s a manatee hanging near the bottom of the spring.

And finally, here is the GPS track of this trip.
Crystal River - Manatee trip at EveryTrail

Kayaking the Oklawaha River

 

Date: 10/23/2010

Location: Fort McCoy, Fl

GPS Coordinates: 29.289747, –81.926763

Julie and I put in at Gores Landing Campground. A nice little campground on the river. They change $5 for day use and $5 per night camping. Not a bad deal. We were a little hesitant at first as there were two high powered bass boats being launched as we were putting in our kayaks. We were hoping that was not going to be a sign of what we would see on the river. Luckily there was nothing to worry about. We only say 2 power boats once on the water and there is no way for boats to travel fast on this river. We did see many other canoe and kayaks on the water, with many of them being part of a boy scout group going on an overnight trip. We paddled up stream for a little over 3 miles and then floated/paddled back to the put in point. A very nice river to paddle. Water is on the clear side as I think this gets fed from the Silver River which is spring fed. Going upriver was relatively easy, there was a pretty good current heading against us, but not too bad and it made it a nice trip back. I would definitely recommend this river to paddle.

Unfortunately, we didn’t get any pictures of this trip, but here is the GPS track of this paddle.

Oklawaha River at EveryTrail

Santa Fe River–Highway 41 bridge to the River Rise Park

 

Location: High Springs, Fl

Date: 10/2/2010

GPS Location: 29.852049, –82.612129

 

This is a favorite paddle of ours. We put in at the boat ramp just downstream of the Highway 41 bridge. You first paddle upstream to the "river rise". This is where the Santa Fe river re-emerges after traveling underground for a few miles (it goes underground in O’leno State park. There’s several reasons why this is such a good short trip. First, the majority of the time you are paddling through the River Rise State Park. So, there are no houses or development at all after the first ½ mile. Even then, you only pass about 2 – 3 homes. Also, this part of the Santa Fe river does not get much boat traffic. We usually see no else on the river or maybe only few other canoe/kayakers. So, it is a very quiet paddle.

The amount of effort to paddle up to the “river rise” varies greatly depending on the current. We’ve paddled this at times where it’s a good workout to the end. Other times (like today), the current is very gentle and it’s relatively easy to make the trip.

Unfortunately, we don’t have any pictures of this trip, but here is the GPS track for this paddle.

Santa Fe River - River Rise at EveryTrail