made a lil run with the kiddies out at Blue springs this afternoon. it sure is pretty out there , and that crystal clear spring water is the perfect way to get out paddling and beat the heat at the same time. 8)
i followed the main road for the park all the way to the end where they have parking for RV's and busses. we put in by the beach front where they have the fishing pier on the st. johns river. i carried my 4 yr old daughter Logan in my boat and my 11 yr old daughter Ashley rode with Caleb in his. there was 4 or 5 good sized gators lurking around, and that made for some comedy - my 11 yr old sat with her eyes closed while Caleb paddled past the mossy backs and into the springs run where cold water keeps the gators from getting cozy.
as you paddle up the crystal clear water of the springs run itself, you can see straight down to the bottom. we saw plenty of catfish , breams and turtles. something i almost couldnt believe - the numbers of huge alligator gar swiming around in there, some of them looked to be 5' or 6' long. they were staying pretty near the surface of the water and we passed so close to a few of them you could have reached into the water and touched them. that place is something else , the kids just enjoyed the heck out of seeing all the wildlife swimming so close to us under our boats.
we paddled past the hub bub and chaos of the public swimming area, and beached our boats by the boil for some swimming of our own. after a couple hours cooling off in the water the air felt nice and warm, not uncomfortable at all. no wonder the indians had loved this spot so much...
we stretched out under some trees and ate lunch while watching all the hippies and tourist go by. all them critters around us and i swear people still bout the funniest thing there is to watch. this japanese fella spotted him a blue crab and motioned me over to come have a look at it. i caught it up and he took a pitchur of me holding it for his folks back home. i think i was smiling :x
i also met a fella named troy who asked about the boats we were in, and who told me he was building his own stripper kayak at home. i told em to hit southernpaddler.com and say hello if he had a chance. troy is from louisiana and sure seemed like good people, hell - he even knew what a pirogue was
hope he stops in here sometime.
well after lunch had settled a bit, we loaded up in our boats and let the current carry us lazily down the spring run and back out into the st johns. the brother and sister team of Ash and Caleb musta been getting tired out , cause they was all cranky with each other an squabling - till we hit the warm waters of the river again and all them gators had both of em hushed up. one of them scaly backs seemed to be late for an important date and swam right steadily by both boats , i could reached out an swatted em with my paddle if i wanted to. i thought my 4 yr old daughter would be nervous , instead she chatted away happily the entire time and did a play by play for everybody on just exactly what was taking place. my 11 yr old daughter Ashley had her eyes closed again , and master Caleb seemed to be concentrating extra hard on his paddling. twas my favorite part of the trip :lol:
im tellin ya , the only way to do any paddling in this kind of heat is hitting some springs somewheres. you make a trip of getting there , you cool off in the water and eat some grits in the shade - then the springs are pushing you back to the landing to help you get home. i plan on making one trip a week all summer long out to some springs soemwheres with the kiddies. cant think of a better way to spend a day outdoors this time of year.
anybody has a sweet spot in central florida they are particular to , let me know and i'll make a point of going there with my squad. :wink:
~ allen
i followed the main road for the park all the way to the end where they have parking for RV's and busses. we put in by the beach front where they have the fishing pier on the st. johns river. i carried my 4 yr old daughter Logan in my boat and my 11 yr old daughter Ashley rode with Caleb in his. there was 4 or 5 good sized gators lurking around, and that made for some comedy - my 11 yr old sat with her eyes closed while Caleb paddled past the mossy backs and into the springs run where cold water keeps the gators from getting cozy.
as you paddle up the crystal clear water of the springs run itself, you can see straight down to the bottom. we saw plenty of catfish , breams and turtles. something i almost couldnt believe - the numbers of huge alligator gar swiming around in there, some of them looked to be 5' or 6' long. they were staying pretty near the surface of the water and we passed so close to a few of them you could have reached into the water and touched them. that place is something else , the kids just enjoyed the heck out of seeing all the wildlife swimming so close to us under our boats.
we paddled past the hub bub and chaos of the public swimming area, and beached our boats by the boil for some swimming of our own. after a couple hours cooling off in the water the air felt nice and warm, not uncomfortable at all. no wonder the indians had loved this spot so much...
we stretched out under some trees and ate lunch while watching all the hippies and tourist go by. all them critters around us and i swear people still bout the funniest thing there is to watch. this japanese fella spotted him a blue crab and motioned me over to come have a look at it. i caught it up and he took a pitchur of me holding it for his folks back home. i think i was smiling :x
i also met a fella named troy who asked about the boats we were in, and who told me he was building his own stripper kayak at home. i told em to hit southernpaddler.com and say hello if he had a chance. troy is from louisiana and sure seemed like good people, hell - he even knew what a pirogue was
hope he stops in here sometime.well after lunch had settled a bit, we loaded up in our boats and let the current carry us lazily down the spring run and back out into the st johns. the brother and sister team of Ash and Caleb musta been getting tired out , cause they was all cranky with each other an squabling - till we hit the warm waters of the river again and all them gators had both of em hushed up. one of them scaly backs seemed to be late for an important date and swam right steadily by both boats , i could reached out an swatted em with my paddle if i wanted to. i thought my 4 yr old daughter would be nervous , instead she chatted away happily the entire time and did a play by play for everybody on just exactly what was taking place. my 11 yr old daughter Ashley had her eyes closed again , and master Caleb seemed to be concentrating extra hard on his paddling. twas my favorite part of the trip :lol:
im tellin ya , the only way to do any paddling in this kind of heat is hitting some springs somewheres. you make a trip of getting there , you cool off in the water and eat some grits in the shade - then the springs are pushing you back to the landing to help you get home. i plan on making one trip a week all summer long out to some springs soemwheres with the kiddies. cant think of a better way to spend a day outdoors this time of year.
anybody has a sweet spot in central florida they are particular to , let me know and i'll make a point of going there with my squad. :wink:
~ allen