Lower Wekiva River

Juvenile Little Blue Heron

After yesterday's fiasco at Crystal River still had a bad taste this morning. Had no plans to go out today but by mid morning was so bored that decided to go kayaking, just to have a nice relaxation time. So went to a place that should not be as crowded as the place we were yesterday. Wifey did not want to come so went in another solo paddle. It worked. Had the river to myself, saw only one pontoon boat with two occupants, and had a very nice time in one of my favorites.

Turtle

Put In/ Take Out: Katie's Landings. Please check previous posts about this location for more information.

Green Heron

Started my paddle at 12:06 PM and finished three hours later. It was a short one, as you can see. Did paddle West of the small island North of Katie's. Had to push myself thru the reeds but is passable. The Wekiva is low, clear, not too fast. There is not too much to say about this trip so will share the pics with you. Any specific questions please feel free to leave me a comment and I will try to answer ASAP. The pics are in the order I shot them. Here we go...

Little Blue Heron

Limpkin

Little Blue Heron

Wood Stork

Wood Stork

Eastern Phoebe

Green Heron

Green Heron

Green Heron

Ibis

Belted Kingfisher

Belted Kingfisher

Ibis

Wekiva River Scene - Take One

Wekiva River Scene - Take two

Turtle

Juvenile Little Blue Heron

Juvenile Little Blue Heron

Moorhen and Coot

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Next Thanksgiving Honor Guest

...maybe

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Moorhen

Juvenile Little Blue Heron...probably the same of the previous picture. Found it again South from where saw it the first time. Did You Know That Little Blue Herons use their white color to blend in with other egrets and herons for protection when they are young? 

Downy Woodpecker

And that is it for this one and probably for the year. Just in case this is the last  post of 2012, Happy 2013. It has been great to share with you our views this year. Hope you come back next year for more View From Our Kayak. Thanks for reading...

Lower Wekiva River

Crystal River

Three Sisters Spring Manatee

There is nothing worst than a moron with initiative...a moron with authority. Did not have a good day today. This was easily the worst kayaking trip we have had. While usually I try to stay on the positive side this time it has been very difficult. Too many wrong things....but will try to make lemonade from lemons and just to let you know, the pic above was the best one we were able to obtain.

Put In/ Take Out: Please, check this link; Crystal River 11/8, for Put In and Take Out information. Anyways that post is way better than this one.

This trip was planned as the last one of the year, the closer. Cold night, the breeze was not too strong, and a light chop forecast at King's Bay were enough to make me decide to travel back to Crystal River. Was expecting some more of what we got on November 8th this year, when we had a heck of a morning at this same place. Today it was different on the bad side. It was crowded, extremely crowded, the water levels were very low, and the visibility was poor as best. And that was enough to ruin the trip. If you compare the pics on this post and the ones from the other, the difference is from here to the sky. Very frustrating day. That being said, here are the few pics we were able to obtain.

Sea Gull

99.9% of the people at the spring area today were touching the manatees while the people in charge of the order and good behavior looked the other way. I guess that if you are wearing a wet suit and/or a phone number in your kayak validating that it is a rental, you can pretty much do whatever you want there. The sediments on the water ruined the pics. But lesson learned. If you want to enjoy this location and its beauty, do not go there during the peak of the tourist season here. It does not worth it. I am going to leave it like that. Not going to bash an industry that leaves so much money to the area. Even when I think there are many wrong things being done there. All those pics were shot at or just outside the Three Sister's Spring area. The following pics complete this post...

Mallards

Lesser Scaup (males)

Sea Gull

Killdeer

Warbler (Yellow-Rumped???)

Manatee swimming outside Three Sister's Spring

Saw at least three of these tracking devices today

Eastern Phoebe

Eastern Phoebe

Osprey

Cormorant's lunch time

Set...

Gulp!!!!!

Brown Pelican

Brown Pelican

Wood Stork

Wood Stork

Sea Gull

Brown Pelicans

Great Blue Heron

Brown Pelicans

Juvenile Brown Pelican

Brown Pelican

Brown Pelican

Lesser Scaups

And that is it for this one. Thanks for reading and hope you come back soon. We hope to have one more trip before the end of the year. Come back for this one so we can share more Views From Our Kayak.

Female Lesser Scaup