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| Mr & Mrs Wood Duck |
Today had a brutal paddle at the beautiful Rainbow River. The wind basically ruined what otherwise was a great day. Ended up exhausted from paddling against the current and a strong breeze. Wifey had a sore shoulder and I tried to keep her rested by paddling ourselves up river. Did not make it to the State Park. After the nth time she complained about the wind, the current, and the lack of wildlife turned around 15 minutes away from it.
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| Rainbow River Turtle |
Put In / Take Out: For this trip we used the boat ramp at the Dunnellon City Hall. It is free and a decent facility. There was a race today at the Rainbow River and kayakers were coming with all kind of racing kayaks. I was almost embarrassed to be seeing with the big orange beast that our tandem is. Heck, most of the paddles I saw were more expensive than our Pelican 130T. For more details about where to go from here please refer to our May 2012 post.
As I mentioned in the introduction it was a tough day, at least for me. The paddle in the Rainbow River was up stream and the wind was coming strong from the North. There were not too many pic chances and that make my wife very cranky. She started complaining from the get go, and that put me in defensive mode. To make things worse seemed like she pulled something in her shoulder, leaving me with most of the work load on the paddling. Usually it is like that and I can handle the current wherever we are. The only place I was not able to do it has been Juniper Creek. Today it happened again at the Rainbow River but not because the current but because the wind.
Despite the race the traffic on the Rainbow was not too bad. We saw our share of tubers and lots of snorkeler groups. Saw a boat that provides shuttle service to them from KP Hole, a county park, to the State Park ( I believe). The river is running higher than the most recent time we visited it and stunningly clear.
We paddled up river for almost three hours, when wifey complained about how hard was this paddle and the lack of pics chances. It was not the first time she did that on the trip but it was the last one. At that point I had it and decided to turn around. In less than two hours we were back at the boat ramp on Dunnellon City Hall. Enough of talking, let us see more pics of what we saw today at the Rainbow River...
We had the highlight of the trip at and area with a small rookery of Cormorants and Anhingas.
And this is it for this one. Not a lot of variety if you compare this paddle with our previous paddles here. It is a shame that the wind made it harder that it really is. Thanks for reading and hope to see you again soon to share more Views From Our Kayak. Follow us on Facebook, where you will see all the pics from this trip.
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| Ibis |
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| Flying High Osprey |
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| Carolina Wren |
Despite the race the traffic on the Rainbow was not too bad. We saw our share of tubers and lots of snorkeler groups. Saw a boat that provides shuttle service to them from KP Hole, a county park, to the State Park ( I believe). The river is running higher than the most recent time we visited it and stunningly clear.
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| Great Egret |
We paddled up river for almost three hours, when wifey complained about how hard was this paddle and the lack of pics chances. It was not the first time she did that on the trip but it was the last one. At that point I had it and decided to turn around. In less than two hours we were back at the boat ramp on Dunnellon City Hall. Enough of talking, let us see more pics of what we saw today at the Rainbow River...
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| Cardinal |
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| Cardinal |
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| Great butt...Ehr...Great Egret with Limpkin butt |
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| Great Egret |
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| Limpkin |
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| Female Anhinga |
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| Red Bellied Woodpecker |
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| Red Bellied Woodpecker |
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| Red Shouldered Hawk |
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| Cormorants gathering |
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| Belted Kingfisher |
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| Silver River Typical Scene |
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| Cormorant |
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| Male Anhinga. See the blue around his eye. He is ready to mate. |
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| Pileated Woodpecker |
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| Green Heron |
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| Little Blue Heron |
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| Green Heron |
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| Great Blue Heron |
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| Cormorant |
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| Turtle |
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| Wanna hug us? |
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| At least hug me. |
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| Female Young Anhinga |
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| Swallow-Tailed Kite |
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| Attention!!!!!!! |
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| Great Egret |
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| Immature Little Blue Heron |
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| Immature Little Blue Heron. See how the feathers and beak are turning blue. |
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| Carolina Wren |
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| Mrs Wood Duck |
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| Coot |
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| Pied Billed Grebe |
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| Pied Billed Grebe |
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| Great Egret |
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| Pied Billed Grebes |
We had the highlight of the trip at and area with a small rookery of Cormorants and Anhingas.
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| Anhinga and chicks |
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| Anhinga and chicks |
And this is it for this one. Not a lot of variety if you compare this paddle with our previous paddles here. It is a shame that the wind made it harder that it really is. Thanks for reading and hope to see you again soon to share more Views From Our Kayak. Follow us on Facebook, where you will see all the pics from this trip.
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| Rainbow River |
Great pictures, but I know it can be disappointing to drive so far and then have the day less than perfect due to high wind, rain, crowds or whatever.
ReplyDeleteFor "hardly any pictures" you have a lot of good ones.
ReplyDeleteJoanne, I do not know what was more disappointing; the wind or if that every time we had a chance for a pic we missed for some weird reason.
ReplyDeleteDave, maybe a lot of good ones but not too much variety. Who knows. Maybe I am spoiled. Have had better days at the Rainbow River.
Ha! I should have such a "lack of photo opportuniies" ;-) Love the King Fisher and the red eye of the Coot. Also Wood Ducks..have only once seen them..it's hard to believe they are real.. Your post also reminds me of why early on I insisted my husband and I have separate kayaks..saves a lot of wrangling... I even got my own car rack last year..
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