Blue Creek Run

American Kestrel

Gotta love kayaking!!!! New location for us and heck of a paddle. Manatees, Gators, Bald Eagles, and more in the first time kayaking Blue Creek Run in Astor. Sometime ago a friend mentioned something about St. Francis Dead River. Did a search about it and found out that it is part of what is called Lake County Blueways Run. Already visited St. Francis Dead River and been wanting to go back and visit another one of these blueways. Some of them can be paddled in a day. Others do not. Blue Creek Run is one of the ones you can do in one day since it is relatively short (4 miles) so paid it a visit today.

View from the Put In

Put In/ Take Out: Please check the link, Blue Creek Run. It will give you a better description than the one I would. The road to the put in is a dirt road and you basically put in at Lake George. There is no fee but it is more a boat ramp than anything else. There are is a small soft spot to the right of the ramp you can use to launch your kayak without punishing it against the concrete.

Great Blue Heron

The Blue Creek Run has only three markers. Number One is right at the put in, the number 2 is at the entrance of the creek, and number 3 is at the confluence with the St. Johns River. Lake George and the St. Johns look majestic from the launch area. Do not be intimidated. When you put in go East and stay close to the shore to your right. You will find the entrance to Blue Creek Run like a mile away from the ramp. Once there, just enjoy the trip.

Coots at Lake George

Blue Creek Run has a mix of wilderness and residential zones. There are no high grounds to stop so be aware. There was a lot of motor boats traffic but the whole creek is a manatee zone so the boats have to maintain a minimum speed. Saw two different kayakers groups on this trip. The highlight of the day was the American Kestrel. Is the first one from the kayak and the opening was the best I was able to do since it was high on a tree and not the biggest subject. Add to that the choppy St. Johns River and that was almost mission impossible. Let us go to the pics of what I saw at Blue Creek Run in a windy day.

Belted Kingfisher

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle

Turtle

1/8 of a Turtle

Great Egret

Anhinga

Turtles...There were plenty of those on the creek

Eastern Phoebe

Not the best pic. Just want some help to ID this one.

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Bald Eagle flyover

Cormorant

Great Blue Heron at the end of the run

Pied Billed Grebe

Sandhill Crane

Gator...a little one but a gator. Saw a big big big one but was not able to get a pic.

Pileated Woodpecker

Pileated Woodpecker

Blue Jay. Taken on my way out on the dirt road.

On the return leg of the trip took some time to let the wind push me. Thanks to the lack of noise due to the minimum paddling, was able to heard manatees breathing behind me. While waiting for the one in the back reached an area where three more were eating. The manatees were rather shy, not like the ones in Bair's Cove, but was able to get a few pics...

Manatee

Manatee

This one shows a horrible scar. Had even more on its body

And this is it for this one. There are a few more pics in our Facebook page if you want to take a look. Thanks for reading and see you next week. We will share with you more Views From Our Kayak.

Blue Creek Run Turtles