Rainbow River



River Otter at the Rainbow River



Sometimes things do not work as you expect. Other times...things do not work as you expect. I am in a slump right now, like 0 for 12 or something like that. Wanted to take my wife to a new place, a place that has been in my bucket list for a while. Well, I have bad news and good news. The good news is that I kayaked Rainbow River. Bad news is that wifey stayed at home for the second time in three weeks. I hope there is no subliminal message there. I enjoy kayaking with her. The Rainbow River is a place like no other I have been before. Is a mixture of Silver with Hillsborough River...an hybrid. It has the crystal clear waters of the Silver River with a Hillsborough River set up. It also has the characteristic that there are homes all the way up the river almost to the Rainbow Springs State Park. This place is amazing. Period. It is an example of how a community can come together and work toward a common goal. Will let you learn a bit more about this. Just click on the link Rainbow River

Put In\Take Out: Do you remember that I mention in the first paragraph that more than often things do not work the way you expect? As I do before paddling in a new place, studied reports on Rainbow River the Friday night. It is always good to know what to expect and maybe learn some details that can make your paddle trip a boost or a bust. From the research it was decided to put in, and take out, in the CR484 bridge over the Rainbow River. That was Plan A. But when I arrived at the area found it closed because a contractor is working on it, hopefully an improvement. Now what? Remembered a report saying that you can put in at the Dunnelon City Hall and you can park in their parking lot during the weekends. Plan B just out of the blue. So that was my Put In\Take Out today. The Dunnelon City Hall is located inmediately after crossing the bridge on US41 over the Whitlacoochee River. It is more a boat ramp but there is room to the side for a kayak/canoe. Also, there are restrooms in the facility. In the water at 8:45. 



View From the Withlacoochee River

 The change in the put in caused a little concern. Since the other put in is right on the Rainbow River I did not think too much about finding it. Now the put in is the Withlacoochee River and was not sure if I was going to find the Rainbow or how far it was from the put in. With that in the back of my mind started my solo expedition. Just followed my instincts...OK...I made that one up...just follow the logic and paddled to the East hoping to find a spot when clear water joins murky water and then go in the direction the clear water comes from. Sounded like a plan to me but you already know what is going on with me and my plans. Did not take too much time. I was paddling looking ahead trying to find a mouth of a river but when I looked to the water it was clear already. OK...What did I miss? A sign saying Rainbow River. That is what I missed. It was right after the view showed on the pic. Felt like an idiot, a happy one but an idiot anyways. I was on my way up the Rainbow River. Time to enjoy the ride!!!!!!




Wood Ducks

 A couple of wood ducks were on the river. It is funny; after barely seeing this beautiful ducks on my previous trips then this is the third time in the last four I see them. Is not kayaking interesting? It is like a box of Cracker Jacks. You never know what is inside the box. Not really. You always have an idea of what to expect. For example, I did read that there are many otters in the Rainbow River. So, when I saw three swimming was not a surprise. It was the first out of four otter sightings in the day. In three of those there were at least two otters. That encounter with the otters distracted me for a while. I wished my wife was there. It is a pain in the eye to paddle, track the otters, once you find them point the camea...dang it...they went down...there they are...shoot a pic...trash...gotta try again...You already got the idea right? It took me like more than 15 minutes to finally get a pic that I thought was good. When saw it at home was not too excited about it. Anyways, here it is. Just for the effort. Remember that it was taken by yours trully and not my wife so you can blame me with no mercy.


Otter Trio in the Rainbow River

                                                                                                                                            

 

Red Shouldered Hawk

The river was busy today. Kayakers and motor boats by the dozen. Have to say that all the boats were following the No Wake/ Iddle Speed rule. When I reached the CR484 bridge it was when it got crowded. My timing was horrible. A group of maybe 7 kayakers was puting in. Tried to leave them behind but I am not a fast paddler. Also it is very hard to leave people behind you if you stop to take pics. Spotted a Snowy Egret and stopped for pics. All the paddlers that I feft behind did catch me up. This time the decission was to let them go way ahead. When a Red Bellied Woodpecker and a Red Shouldered Hawk appeared into the scene it was an easy and great decission.  It was very cool to see the woodpeckers in their...nest(???) or whatever is called the little hole on the palm tree where the female was. The male had to leave in a hurry when the red shouldered hawk came screaming and perched just in top of where the female was nesting. After a tense few minutes the raptor left the same way it came: screaming. Mr. Woodpecker came back home and Mrs. Woodpecker was more than happy the let him know how scary was that close encounter with the hawk. Like he did not know. He had to fly for his life lady!!!!!!!

Gator

By the time I was done with the woodpecker vs hawk drama the armada of kayaks was way ahead of me. But that was the end of the good news. Another group of kayakers caught me. Paddled in front of them for a while until stopped to shoot pics at nesting cormorants. Then another group caught me. Let them go ahead and a couple caught me at that time. Two vs Seven? I can handle that, or at least that is what I thought. Think again. The lady was talking all the time...correction...yelling all the time. I ended up doing the same thing and letting them go way ahead. Took a pic break because the one and only gator I saw and lost them. Then, after a few minutes of enjoying the river found the first group of tubers. The Rainbow River is a very popular tubing area and you can imagine how was it a Saturday. To be honest I was counting on a not so crowded river. Wrong again. There were tubers all over the place. A few of them too close to the vegetation, something I would not do but...that is me.

In front of KP Hole, a Marion County Park, it was chaos. Kayakers and tubers all over the river. Two otters managed to be in the east bank in the middle of that mess. Looks like they are used to people. This time I got a decent pic, the one I used for the opening. Since we are talking about otters it is a good time to Did You Know That? Here we go!!!!!!

Did you Know That? 

 River otters can hold their breath for up to 8 minutes. Unike their cousins, the sea otters, the river otters can walk on land where they spent two thirds of their time. The river otter can swim up to six miles per hour on the surface and 3 to 4 miles per hour below the surface. They have some kind of special lense that helps them for underwater vision and normally are nearsighted above water. If you see two otters and one is much larger than the other, the bigger one is the male, which is about 17% bigger than the female. River otters use the sound, touch and smell to comunicate with each other. Finally they are very clean. Always clean themselves after having a meal.



It was almost 1:00PM when I arrived at the Rainbow Springs State Park. Docked my kayak, paid the $2 .00 fee and streched my legs for a a few minutes. Sat down in a bench near where you leave the kayaks and was having a sandwich when a nice couple came by. They live in the area and have seen the ups and downs of the park. She told me about the years when they had a zoo there, how the state bought the property from a developer that wanted to build golf courses and hotels in the area and how the community joined forces to rescue the park. Most of the contruction in the park was done by volunteers. Way to go!!!!! After talking with the couple took a walk to the Seminole Falls. A wedding ceremony was taking place in the deck so skipped it and kept walking. When I saw my watch it was almost 2:00PM and decided it was time to start my return trip. Stopped to shoot a pic at the waterfalls.

Rainbow River State Park swimming area

Here are the pics of the wildlife I saw on this paddle:

Otter

 



Anhinga

 

Coot




Nesting Cormorant




Blending In Great Blue Heron



Great Egret

Green Heron

Carolina Gren

Ibis

Limpkin

Little Blue Heron



Moorhen




Red Bellied Woodpecker




Red Shouldered Hawk




Snowy Egret




Tri Colored Heron




Turtles




Wood Duck



Here is the link to the whole album Rainbow River Slideshow

Thanks for reading and see you next weekend to share the Views From Our Kayak

Seminole Falls at Rainbow Springs State Park

Lower Wekiva River



Prothonotary Warbler



Hope you like the opening pic. It is a Florida visitor for this time of the year and it was a victory to finally get a pic of this beautiful little bird. We will talk about that later on Did You Know That?

Today we had a very short paddle in the Lower Wekiva River. Finished our things to do around 11:30 and asked wifey if she wanted to go for a paddle. She said yes, as long as it was a short one. Yesterday I wanted to paddle Lower Wekiva River so; Why not today?

Put In \ Take Out: The put in for this trip was Katie's Landing and, as for almost all our trips, the take out too. You can see my previous post about this river for information about how to go to Katie's Landing or click on this link: Katie's Landing.

I was close to tell wifey to forget about it when we arrived at Katie's. The wind was coming from the south and blowing hard. Since we always go down river, north, on this location I was thinking on the trip back. I knew it was going to be hard and did not feel like wanting to battle the wind and the current. We decided to go anyways and to not go too far from Katie's. Sounded like a plan and we were in the water at 12:30.



Ibis

Traffic in the river was not bad. Only two motor boats, one of them with a trio of young men fishing using bows and arpoons. A couple in two solo yaks and a few fishermen near Katie's. That was it. We cut our paddle short after an hour and a half. The wind was a pain in the eye and the pic chances were not frequent. The trip back to Katie's was in my mind and was not enjoying the trip as I should. Regardless we tried to make the most of it and I think we did. Wildlife wise cannot say it was bad at all. Ibis, Red Shouldered Hawks, Herons and many more. Do not have pics of everything we saw but Lower Wekiva Rivers offers a great variety and it is hard to go there and feel dissapointed about it. Our only complaint was the wind and that is something that can happen anywhere. Other than that the wildlife display was as impressive as it always is.



Osprey



Gator

Many gators were in the river today, most of them very squitish. The first four went from wherever they were sunning to the water while we were still 200 feet away. That is not what we are used to in the Lower Wekiva River. At one point we crossed path with a couple in solo kayaks and the gentleman asked us if we saw two gators on our way down. We did not see them and he was telling me about another gator about 300 hundreds yards from where we were. At that moment a gator went back to the water in a hurry at maybe 50 feet from us. Never saw it. Moral of the story: Keep your eyes open, specially when we are so close, or, now in gator mating season.

Lower Wekiva River gator



Prothonotary Warbler

Today's highlight was getting a pic of a Prothonotary Warbler. Took us nearly 20 minutes of going up and down in a section of the river. We saw the little yellow bird in a tree and approached it only to see it flying to another one. That process repeated several times until I decided to wait for them to come to a tree near us because was tired of paddling back and forth. It paid off. Yesssssssssss! Quite an effort but did worth it. Now that we are talking about the Prothonotary Warbler is the perfect time for our new section and here we go.

Did You Know That?

This little fellow has more frequent flyer miles than many of us. Each Spring and Fall it travels from its breeding grounds in the USA to the mangrove swamps in Central and South America. In the mangroves of Panama, for example, they can reach such a high population that sometimes ornithologists have described sights of "swarms" of Prothonotary Warblers. A cool fact about this beautiful yellow bird is the origin of the name. Prothonotary refers to clerks in the Roman Catholic church whose robes were bright yellow. Did you know that? I did not.

At 3:30 we had the yak at the top of our minivan and... very sore arms. Here are more pics of wildlife we saw today...



Tri Colored Heron

Little Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Red Shouldered Hawk

Moorhen

Anhinga(female)

Turtle slap

Mallard

Turkey

Tri-Colored Heron & Ibis



Gator



That is it for today. For more pics of this and past trips to Lower Wekiva River please click here: Lower Wekiva River.

Thanks for coming. We hope you enjoyed the Views From Our Kayak

See you next week!!!!!!!!

Haulover Canal

Manatee

Friday April 15th, a day off. It was my plan to kayak the Lower Wekiva River from Katie's Landing to the mouth of Blackwater Creek. My wife told me earlier in the week she was not coming with me. Guess what; she changed her mind and Lower Wekiva River was not what she had in mind. Where she wanted to go I did not. Warned her about the forecast for the area but lost the argument. Since she is the boss, we went to her favorite kakaying location; Haulover Canal, by the way, one of my top three places too.Haulover Canal interconects the Indian River(West) and the Mosquito Lagoon(East). Click on the link for more information and also the GPS coordinates of this incredible place. Haulover Canal.

Mullet Head Island ahead

Put in \ Take Out: The put in for this location, as for almost all the locations we paddle, is the take out too. Cross the bridge over Haulover Canal going north and take the next entrance to the left. There is an unpaved road, follow it to the end and that is the put in \ take out. When we arrived a group from a local outfitter was waiting for someone to launch. At 9:30 we put in before they did and headed west to Mullet Head Island, a bird sanctuary. It was sunny and choppy, with the wind coming from the south. The choppy waters were the reason I did not want to come today but, what the heck, we were already there. A dolphin fin and a manatee were spotted during the first minute of our paddle. No chance for pics though.

Roseate Spoonbill

 The bird sanctuary is a photographer's paradise. I mean, it is awesome. Since the approach to the island my wife had the camera on hand, which left me fighting the choppy waters of the Indian River alone. Once there she did shoot pics at will. Roseate Spoonbills, Brown Pelicans, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, Ibis, Snowy Egrets and some more were all around the island. We stayed at the north side of it seeking some cover from the wind. We ususally paddle around it starting from the north east side, going counterclokwise and exiting from the south east back to Haulover Canal. Today I was not in the mood of fighting the wind and the choppy waters so, even when we followed our usual route at the beginning, went back to Haulover Canal the same way we came. Since it turned from windy and sunny to  windy and cloudy we started our paddle back to the canal. Here are pics of what we saw in the bird sanctuary. Remember we only paddle half of it.

Redish Egret

Pelicans' Formation

Great Blue Heron

Cormorant



Tri Colored Heron

Roseate Spoonbill

 

Spoonie flying

Rudy Turnstone

 

Ibis

Great Egret

 

Snowy Egret

Brown Pelicans' Philarrmonic Orchestra

 

Great Egret

Brown Pelican



Brown Pelincan Nesting

Green Heron



Juvenile Great Blue Heron

Great  Egret



Pelicans and Spoony




After a long 10 or 15 minutes we finally arrived to the entrance of Haulover Canal. This time we changed the route again. In a normal day we will enter the canal thru a small cove south of it. It is named Dolphin Cove by our kayaking mentor. I call the route the YDT or YakDave Tour. If you want to read more interesting tales about kayaking in Florida we provided a link to his site. Back to ours, the climate conditions were not the ideal ones for that tour so we cut the corners. Straight from Mullet Head Island to Bair's Cove via the canal all the time. That gave us some shelter from the wind. Bair's Cove is usually a great spot to see manatees. This is where the motor boats put in and most of the boaters follow the Minimum Speed or No Wake rule. There were around ten manatees at Bair's Cove today. They were a little busy preserving their species and let me tell you this; they are rough. While we were there the group that were at the put in the morning arrived. One thing we have learned about observing manatees is that they are curious.  If you stay still, they will come near you. If you do the opposite and paddle to them, forget it. They will go away. A few within the group proved my theory, at least the first part, true. After the group left we stayed for several minutes and proved the second part of the theory right. We stayed still,a couple of manatees came to check on us and wifey took some nice shots. Have to say that I am proud of her. She resisted the temptation of touching the manatees, which is against the rules in Florida.

A couple of manatees check on us

We did not stay too long. Had to be at home at 2:30 so it was 1:30 when we had the yak at the minivan. Another good day, remove the wind and the choppy waters, at Haulover Canal. We will be back there in two weeks. I am looking forward to it.

Today starts a new section on Views From Our Kayak. We will look for interesting facts about the wildlife we post pics of. The intent it is not too teach but to share the things we learn about the wildlife we enjoy. Not sure of the permanent name of it but for the time being it will be Did You Know That?

Did You Know That?

Most mammals have seven cervical vertebrae. The manatee only has 6 and cannot turn its head, but turn its entire body when it wants to look around.

For more pics from this and past trips feel free to click this link: Haulover Canal

Almost forgot this. A friend told me that the pics were too small. I should have said that you can click on the pics to enlarge them. My bad!!!!
 

Thanks for joining us. Come back next week for another Views From Our Kayak!!!!

Haulover Canal