Wakulla River

Wakulla River manatee

A personal matter forced me to take a day on vacation today to go to our state capital; Tallahassee. After thinking that it sucked big time came to my mind that, if I finished early what was needed to be done, then would have time to go and kayak somewhere near Tallahassee or a place on my way home. Long story short: Wakulla River and it was awesome as in manatee all over the places. My apologies in advance but the pics did not come out as I expected. Probably because am learning to use Manual Mode and have ways to go. There was not too much variety in the river but the scenic beauty is stunning.

Wakulla River

Put In / Take Out: The Wakulla River has more than two points where you can put in and take out. One of them is the bridge on CR 365, the other the bridge on US 98, and being the last one the city of St. Marks. Instead of trying to understand my writing check this link. It has good info and is what I used to locate where to put in for this trip: Kayaking Wakulla River. I did put in at the US 98 bridge. Paid $5 dollars and it uses the Honor System that means no attendant. You deposit your payment in a box and kept the receipt visible on your dash. There is an outfitter, TNT Hideaway, at this same location. If you rent from them you can use their put in area, which is much better than the boat ramp on US 98. Do not, and I repeat, DO NOT go to Wakulla Springs State Park thinking you can put in there. It will not happen. Actually, you cannot kayak within the state park boundaries as it is a wildlife sanctuary.

Great Blue Heron

The Wakulla River is 11 miles long, flows into the St. Marks river a few miles North of the Gulf of Mexico. As the Silver River in the Ocala National Forest, its clear waters attracted several movie makers during the cinema boom in Florida. Some of the Johnny Weissmuller's Tarzan movies were filmed at the Wakulla River.

Wakulla River Turtles

My trip was approximately 8 miles total...4 up river and 4 down river. Did turn around at the CR 365 bridge, where there is a fence that does not allow you go far up North inside the Wakulla Springs State Park territory. I do wonder if people really comply with this since there is enough room to paddle under the fence. It was cloudy when I started at the US 98 bridge. The Sun came out, went back into the clouds, came back out, did hide again, came back out, and finally it rained. What about 10% precipitation chances? This place is as beautiful as you can imagine with an incredible and peaceful scenery. Lots of turtles, cormorants and manatees. Unfortunately the water, as it was clear for being a spring fed river, was not clear enough for good underwater photos. I do not know if that is the norm or if those were the conditions yesterday. Enough of my writing, let us go to the pics...

Anhinga

Turtles

More Turtles at the Wakulla River

Great Egret caught lunch

Cormorant

Cormorant and Turtle

Belted Kingfisher

Cormorants

Great Egrets

Turtle formation

Ibis

Belted Kingfisher

Belted Kingfisher. Is the owl supposed to scare it?

Belted Kingfisher

Great Egret

Red Bellied Woodpecker

Manatee

One and only gator seeing at the Wakulla River

CR 365 bridge. Turn around point as there is a fence with warning signs...

Boundary of the Wakulla Spring State Park

Manatee at the Wakulla Rive

Manatee ahead!!!!!

And this is it for this post. If you checked it yesterday and came back today for the finished post I hope you are not dissapointed. I enjoyed this first trip to Crawfordville. Always take a look at our Facebook Page for more pics from this and past trips. See you soon, from another beautiful Florida location, to share more Views From Our Kayak.

US 98 bridge over the Wakulla River.

Pellicer Creek - From Faver Dykes State Park

Cormorant

It was a tough one to choose where to go. The only place that looked good was Ichetuknee Springs State Park, where I have been wanting to go for weeks, but my wife did not want to go with me today. The less worst forecast was near St. Augustine so reluctantly decided to go to back to Pellicer Creek.Well, let me see how can I put this without sounding bad. OK...Cannot express it with words so will say it with another pic. It was the actual opening or the following one...

No comments...It was that kind of day!!!!

Put In/ Take Out: Will use the intelligent laziness concept here and paste a link to our first post about Pellicer Creek. There you will find all the information you need about location and fees. Just as a summary the put in and take out is at Faver Dykes State Park in St. Augustine. There are restrooms at the ramp.

Self explanatory

This is going to be short. It was a windy gray cloudy day with the Sun making its presence at the beginning and at the end of the trip. Made it past the HWY 1 bridge and then returned to the State Park. Pics chances were minimum so did shoot a few scenic.

Cormorant

Cormorant

Anhinga

Pellicer Creek

Pellicer Creek Campground Area.

Those are all the pics from the trip up creek. Decided to return shortly after the campground. The creek gets narrow and quite frankly, was not in the mood to keep going. Here are the pics of the down creek leg...

Pellicer Creek. The first of only two boats I saw the whole trip.

I95

Juvenile Little Blue Heron

Juvenile Little Blue Heron

Cormorant. Two of them at the same place I saw two at the beginning of the trip. Most likely the same birds.

Cormorant

Duo

Great Egret

Great Egret

Is that a Barn Swallow????

Great Blue Heron

Great Blue Heron

Here is a video of  a section of the trip. After listening you may advice me to keep writing. Will not blame you for that. I was able to put videos here. Now I cannot. Any advice from the media experts? Anyways, posted the video on the Facebook Page, if you want to take a look.

Scenic video

And this is it for this one. Do not forget to check our Facebook Page with more pics from this and other trips. Thanks for coming and see you next week to share more Views From Our Kayak.

Pellicer Creek

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