Ichetucknee River Paddle

The Ichetucknee is one of Florida's most pristine spring-fed rivers. The clear aquamarine waters flow over the silvery bottom, providing views of fish, plants, and today...manatees!

We launched our kayaks at the north end of Ichetucknee Springs State Park.

Friends Shirley, Judy, and Linda start down the river ahead.

Shirley snapping a photo of a large turtle on the log.

Even though it's technically still winter, it was a beautiful Spring day.

Linda checking out that log.

Judy

We saw several of these Spider Lilies in bloom.

Redbud blossoms that have fallen on some duckweed.

You can see the Eelgrass flowing in the direction of the current.

Blurry picture of Linda having some fun.

Watching a Great Egret. 

Oh, a cave in the limestone cliff!

That's me, checking out the cave. Judy took all the pictures with me in them.

When you have a small boat, you can fit in tiny places.

But I ran out of water.

There are many small springs along the river.

One of many groups of basking turtles.

Linda floating along. Our paddles were mostly used for steering.

Linda spotted these Cormorants in a tree.

Cormorants

Gliding over the eelgrass.

Shirley let her foot out of captivity!

Testing the 72 degree spring water.

A patch of spider lilies.

The entire six-mile length of the river flows through the state park until it empties into the Sante Fe River. There is no development along the banks.

A small white blossom in the floating vegetation.

The entrance to another large spring, called Devil's Eye.

Shirley watching the water bubble up from the Devil's Eye Spring. An average 233 million gallons of water flows from the springs along the river every day.

The river widens here for a ways.

Judy looking at more turtles.

Shirley and some turtles.

But the best find was manatees! Linda is pointing to one below.

There were two manatees resting on the bottom.

I suspect they were juveniles, as they were both small by manatee standards.

We watched them come up for air.

Continuing down the river.

Our lunch stop. We pulled a little off the river and rested our boats on vegetation to keep from drifting away. This is Shirley.

Judy and Linda

Me and Shirley

After eating, I checked out the tiny things around my boat... like damselflies...

And tiny white spiders...

This one came to visit on my boat.

Voracious caterpillars...

Continuing on...

Fish or a log?

Shirley wanted a wilderness picture...I took a few.

Great Egret

Shirley paddling in the wilderness...

What's up there?

Judy

Cypress knees...

The sign says, "No diving or climbing" 

Lots of tubers float down this river in the summer time. Not allowed until Memorial Day. This is the time for kayakers to enjoy it.

This spring is fenced off to protect the habitat of a rare, almost endangered snail.

Coffee Springs, the only home of this rare snail in Florida.

I saw this snail on the eelgrass inside the enclosure.

But from my google search, I don't think it is the rare silt snail because of it's size. The silt snail is said to be very tiny, about the size of a grain of sand.

Shirley enjoying some more turtles.

Looks like a very ambitious beaver has been gnawing on this tree.

Great-blue heron.

Approaching the take out at the south end of the park.

Kayak take-out.

I parked my RV at this location. So we loaded up the 4 kayaks and 4 people and shuttled 5 miles back to the north end to where we left Judy's SUV.

All agreed it was a wonderful day on the water.