They come to life only when the
river is between 59ft and 61ft above mean sea level (near flood stage). Else, it is a pile of rocks that often has to be portaged even with kayaks. We saw the class III whitewater. Pretty cool.
The Santa Fe River disappears. The leaf stained black water flows into a huge sinkhole
and dives underground. It emerges three miles later in what they call, unimaginatively, the River Rise. People have actually mapped the interconnecting caves by scuba diving through them. Absolutely crazy I say.
The canoe slipped along the crystal clear water through the half-light of chilly, fog drenched air. It was wonderfully silent. Moss draped live oak 
and stately cypress line the banks. A near continuous bed of eel grass bent in the current below us. It is 6:30 in the morning and 35F. We are floating down the Ichetucknee River from its headspring where 67 million gallons of 72F water wells up from the ground everyday. Tributary springs add to the flow to total 212 million gallons a day that then flows toward the SuwanneeRiver.
Unusual visitors
The Suwannee is above flood stage and backing up into the tributaries including the Ichetucknee; so the water is wide and deeper than usual all the way to the Gulf. The manatees take advantage of the opportunity to move up stream to warm water and plenty to eat. They didn’t seem to mind us watching them mill around below us.
It was a great trip for wildlife overall. River otters criss-crossed in front of us. Turtles and lots of fish, including pretty big Gar swam below. As for birds, we saw lots of the usual: great blue heron, egrets, little blue heron, coots, and osprey. Two black capped night heron and a sora rail made appearances. We don’t see them very often.
Overall, fantastic. It only took us a couple hours to thaw out our fingers and toes.
The SuwanneeRiver valley is riddled with artesian springs. The openings created by the springs develop into stunning open pools. The water is perfectly clear. It is unbelievably blue. The surface constantly simmers as the water boils up from underground. Warm, swirling, spring water creates complex erosion patterns in the walls and floors of the pools. Awesome.
They scuba dive in these things. Especially the ones they call jug formation springs where the discharge is actually a necked down section that rises from a larger underground cave or series of caves. They dive down through the neck, against the flow of the spring (think million of gallons a day) into the chambers below. How nuts is that?
Antenna down? Check. Jacks up? Trailer hitched? Boat loaded? Car loaded? Check. Check. Check. OK, yes, check already. We are a little out of practice with breaking camp but we eventually remembered all the important stuff.
Off we go. We are running early so we opt for a quick stop at Lowes (I know. What are people who don’t even own a house doing at a home improvement store…go figure). We pick up the piece of lumber for my new clothes rack then hit the road in earnest.
Well, maybe NOT.
Silence. That was the sound when Kent turned the key. Lights work and gages say the batteries are ok. What up? Kent’s under the hood and under the motorhome. No amount of looking and poking can change the diagnosis. We lost a starter, again. I swear, I really think that International ought to have that simple part figured out by now.
But, no. We are looking for an International dealer and I predict a couple of boring, expensive days here in lovely Palatka. Add insult to injury, it was fish-fry night at Georgetown. We are just 30 miles away and can’t get the car out of the trailer to go back. Rats!
Much better than I feared.
We did spend the night in the Lowes lot with many bright lights and where some antisocial or underperforming night shift guy ran a blower most of his shift to clean the parking lot.
It got better. No tow. Jimmy and his mobile repair truck showed up at 7:45AM. The new starter was in by 9. International warranty didn’t cover it but our extended warranty covers most.
Just 24 hours lost. We are back on the road.
I’m itching to move on after about 2 months here. It is a definite sign that I am not quite ready to settle down yet.
We had fun here. The people are great. Carry in dinners plus the lady’s cocktail hour and fisherman’s liars club every afternoon got us to socialize a bit more than we have in other places. Boating and wildlife watching were pretty good too. Hiking was a bit sparse but we found enough to do. I suspect we may stop here again some winter. Maybe next time we come I will get to catch a big one!
22” and 5 pounds. That is a BIG fish. This was the last day for fishing before we pull out and head north (slowly). Kent hooked an impressive bass. It was mine you know! 
He hooked it in the very same place in the lake as one I have had on the hook twice but couldn’t get into the boat. Oh well. If not me, glad it was Kent and not someone else.
80F. Baking sun. A cooling breeze. We fished a while, explored the lake, and relaxed. Bass are lying in nests just taunting fishermen; but for us at least, not biting.
We enjoyed a peaceful afternoon watching the waves and lunching at Joes Crab Shack. We saw signs of preparation for this place’s other side, Bike week and weeks of spring break. I’d say our timing was perfect.
Manatees in Salt
Spring
A trip up Salt Creek to Salt Spring to observe the Manatees.
Osprey showing us how it is done.