Kayaking at Salt Springs–the Manatee

Saturday December 6, 2014
Salt Springs Recreation Area Campground
Salt Springs,  Florida

 

 

We are approaching the dock at 6:45am.  The sun hasn’t come up and doesn’t.  Well you know what I mean.  We’re fogged in.  A great blue is at the dock to greet us.

 

I’m out on on the water before David.  We’re socked in.

 

It looks more clear back at the dock where David is getting ready.

 

 

 

Two trees I pass under along the shore are full of cormorants.   I can only see their silhouettes   The houseboat is in its spot.  No occupants to be seen.

 

 

 

It’s hard to see anything.  For nearly an hour we only see cormorants and this grebe.

 

I’m paddling along the shore.  It’s the only place you can see anything.  Paddling toward the middle is like going inside the color gray. 

I hear the unmistakable sound of a Green Heron   I’m just drifting along, no paddling.  He has his back to me so for a while he doesn’t notice me.  And then he does and he jerks around, gives me another one of those looks and zooms off.

 

 

 

 

I decide it’s time to head out into the gray.  I see nothing until I get really close and then it’s, the ducks, the cormorants…………….. and then I hear the breath. 

It’s them.  I can’t see them but I paddle in their direction.  I’m on their trail.  Eventually I see the nose.

 

 

Whoopee here they are!!

 

 

They are curious.  They come right up to the boat like they want to touch or smell it.

 

 

I whistle rather than yell for for David and when he comes they leave me and head over to him.

 

 

 

As if this isn’t exciting enough, there is  a mother with a calf.   How lucky can we get.

 

 

We don’t move.  They swim around us, under us.  The little calf does rolls.  It’s fabulous

 

 

 

Although I tried just to watch them and missed the calf roll  and some other great things, I have a BAZILLION pictures.   But you get the idea with just these.  Well no actually you don’t.  You really have to be there to watch a huge manatee glide gracefully under your boat and come out the other side.   To see them head away and then turn their giant selves on a dime and come back.

 

 

 

 

Eventually they swim off and I stay a while to see if they will return.  We’ve seen several other manatee as well and they all seem to be heading from the spring run out into the river probably for breakfast.

Then I hear the breathing again and use my paddles to go in that direction.   I am moving along when three of them rise up just in front of me.  A kayak has no brakes.  My boat slides over them but scares them and they do their hump up dive down slap tail routine and get me soaked.  I feel really badly that there was no way I could stop.  I scared them.  Unintentional manatee harassment.  I feel terrible.   No wonder the motor boats scar their backs.  I sure wish they would just outlaw motorboats in manatee territory.   At least I did them no harm other than fright.

My camera got sprayed as well so rather than stay in the water longer I head for the shore to dry the camera off and go back for dry clothes. Too bad David didn’t get a picture.

Boy am I sorry about this.  I would have loved to stay with them for as long as they’d have me if I hadn’t scared them.

Hope they’ll forgive me.   I sure had a great time.

I apologize to those who were hoping to learn a lot about this area during our stay.  We had intended to stay a week when we couldn’t get week long reservations at Disney World but then I was able to get 3 nights so we took them. Thus our stay is very abbreviated but did enable David to get the infusions he needed.

I do have previous posts about the Ocala National Forest and all there is to do here.  If you use my search bar and put in Salt Springs, they should all come up.  We will for sure be back here for a longer period of time to get in a lot more hiking and kayaking both here and at  Alexander and Juniper Springs which are also in the forest.  December is a good time to come.

The rest of the day we spend listening to our pretty good country music and gospel singing neighbors while getting things ready to head out early Sunday for Disneyworld.  At the price of those passes you want to get every minute you can.   See you at the kingdom the mice built.