Some images of the Crack, the Wikki and the Rainbow rivers. Also one picture of the Bayport saltwater marsh near the gulf.
We made it to the Crystal River a number of times this season. It is an out-and-back trip for us. We launch from the Crystal River Dive shop on 19. It cost ten dollars a boat to park and launch from there. You paddle along a tidal canal through a tunnel make a right turn (to starboard) and just up the way is the entrance to the Three Sisters Spring. On days after a cold night, the spring and the area in front of the entrance are full of Manatees.
We met our daughter Jeri’s family at Silver Springs last month. It was a cold day, unusually cold, but that didn’t stop us from getting on the river. Jeri’s husband Tom looked after their two Boston Terriers, while Jeri, son Dylan, and Gavin enjoyed the water. We didn’t see any monkees that day but Diane and I did earlier this year. We met our best friends Bob and Sandra that day. They own a Sea Eagle 370pro but due to this being a last-minute trip and their boat still in Alabama, they needed to rent a kayak. We had lunch at our favorite place in Silver Springs, Mojos.
The day with Tom and Jeri and the boys ended up being a very good one. They enjoyed being on the river and we sure enjoyed being with them. We had a late lunch at Mojos, afterwards they hit the road for Weston, Florida.
Our last trip was on the Rainbow River not long ago. At 7:45 am we left Brooksville and drove 45 minutes to Dunnellon. Our destination was the Rainbow River Canoe and Kayak Company, where I booked a shuttle reservation. They took us to PK Hole Park. We paid our park admission and proceeded to set up our kayak. We pumped it up, assembled our paddles, about a twenty-minute job, put on gloves and Inflatable life vests, stowed our gear in the boat, and were in the water at 9:30. We paddled upstream for about 45 minutes to the head spring, turned back and traveled downstream to where the Rainbow flows into the Withlacoochee and our takeout. The trip took about four hours altogether. I took some photos and some underwater videos with my new Akaso Brave 7LE action camera. It is the same camera I used first at Silver Springs. It’s a great thing to have, I shoot bike rides with it as well.
Let me just say that our kayak, the Sea Eagle 370 Pro, has been a great kayak for us. We are owners of our second hull. The first one, at just over three years old, blew an outside floor seam on kayak trip number 50. We took it out on the New River with the hole in it. That was a bit rough with the extra weight, but we had to get to our take-out spot where we left our car. It made it just fine. Later I patched the rip, which wasn’t easy, but Diane thought I should contact Sea Eagle tech support and let them know what happened. I called them and the tech told me not to trust the patch, and that if one seam goes another is likely to follow. He said that they would sell me a new hull, I would have it in two days, they would pay for shipping and the cost was well, very low. All I had to do was cut out the hull number and email a picture of the removed part of the hull to them. That is what I did and I had the new hull in two days. They offered me a good upgrade price for a 380x after I asked about it, but after asking me what kind of kayaking I do, the tech talked me out of buying it. He said the 370 Pro was more than fine for our purposes. Sea Eagle has very good customer service if you ask me.
We now have made about 100 trips out in our Sea Eagle, (and it has certainly paid for itself). We are looking forward to our next trip. It will be on the Silver River but not just inside the park. We will drive six miles downstream leave our car and shuttle back into the park and set up our boat for another nice 4 hours on the water. Of course, there will be pictures and videos of the trip posted somewhere.
Thanks for taking the time to read my post. I leave you with some video footage of the Rainbow River.
Happy Paddling!
Derrick.