[at-l] Short canoe trip--Weeki Wachee River

[Bluetrail at aol.com (Bluetrail@aol.com)]

Took a break from the workshops at the Central Regional Meeting of the Florida Trail Association to do a 2.5 hour canoe trip on the Weeki Wachee River.  

The spring itself is still part of an old tourist attraction--the one where you go into what amounts to a concrete basement with picture windows.  The windows look out into the waters of the spring, where "mermaids" perform underwater ballet.

Anyhow, we skipped the tourist attraction and got into the spring-fed river just a little bit downstream from the mermaids.  

Taking a cue from the mermaids, the Weeki Wachee is a very "curvy" river, in many parts it seemed like one turn after another.  Bear in mind that what Florida calls rivers would probably be called creeks in a lot of the rest of the US. 

I managed to get my neck and shirt entangled in some low hanging vines at one point, bringing our canoe to an abrupt and wavering halt and narrowly escaping a dunking.  This neck-abrading event was followed by a tree full of vultures--guess they'd been hoping for a different outcome in the battle of Joan vs. Vines.  

It was a pretty trip, even though the run is sometimes lined with homes.  We spotted the usual great and little blue herons, lots of fish, and a few turtles.  The best sighting was canoeing right beside a manatee and seeing another small one closer to the shore.  

This website shows some of the wildlife found along the river:
http://www.weekiwachee.com/photo/thumbnails.php?album=6

We pulled out right at the campground where we were staying.  Folks on the dock there had manatee sightings off and on all day.  I'd recomend this short trip to any of you driving down Florida's west coast.  Weeki Wachee is on Highway 19, north of Tampa.

Joan
bluetrail@aol.com