Post by Henry
The last time I was at Silver
Springs was somewhere around 1970 with my parents when it was a privately owned
Florida tourist attraction.
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| Silver Springs |
The glass bottom boats were the main feature but there were exotic animals and an amusement park, too. Mostly I only have a vague memory of the boats. Silver Springs was one of Florida
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| Glass Bottom Boats |
The glass bottom boats actually date as far back as the 1870's, which is a few years before I was born. Just recently Florida acquired the attraction and made it part of the Silver Springs State Park.
We decided we should paddle this
so we headed a little over an hour north of our Sumter Oaks Campsite to the
park just east of Ocala . It cost $8
to get in the park and then $4 launch fee for each kayak. They also rent canoes
for the day.
The first thing you do is paddle a
narrow channel towards the main spring where the glass bottom boats still
operate.
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| Launching Area and Narrow Channel |
When you arrive at the main spring it’s like WOW! The spring is deep
and crystal clear! It’s amazing to look over the side of the kayak and see to
the bottom 30+ feet down.
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| Silver Springs |
We spent the next 3 hours paddling on the clear water
going down stream with the current then returning on a narrow canal called the
Fort King Waterway. It was a beautiful day with mostly blue skies and
temperatures in the upper 70’s. We saw ospreys, wood storks, blue herons, egrets,
ibis, cormorants and many gators and turtles.
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| Turtles Resting on Log |
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| Little Blue Heron |
We had seen all of these many times before
but had never paddled on such crystal clear beautiful water as the Silver
River
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| Henry Paddling Silver Springs |
After our paddling trip we checked out some
of the rest of the park. The campground was one of the best we’ve seen in a Florida
State Park
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| Cabin in Silver Springs State Park |
We may return here for a
few days of camping and we would definitely recommend paddling Silver Springs.
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