Kayaking the Chassahowitzka River

After waking and doing our morning German lessons, we took the dogs on a long walk around the neighborhood. When we returned to the house, we had oatmeal with raisins, walnuts, and brown sugar for breakfast.

After breakfast we loaded the kayaks and gear for a day of paddling. This time we loaded the boats into Cindy’s new Ram pickup. We drove a short distance south to the Chassahowitzka River, where we launched quickly and paddled toward some of the springs. The first springs have interconnected tunnels allowing swimmers to snorkel through from one spot to another. Cool water was gushing from the tunnels feeding the stream.

We went into a small inlet where we saw a cow and calf manatee. They were swimming under the kayaks but would surface to breathe from time to time. Not many other visitors knew about the manatees, so we were able to see them without interruption.

We went up Baird Creek toward The Crack, where a large spring produces a steady flow of saltwater fed by the Gulf of Mexico. We paddled up the narrow stream that had many shallow places, as well as submerged logs and rocks. Fighting the current was difficult in the narrow stream. When we it as far as we could navigate, we beached the kayaks on a sandbar and walked up the streambed. The large break in the coral stone is where the saltwater spring emerges. Along the way, I stepped in a pit of mud and broke both of my sandals getting out of the sticky mud. At The Crack, I waded into the deep water to wash the mud from my legs up to my shorts. By the time we were leaving the spring, many kayakers had gathered at the sandbar. We had a snack lunch of corn nuts, jerky and fruit before paddling back down the narrow channel.

On our way back to the boat launch, we saw the two manatees again but didn’t stop to take photos or watch them for long. The launch was busier than in the morning. We were able to get the kayaks loaded quickly and get on the road for the short drive back to Homosassa.

When we pulled into Standish Drive, we thought we heard something falling out of the pickup. After checking the road carefully and inventorying the contents of the truck, we decided that nothing had fallen out.

Unloading and packing things away went quickly, and we came in to clean up before dinner. Mark fixed some of the sea trout and redfish that we caught on Thursday. We had them as fish tacos along with white rice. Everything was very good.

After dinner we relaxed and watched an episode of The Brokenwood Mysteries on Acorn before turning in for the night.