FL questions

[kfp673]

Hello All,

We are considering booking a last minute trip to FL in December. With 3 kids < 12 most of our trips to FL in the past have been Disney related but this would just be a warm weather get away. That said, it would be nice to be within a few hours drive of the parks in case we decide to take a 1 day trip. However, what we are really looking for is a suggestion of areas to camp where we could kayak on the spring feed rivers where the manatee's go. I have seen some beautiful pictures but am unsure of the specific areas. I checked Manatee Springs state park and that (and all other state parks) are sold out most of the winter. I can find sites at private parks but looking for suggested areas. Ideally we would be able to kayak from our campground, but with booking this late we can't be too picky, so even if we were within a 30-45 minute drive.

To recap, FL camping with hookups, within a few hours of Orlando, and within 30-45 minutes of good kayaking with manatees. Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!

[Guy_Roan]

kfp673 wrote:

Guy Roan wrote:

rav wrote:
We saw several manatees last year and last week one was spotted near the glass bottom boat maintenance area.

They are strays and have to come all the way up the Oklawaha River to get there and are few and far between.

The Crystal River on the west coast is another prime place where you can be guaranteed to see them. Especially around the Three Sisters Springs area


Guy

Thanks for all of your replies Guy. Curious though.. There are advertisements all over the web for the Silver Spring area i.e. "Monkeys and Manatees" etc etc. Are you saying they are there but there are other places with a higher population?

Yes, if you want to be assured to paddle with and around Manatees and you don't want to head farther south go to Crystal River.

With that said the Silver Springs and the Rainbow River are absolutely beautiful spring runs and are must to see, but not for Manatees. They are few and far between there and I would hate to see your kids disappointed.

Guy

[wowens79]

We did a trip like you are wanting to do a few years ago. We stayed at Lake Rousseau RV Resort (nice people, mainly permanent sites). It was kind of a middle ground for where we wanted to paddle.
Check out Rainbow River Canoe and Kayak, they offer a shuttle on Rainbow River. It is a great 5 mile float trip. The water is incredible, with tons of wildlife. However due to a Ram, manatees are not on the river. Google pictures from Rainbow River, it is amazing. It is in Dunnellon FL. Rainbow Springs State Park s at the head spring, but it is hard to find a vacancy.
Crystal River has tons of manatees year round, and is not to far away. When we went there was tons of wind and had the water murky, and the waves out in the main river were to rough, we did see lots of manatee noses pop up to get air. We are wanting to go back again and hoping for better weather.
It is also about an hour from Manatee Springs State Park, it is really a pretty place. Tons of wildlife, manatees, gators deer etc.
It is an amazing area, We did a week long trip, and split it between Disney and kayaking. On the way home my kids said they wished we had spent the whole week paddling and skipped Disney.

[kfp673]

Guy Roan wrote:

rav wrote:
We saw several manatees last year and last week one was spotted near the glass bottom boat maintenance area.

They are strays and have to come all the way up the Oklawaha River to get there and are few and far between.

The Crystal River on the west coast is another prime place where you can be guaranteed to see them. Especially around the Three Sisters Springs area


Guy

Thanks for all of your replies Guy. Curious though.. There are advertisements all over the web for the Silver Spring area i.e. "Monkeys and Manatees" etc etc. Are you saying they are there but there are other places with a higher population?

[Guy_Roan]

Retired JSO wrote:

Guy Roan wrote:

rav wrote:
Across from Silver Springs State Park is the Silver Springs Rv resort and many others. You could walk over to the Springs and rent kayaks.

You won't see manatees in Silver Springs or any in the Ocala National Forest spring runs

If you can find an RV park close to Blue Springs state Park, you are guaranteed to paddle with the Manatees there and in the Hontoon Dead River and the St Johns River

Check out our Google web sit under the "Springs Area"
It is https://sites.google.com/site/flkeyskayaktrips/

Guy

My friend, you are sadly mistaken. The greatest number of manatees will be found in the runs of springs. Silver Glen and salt springs run get several every winter. Blue Springs run at Blue Springs State Park have enormous populations of manatees every winter.

Did you read my second paragraph ???

Guy

[kfp673]

dodge guy wrote:
LOL! Am I the only “Karen” (Kevin) worried about alligators if you go kayaking!
Keep in mind this is coming from a Midwestern person of 50 years.

Otherwise it sounds like a great trip!

Ha! Ironically, I really hope to see gators if we are kayaking. We are from PA so we don't get to see them often and would be awesome to have crystal clear water and see Manatees and Gators on the same trip. Of course when you speak to anyone south of SC they laugh. To them it's like seeing white tailed deer up here it seems 😉

[CFerguson]

dodge guy wrote:
LOL! Am I the only “Karen” (Kevin) worried about alligators if you go kayaking!...

No, you certainly are not! Anything that thinks its higher in the food chain than i am gets my complete respect.

[dodge_guy]

LOL! Am I the only “Karen” (Kevin) worried about alligators if you go kayaking!
Keep in mind this is coming from a Midwestern person of 50 years.

Otherwise it sounds like a great trip!

[Retired_JSO]

Guy Roan wrote:

rav wrote:
Across from Silver Springs State Park is the Silver Springs Rv resort and many others. You could walk over to the Springs and rent kayaks.

You won't see manatees in Silver Springs or any in the Ocala National Forest spring runs

If you can find an RV park close to Blue Springs state Park, you are guaranteed to paddle with the Manatees there and in the Hontoon Dead River and the St Johns River

Check out our Google web sit under the "Springs Area"
It is https://sites.google.com/site/flkeyskayaktrips/

Guy

My friend, you are sadly mistaken. The greatest number of manatees will be found in the runs of springs. Silver Glen and salt springs run get several every winter. Blue Springs run at Blue Springs State Park have enormous populations of manatees every winter.

[Guy_Roan]

agesilaus wrote:
Manatee Springs SP is a prime location to spot Manatees but they have a short run to the Suwanee River and the park rangers will not let you put your boats in if there Manatees are near in the run or springs. The same is true at Blue Springs where the rangers we positively extreme about no boats or swimmers with Manatees. At Manatee Springs, which has two nice cg, you may be able to carry your kayaks down to the floating dock to launch them. There are big fines for interfering with the critters.

Yes but Blue springs flows into the Dead River and Hoontoon River and there are just as many there and nothing from stopping you from paddling there

Guy

[agesilaus]

Manatee Springs SP is a prime location to spot Manatees but they have a short run to the Suwanee River and the park rangers will not let you put your boats in if there Manatees are near in the run or springs. The same is true at Blue Springs where the rangers we positively extreme about no boats or swimmers with Manatees. At Manatee Springs, which has two nice cg, you may be able to carry your kayaks down to the floating dock to launch them. There are big fines for interfering with the critters.

[Guy_Roan]

rav wrote:
We saw several manatees last year and last week one was spotted near the glass bottom boat maintenance area.

They are strays and have to come all the way up the Oklawaha River to get there and are few and far between.

The Crystal River on the west coast is another prime place where you can be guaranteed to see them. Especially around the Three Sisters Springs area


Guy

[rav]

We saw several manatees last year and last week one was spotted near the glass bottom boat maintenance area.

[Guy_Roan]

rav wrote:
Across from Silver Springs State Park is the Silver Springs Rv resort and many others. You could walk over to the Springs and rent kayaks.

You won't see manatees in Silver Springs or any in the Ocala National Forest spring runs

If you can find an RV park close to Blue Springs state Park, you are guaranteed to paddle with the Manatees there and in the Hontoon Dead River and the St Johns River

Check out our Google web sit under the "Springs Area"
It is https://sites.google.com/site/flkeyskayaktrips/

Guy

[rav]

Across from Silver Springs State Park is the Silver Springs Rv resort and many others. You could walk over to the Springs and rent kayaks.

[azwildcat]

You might try Twelve Oaks RV in Sanford. Probably booked pretty solid but you may be able to pick up some open time if you are flexible. Good Luck