Yesterday morning we took a fantastic guided kayak trip on the Silver River with Tania from LiveWater Experiences. The river is fed by several high-volume artesian springs. The water is almost 100% pure when it leaves the aquifer, so the river water is crystal clear and the area is full of wildlife!
Marilyn & Stan and Cheryl (and David’s feet) at the start of our guided kayak tour on the Silver River
Cheryl and an anhinga, a water bird that can dive more than 50 feet underwater to spear fish with its beak – but it lacks oil glands to waterproof its feathers, so it has to dry its wings before it can fly again.
One of a few manatees we saw on the tour (taken underwater by our guide).
Marilyn watches the manatee through the crystal-clear artesian spring water.
A double-crested cormorant swimming past David’s kayak.
Remnants of one of the primary sets of Seahunt, a television show starring Lloyd Bridges, that was filmed at Silver Springs in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Cheryl & David in our kayaks
Marilyn and Stan Black in their kayaks
David examines an alligator floating among the grasses on the surface of the river
A red-shouldered hawk.
Little (or lesser) blue heron. We saw several of these during our tour.
Yellow-bellied slider hitching a ride on another turtle
Green heron (that’s what it’s called, even though it doesn’t look very green).
Snowy egret.
Tricolored heron.
Another alligator, watching us from the edge of the river.
Male and female wood ducks.
Another manatee.
Marilyn checks out another anhinga drying its wings.
The anhingas are beautiful birds!
We made it!
In the afternoon, we took a glass-bottom boat tour of the upper Silver River. The arched entrance to the “attractions” area of the state park is one of the oldest tourist attractions in the state.
From a bridge over the river, we saw paddlers on the stretch of water that we kayaked earlier in the day.
One of Silver Springs’ famous glass-bottom boats
Remains of a boat used in one of the many movies shot at Silver Springs. The boat was sunk after filming ended.
These monkeys are the descendants of a troop of monkeys that one of the area’s early tourism promoters placed on a small island in the river many decades ago to attract visitors. Unbeknownst to him, rhesus monkeys are excellent swimmers, so by the next day they’d left the island and begun populating a large area of central Florida around the park.
The main vent of the Silver Springs, seen through the window of our glass-bottom boat. It may not look like much, but we could see the force of the water tossing pebbles around. This one vent puts out enough water to fill an Olympic-size swimming pool in 4 minutes.
As the afternoon warmed up, we saw many turtles sunning themselves on rocks and logs.
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