Kayaking Rock Springs Run

Last year I made the mistake of going wakeboarding the day before a trip I planned with Dad and Cathy to go kayaking. I was so sore, even turning my head made every muscle in my neck scream out in pain. Would you believe that I made the exact same plans again this week?! This time however, I took it easy with the wakeboarding and did fewer runs. I was still pretty sore this morning, but not nearly as bad as last time. We also made the decision to put Mia in their kayak (a much larger tandem/hybrid kayak with plenty of room for a monkey) so I didn't have to deal with her on my little 9.5 footer. We had a great time, however we had to do our favorite run much earlier than we prefer since the place we take out at closed at 7pm, instead of 9pm (I guess they're not on summer hours yet). We didn't see as much wildlife as last time (such as the 3 baby bears we saw last year) but we still saw plenty of birds, turtles, fish, gators and a beautiful pregnant deer.

Here's a link to our map of the route we took

Here's a link to last years trip down Rock Springs Run


Dad and Cathy with Mia


Great blue heron


Turtle


She just watched us go by


The largest of the gators we saw that day

We laughed so hard watching Mia try to swim upstream!

Kayaking Upper Wekiva River

Father's Day is all about the father right? Neh, it's all about the monkey :) Just kidding of course, the pops had a great day. We spent it kayaking down the upper half of the Wekiva River, from Wekiva Island to Katie's Landing. We didn't see as much wildlife, since we passed through several busy spots (and being that it was Father's Day it makes sense it was a little crowded) but it was a great day. We did see one HUGE monster gator! He was going in the same direction we were and instead of just immediately swimming away, he slowly swam while keeping his head torqued to watch us. This isn't normal alligator behavior, so it freaked us out a little bit. I definitely held on to Mia so she didn't jump in for a swim for quite a while after this!


What a beautiful morning!


Pretty big gator, watching us as it slowly swims away


Mia definitely saw and was watching the gator


"What, this isn't how I'm supposed to sit in the kayak?"


Happy Girl :)


She looks thrilled in this picture!


This dog has so much fun!


Going for a cruise on the little kayak with Cathy

Mia loves to grab every single leaf as we go by, silly girl!

Kneeboarding & Kayaking

Mia and I have had a very exciting week! First, my friend Neely invited us out on her boat, along with a few other friends. Her and her husband, Andy, are big into wakeboarding and wakeskating. I've never even attempted wakeboarding before, so I was a little nervous. I ended up getting up on my 2nd try so I was pretty pumped. I got up a few more times after that, but couldn't manage to do anything fancy. I didn't want Mia to lose out on all the fun, so I attempted to get her up on the kneeboard. She seemed pretty comfortable on it while we were just hanging out in the water so I thought, why not?! She did so wonderful! I can't wait to do it again with her (this time, without my nice sunglasses, so I don't have to freak out when they almost fall off!).


Getting her used to the board


Getting ready :D


Almost!


Check her out, so awesome!


Uh-oh, losing the good sunglasses, time to let go!



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So if all that wasn't enough fun, the very next day we went kayaking. I can't even describe how sore I was from the wakeboarding, so I knew it was going to be difficult for me, but I've been wanting to take Mia kayaking for a while now. Also, we had awesome plans to kayak down Rock Springs Run with NOBODY else around (Dad got a sweet hookup from a friend who owns property out there) so there was no way I was going to pass that up. My dad has two recently purchased kayaks - one is a brand new, beautiful 14.5' tandem (can convert to single) and an older 9.5' single for Cathy and I. It was interesting fitting both me and Mia in the little single, but we managed. I did get frustrated at her a few times (every time she would even move an inch it felt like she was ripping my sore muscles right out of my legs!) but it was still so awesome. She did better than I could have asked for. Cathy and I did switch about 1/2 way, so I got to rest in the tandem and let Dad do all the work ;)

It was so awesome being on the river without anyone around. We saw tons of gators, a spotted fawn and 3 baby bears! I think this is the first time I've ever seen a bear in the wild. We could hear the Momma Bear crashing around on the ground, but she never showed her face (I'm sure she could see us though!).


Mia and I crammed on our tiny kayak


All 4 of us bear-searching


There's one! A tiny cub up high in a tree


Ahh, time to relax, put my feet up and make Dad do all the work!


Mia and I working hard ;)

All of our kayaking pictures

First Kayaking Trip Of The Year

Mia loves pretty much every adventure she goes on, including kayaking. She stays so mentally stimulated the whole time, constantly watching, smelling and listening to everything. My dad recently bought us a new kayak, so it's much easier for us to be together and she doesn't drive me (or them!) as crazy as she used to! I also took my nice camera, so I got some pretty decent photos of our trip. The only animal I was hoping to see that we didn't were bears, however we saw gators, turtles, otters, deer and tons of birds, including a hawk, owl and turkey.