On Thursday, I was looking at pictures of springs in Florida and decided to drive down to Florida and kayak one of them. I’m trying to be more spontaneous with my trips to see if they have any impact of my enjoyment of them. I asked myself, “Why not?” and had no excuse. So I packed up my car and hit the road. It was a 5 hour drive down from Atlanta to get to Manatee springs. Well, it was supposed to be 5 hours. It ended up taking 7 because my kayak rack decided to break while I was going 70 miles per hour down the 75 freeway. Fortunately the strap held and the kayak did not fall off, but it did take some time to get it repositioned. I learned a lesson, and that is if you are going to put a kayak rack on another brand crossbar, expect problems. Also bring extra tie downs, which fortunately I did. I will now need to beef up the bolts on the rack to prevent this from happening again. I spent the rest of the trip listening to “The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag“. I’ll write more about that book on my other blog later.
I got down to Florida expecting it to be a little warmer and more humid than Atlanta but I did not set my expectations high enough. I got there in the middle of a rain torrent that made it nearly impossible to drive. Once the rain settled the air was so thick with humidity I could not keep my glasses from fogging up. I parked and walked around camp to see where the spring is and where I would launch my kayak from. I was awe struck by how clear and blue the water was when I arrived at the spring.
It was still raining a little so I did not get the full effect until later. On a whim I decided to bring my snorkeling gear. I had no intention of getting in the water, other than with my kayak, but I ended up spending more time snorkeling than kayaking. The water was 72 degrees which felt extremely refreshing compared to the oppressive 99 degree and 90% humidity air. It was a little hard to get into because of the contrast, but once I was in I felt alive. There were fish everywhere in the 50 foot deep spring. You could see all the way to the bottom and the current swept upwards rapidly. I could not find the cave entrance to the spring, but apparently there is one that you can go into if you have diving gear. The water was a turquoise color that doesn’t quite show as vividly in the photos.
I tried diving down as deep as I could, but only made it about 12 feet or so before the pressure was too much for my head. I couldn’t equalize for some reason either, probably just out of practice. I then spent the evening in camp, cooking steak and drinking beer. Deer kept wandering through my camp in herds. They became annoying after awhile because they looked far too interested in my food. I started a fire and spent my evening listening to the rest of “The Aquariums of Pyongyang: Ten Years in the North Korean Gulag”. My camper bed worked out well and I got about 8 hours of on-and-off sleep. I brought a fan with me because I knew there was an outlet in the camp site. If I had not have, there would not have been any sleep.
I had to get up once in the night to use the bathroom. I forgot my glasses, and am practically blind without them. On my way back I saw a fuzzy white shape lumbering towards me. At first I thought it was a skunk so I backed away and shined my flashlight at it. It kept coming at me and I backed up until I was back at the bathroom. The light from the bathroom lit it up more and I realized it was a armadillo. I guess they are pretty blind, or fearless, because it was not going to relent the path to me. I got up to it as close as I could to check it out. I have no idea about their nature so I didn’t mess with it too much and then went back to camp.
I got up early to go kayaking. It was already pretty hot so I only ended up going 2 miles up river.
When the 72 degree water mixes with the 90 degree humid air, fog forms.
The river itself wasn’t that interesting other than some huge eagles and buzzards that had about 6 foot wingspans.
There were also 4 to 5 foot sturgeons jumping out of the water and smacking sideways when they landed. I never saw one jump but kept turning my head when I would hear the enormous splash. A smaller fish jumped about 8 feet over my kayak and I did see him fortunately.
When I got back to the convergence of the spring and the river I realized how dark the river water was compared to the spring water.
As I was circling the converging water I noticed some eyes popping out of the water. It was the first gator I’ve seen in Florida. He looked about 4 feet from nose to trail.
I kayaked back into the spring and spent the rest of my time snorkeling.
Overall this this trip was emotionally positive. It proved to me that I can have a good weekend without over-planning. I was feeling especially grateful for being able to travel freely within the invisible boundaries of my own country, since I did spend a large part of my time reading about a North Korean gulag. I did have loneliness sneak up on me at night. I spent my time thinking about what these trips would be like with people I care about. I then felt even lonelier thinking about how difficult it is to have spontaneous trips work out where others join. I started to have some self doubt about taking a longer trip because of this. That and I was being eaten alive by mosquitoes and did not how much of that I could sanely handle on a longer trip. That’s when I remembered that I don’t have to do anything. If I decide that a longer trip is not what I want, then so be it. If I find someone who either wants to take the longer trip with me or not, I am open to the changing desires I feel as a result of this. That helped me find some peace with the feelings I was experiencing and I fell asleep.
I did also want to note that I have a negative reaction to the southern culture. I saw a bumper sticker on a big pickup that said, “Happiness is a north bound Yankee”. He also had a Confederate flag on his truck. I was the only one with a non-south accent and felt pretty intimidated the entire time. I’m not sure if my fear of southerners is justified but I always feel out of place around them. The fear comes from the assumption that they are all religious and bigoted. Being an atheist in a zealous part of the nation keeps me pretty quiet when I am outside of major cities. I don’t even like making eye contact when I am buying food at a supermarket. Also, I feel embarrassed when I have to ask the clerks what they said when I don’t understand them through their thick accents. Not sure how much my fear is justified, but it feels safer to isolate when I am around strangers in the south.
