FINALLY Paddling on the Silver River Part I

January 22 – 24, 2026                                                 Previous Posts:
Silver Springs State Park                          Silver Springs – Too Cold to Kayak
site #21                                                Back to Where It’s Warmer: 2026 Begins
Silver Springs Florida

Thursday January 22nd

Finally on Thursday  I was able to get out on the river.  In order to launch you have to have wheels for your kayak or someone to help you carry it the 1 mile to the launch.  I’m thrilled that the campground doesn’t rent kayaks anymore, they are only rented at the headspring now by an “outfitter”.  But the rack that used to hold the kayaks the campground rented is still near the launch so they allow you to lock your kayak up there rather than have to bring it down and take it back each time.  A total of 2 miles.  Or drive up to the headsprings and pay to launch up there.  Hat’s off to the manager of Silver Springs Campground.

Pulling it the mile DOWN to the river is not a problem if you first get it well balanced on the wheels.  If it isn’t balanced, it’s quite heavy and awkward to pull.  Still not a big problem going down to the the river but coming back up it is a bear.   Think about pulling 55 pounds up hill.   This, like so many other things, was not a problem when David and I could do it together.   It’s very tricky to do it alone.

Once it’s down there I can leave it locked up and go out every day which is exactly what I did once it got warm enough and wasn’t raining.

You can’t really tell from the launch but this is the lowest I’ve ever seen the Silver River.  The water is usually up to the top or over the top of the ramp but not this year which makes launching and especially getting out of the kayak much trickier.  A ranger I met on my way down said that the Spring has been degraded from the world’s larges flow to the 3rd largest due to all the development locally and the drought.  Too many straws dipping into the aquifer.  No one is at all concerned apparently as building permits continue on.  When will we admit we cannot keep allowing this uncontrolled cancerous growth.  You cannot drink or eat money.   End of rant.

Every day I saw manatee.  This one is sliding under my kayak on the left.  I’m sitting in the kayak taking this picture off to my left.  Beyond the manatee is the clear water and sand on the bottom.   This is a huge manatee.  Much wider than my boat.

Yes this is a line of turtles with a gator hugging one of them.  Gators do eat turtles but I didn’t stay around to see if that happened.

Two gators, a group of turtles and an anhinga.  Not sure why nobody seems terrified.

Handsome Mr Wood Duck giving me the eye.

And Mrs Wood Duck.  I think they are both gorgeous.

Little Blue Heron staring intently.

I love the cypress roots along the river bank but hate seeing the water so low that they are exposed so much.  If you look closely you can see the water lines on the trees.   The river appears to be four or more feet low.

Notice the hook on the Double Breasted Cormorant’s upper bill.    Here he has his mouth open to regulate his temperature.  If this were a video you could see the orange sides going in and out as he does something that looks like panting.

If you’ve ever heard a scream that sounds like someone being attacked, you may be hearing the call of a Limpkin.

An anhinga drying his wings on this giant cypress.   I took this video of another one sort of flapping his wings to get them dry.  I’d never been able to get this before.

Not sure if the Snowy Egret and the Little Blue Heron are pals or competitors.  Later on I watched a Snowy feeding for quite some time.  I find this fascinating.  Here is a video of it.  

Friday January 23rd

Friday January 23rd was my second day on the river in a row.  This is how I like it, several hours on the river every day.  I’m thrilled it’s not too cold.  I won’t repeat pictures of animals I’ve shown before unless it’s something different or interesting.

A tri-colored heron.   Notice the white stripe running down the under side of his neck.

This anhinga caught a fish that would look way too big for him to just swallow.  They don’t chew you know.

I don’t know my fish so I have no idea what this was but this video will show the fish more closely and hopefully someone can id it.   In this video it looks like he had the fish stuck on his bill and sure enough when I turned off the recording he threw it up in the air and down his throat it went.  I couldn’t get set up again in time to catch that which is what I’d been waiting for when the filming just seemed too long..   As you can see in the video, holding a camera still on a moving river is problematic.

Two manatee going down the river with me.

I would not recommend this going down a river with alligators  but a lot of people do it.

Silver Springs is famous for its glass bottomed boats.  They have been here since 1878 when Hullam Jones and Phillip Morrell created the original boat which was a modified rowboat with a pane of glass installed in the bottom, allowing tourists to view the springs' underwater life.   In the 1930’s larger motorized wooden boats were used and in the 1950’s the current aluminum boats replaced them.  Some of those 1950 boats are still in use.  I went on one in the mid 50’s.  Wish I could remember its name to see if it’s still being used.

The Green Heron is a favorite of mine.  Look closely at the art work on his wings.

I was pretty shocked that I could get this picture of the hyperactive kingfisher.  He zips back and forth across the river and seldom stays still long enough to even get him in your sights.

Doesn’t he look like he’s hugging some giant fish??   

A different gator swam down the river with me for quite a distance.   Here’s a video of how close he was and how fast he was going.   Sorry for the river rocking the camera some.  Zooming is a real trick on a moving river.  One I clearly haven’t mastered.

I prefer going out on the river first thing in the morning.  Lately it’s been too cold in the early morning, though it warms up enough to get out in the mid  afternoon.  BUT mid afternoon means a lot of people stop to have lunch at the campground ramp on their way down the river from the headspring.  

The only nice thing about all these people was that someone helped me get the kayak up on the ramp which is hard with the water so low.   I was taking this shot into the sun as I approached the ramp so it’s a bit difficult to see there are boats everywhere!

SATURDAY January 24th

Saturday is a day I almost never go paddling because of the crowds but since I’d missed out on an entire week I did go for my 3rd day in a row.  

This is the school dock which you saw from the land side at the end of the Swamp Trail in my previous blog.   It really looks like a jungle from the water.

I saw manatee every day and Day 3 on the water was no different.  Hope you can see both the ones in this photograph.  The reflection of the trees on the banks makes it difficult.

Look closely to see this juvenile alligator sitting on the fallen tree.  Compare his size to the gator hugging “the giant fish” a few photos above.

His coloring is very different from his parents.  They don’t turn solid gray until they are approximately 5 years old.

If he hadn’t been hammering away, I would never have seen this yellow bellied sapsucker on the cypress.

I was happily on the river two more days but I fear I may have made your eyes glaze over with so many photos of my delightful hours.   So I’ll leave the last two river days for my next post which will finish out January.