Wekiva Falls to Little Wekiva - April 26, 2015

WEKIVA FALLS TO 

LITTLE WEKIVA RIVER

 April 25, 2015

 

On this day we decided to do a “local” paddle and explore Wekiva from Wekiva Falls to the Little Wekiva. We arrived about mid morning and paddled out to the river. It was a beautiful morning – not too sunny and not too hot. As we left Wekiva Falls and began to turn right onto the Wekiva, a baby alligator successfully blended in with the water and duckweed surrounding it.  The only troublesome thing was that it did not try to swim away or go underwater as I paddled near it – not very good survival skills. 

 We passed a great blue heron grabbing a snack of a mussel shell.

As we continued on our way, we enjoyed the shade the mighty oak trees provided until a wide open space would appear once again. I noticed a white blooming flower along the banks – in fact, there were many white blooming flowers that could be seen. They turned out to be Mangrove Spiderlilys. Apparently they are fragrant tubular flowers that have six distinctive ribbon-like petals that dangle like the legs of a spider, hence the name. I had NO idea they were fragrant. If they are still blooming the next time I paddle, I will definitely want to check out what they smell like!

 The turtles, big and small, were out in full force. Some must have just climbed onto their perch to dry and others appeared to be long dry and enjoying the sunrays.

This little guy is known as a Gray Catbird. It’s a shy songbird in the family of mockingbirds. This bird winters in Florida and only a small number remain year round. It mimics other bird songs, frog calls and sometimes even mechanical noises!

Many birds were seen along this trip, including Little Blue Herons, Great Blue Herons, Black Crowned Night Heron, Great Egret, Ibis, osprey and Limpkins. Fun fact about Limpkins: Their calls have been used  for jungle sound effects in Tarzan  films and for the hippogriff in the film “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.”

We turned to paddle into the opening for the Little Wekiva and were met by some people fishing in their boat. We eventually paddled past the house of the namesake behind Katie’s Landing State Park. Once we got to this point, the river became more narrow, but twisty and the water more shallow and clear. For a moment, it felt like I was paddling Juniper Springs. The waterway was shaded with tree cover. The land along this section was privately owned and big houses backed up to the water. But….then the houses disappeared and you felt like you were in paradise.

We stopped along a sandbar to have lunch and I almost stepped on this snake. I don’t know if it’s poisonous or not, but it didn’t bother us and we decided it was a good time to resume paddling! 

Back upstream we went in search of a launch spot for a future paddle. No such luck. The end of the road for us was actually a very low bridge that would have been difficult to get under and was, ofcourse, surrounded by private property on either side. While this is a beautiful paddle, it as all upstream and can be a bit of a workout navigating the current. If we could have found a launch that would have allowed us to paddle all downstream, this would truly be a paradise paddle.

As we made our way back to Wekiva Falls, we passed a few large alligators leisurely floating in the water, or sunning themselves on a tree trunk.

 

We also caught sight of two deer grazing in someone’s backyard and we quietly stopped to watch them.

 My paddle partner crooned Frank Sinatra songs along the way (he’s very entertaining!!!). We also paddled by a kayak blogger – Dave from Dave’s Yak Tales. He seemed to be enjoying his time on the water and all the wildlife surrounding us. 

 

The water looked an amazing bluish green as we paddled closer to the spring at Wekiva Falls –and the sun wasn’t even shining on it! We paddled 16.4 miles of one of Florida’s amazing waterways!

What an extraordinary day we had and can’t wait until the next trip!