April 27th

After a breakfast of bright orange pancakes and dishwater coffee in Ocala we drove to the Wilderness RV Park Estates to rent our canoe for a day on Silver Springs. The meth head who gave us the canoe told us how she had been up all night frog gigging, and how while her husband caught twenty-eight and one gator, she had caught sixty-four. They had an early morning frog cook-up. Soon enough we were on the Ocklawaha River paddling towards the crystal waters of Silver Spring. The dark Ocklawaha water gave way to the clear spring after about half a mile. We could easily see submerged trees, large, algae eating suckerfish and sandy bottoms. The current was strongly against us and one false paddle pushed us directly off-course. With some error we figured out how to best navigate the swift waters.

Christy could hardly wait to take a dip and did so at the first opportunity, which happened to be a tree platform and a rope swing. A large family of large people had already laid claim to the spot, but they welcomed us, encouraging Christy to climb the rickety wooden strips nailed to a tree and jump off. She did.

As we held the canoe in place on the cypress knees it became obvious that a brown splotchy snake was just inches from my hand. It was coiled in a smallish space atop a flat knee. Also here at the tree were numerous large millipedes. The snake was photographed, the millipede bottled and we moved on once Christy was happy. Many times Christy and others had mentioned to me that the snakes haunt the cypress knees. I doubted it, but after encountering five in such places I am a believer.

Big fish jumped, anhingas and cormorants darted about and we pressed on up river. Often we were joined by large pontoon boats or smaller motorboats navigating the narrow channel. Sometimes other canoes or kayaks would drift past. I imagine on the weekdays the spring is empty of pleasure seekers. Today it was crowded with sightseers including us. However, we utterly failed to see the famous escaped monkey population, which is established on the river shores. Many years ago they escaped from the tacky roadside water attraction in Silver Springs and have since established a breeding population. We did however see numerous birds and even two alligators--a five-foot beauty and a two and a half footer who did not enjoy our attempt to get close and friendly. The weather and company were great. We stopped to eat cold pizza and feed the fish bread. All too soon the day was over and Dana and I headed back to the ACA.

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