Silver River/Silver Springs - Mar. 8, 2009
Silver River - What a beautiful day to be out paddling. We put in at Ray Wayside Park (cost $5 to park and launch). We took off around 10am and traveled down the canal and hung a right. As soon as we started upstream the 
Silver river we felt the current which was pretty strong. But after about a mile and a half we forgot all about the current when we came upon the cute monkeys. We pulled into some lilypads and watched them play and show off for us. We then went on paddling upstream and came upon many types of birds and of course many alligator
s either sunning on logs or on patches of plants. We kept paddling to the end and enjoyed the sites of Silver Springs. The water was really clear and looking over the boat we could see all the way to the bottom and see the fish and turtles swimming a
round. We pulled to a small cove and ate our lunch before paddling back. The way back was relaxing and easy since we were going downstream. We were warned by fellow canoeists that there was a gator to our right and it was a big one, about an 8 to 10 footer only about an oar length from our yak. We did see his eyes looking around so he must have been looking at us when we were looking at him. We passed by the monkeys again and snapped a few pictures as they posed and we pulled out of the water around 4pm. A great place to paddle and we definetly will go back.
Silver river we felt the current which was pretty strong. But after about a mile and a half we forgot all about the current when we came upon the cute monkeys. We pulled into some lilypads and watched them play and show off for us. We then went on paddling upstream and came upon many types of birds and of course many alligator
s either sunning on logs or on patches of plants. We kept paddling to the end and enjoyed the sites of Silver Springs. The water was really clear and looking over the boat we could see all the way to the bottom and see the fish and turtles swimming a
round. We pulled to a small cove and ate our lunch before paddling back. The way back was relaxing and easy since we were going downstream. We were warned by fellow canoeists that there was a gator to our right and it was a big one, about an 8 to 10 footer only about an oar length from our yak. We did see his eyes looking around so he must have been looking at us when we were looking at him. We passed by the monkeys again and snapped a few pictures as they posed and we pulled out of the water around 4pm. A great place to paddle and we definetly will go back.
