Kayaking the Crystal Clear Rainbow River - Dunnellon, Florida

(Dunnellon, FL) 82 degrees, clear blue skies

It was a glorious day today as we kayaked  the spectacular Rainbow River.  The weather was perfect and so was this river.  This crystal clear river forms itself from numerous springs that gush about 400,000 gallons of water a day.  The springs come from several vents along the first mile of trip (head springs ).  The water  is a constant 72 degrees and the clarity is spectacular. 

There are several ways you can kayak this river.  We decided to use a livery today so we would not have to paddle upstream very much.  We are still recovering from the Silver River a couple of days ago. :)   We stopped at Rainbow River Canoe and Kayak and inflated our kayak.   We were then transported  by van to K.P. Hole County Park.  You pay a $3 fee to launch your kayak or canoe from there.  Our livery fee was $15.  We will end our trip today at the office  where our car is parked.  Nice!

We  slowly went upstream about one mile to the head waters and Rainbow River State Park.  It was so beautiful. 

We saw lots of scuba divers.  There are caves and springs that can be viewed for the adventurous and several of the divers told us they  were really enjoying their dive.   



Scuba Divers



For some reason the owner of the kayak livery thought we would not be able to go very far in our inflatable kayak  to the head springs.  We thought it was really easy.  Must have been all our experience and new muscles from the Silver River.  

We are enjoying our SeaEagle more and more each time and are certainly feeling more comfortable in it.  Our paddling is much more coordinated.  Lots of people asked us about the kayak.  We probably could have sold several. 

There are a lot of houses along the shore. We heard it is very expensive real estate. There are not many places where you could jump off your peer and be in water like this.

If you look carefully you can see one of the caves or vents

Vent

At the top of the head springs is the Rainbow River State Park.  There are some nice trails and camping at this park.  You can also launch your boat or rent them from here. Below is a picture of the swimming beach. 



Rainbow River State Park - Swimming Area

After you reach the State Park you just have to turn around and basically float the rest of the way down the river.  It is about a 7.5 mile paddle.  We saw some wildlife and birds but certainly not as much as we saw on the Silver River.  This is most likely due to all the houses.  We did not miss the alligators although they still are present!  For the next three hours we  just took our lazy time floating down the river and feeling very grateful.  All our hard work getting ready to full time really has paid off.  Life is good.



Turtle and Blue Heron



Family Fun

 

We noticed that some of the trees are starting to flower and leaf out.  Spring is in the air.  Eventually the Rainbow River combines with the Withlacoochee River. At that point the color of the water dramatically changes and becomes the color of tea.  Can you tell the difference?



Withlacoochee River.

 We traveled about 1/4 mile down this river to the dock.  It was a delightful paddle and one we will always remember. 

Tomorrow we leave this area and travel to Eustis. Our NOMADS project starts on Monday and will last for three weeks.  This is our first project and we are really looking forward to it.  Check back and see how well I can do with a hammer and some power tools. :)