Manatee Springs SP - Chiefland, Fl (Mar 30-Apr 3)

We arrived here safely amidst rain and a tornado watch. We had stopped at a BubbaQ restaurant in Chiefland just as the skies opened up. The lady in the restaurant told us a tornado had just touched down and was headed our way. Thankfully that proved incorrect. We have little signal here, so updates may not always happen. We have a weather radio, and will keep updated. All is quiet for now.

Thursday - All quiet thru the nite. We are currently under a tornado watch, so we are keeping up with the alerts. It looks like we will not venture far today. We will also need to check on the sturgeon that come into the Suwannee River from the gulf this time of year and think it's fun to jump out of the water and scare boaters. We wouldn't want a 200 pound fish to try to get in the kayaks with us. We are not seeing fish in the springs, which is highly unusual, since they usually look like an aquarium. Regardless, we decided to go down to the dock and throw in for awhile. John caught the only fish, a small bream.

Thoughts on the campground: The sites are nice and large, level, and well separated for the most part. They are dirt/sand, so things get dirty, especially when it rains. The roads are narrow and have low spots that collect water. There are deer that roam the campground, which are fun to watch, even though some people insist on feeding them. It is very wooded, with many mature oaks, and we have enjoyed watching woodpeckers and hearing owls in the night. The springs are beautiful, with a nice boardwalk along them and out to the Suwannee River.

Friday - We found a great spot today to launch the kayaks, although it was too windy today to do so. It is about 37 miles from here and called Shell Mound. There is a boat launch, fishing pier, hiking trails, and a potty. There were two ladies fishing from the pier and one of them caught a couple of small trout, so we decided to don the waders and try around shore for awhile. We saw action around us, but did not get a bite. There is also a nice family campground run by the county here that would cost us $15 a nite. It is cooler today, but as said, very windy.

Saturday - We decided not to drive the 37 miles to the coast again today, but to stay close and do some needed cleaning after the rain earlier. We also caught up on our reading and John tied some flies. It was a beautiful day and very pleasant sitting outside.
We also enjoyed talking to members of a research group who study turtles. There was an instructor and many young people who were snorkeling and catching them and putting them into a canoe to be measured, marked, and released later. They also agreed there were no fish, but did not know why.

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