We arrived in Weeki Wachee on Saturday afternoon and after a bit of confusion and backtracking (I'd brought the wrong set of Google Map directions), we found our rental house at the end of an unpaved road, just as we'd been told. The house is charming and the location--well, see for yourselves. This is a photo of our back deck overlooking the Weeki Wachee River. There were lots of kayakers on the river on this balmy day, and the spring-fed water is crystal-clear at 72 degrees. The current propels one downstream at 6 MPH, making it difficult to swim upstream, as we found out. Herb and I went in for a dip and found ourselves drifting downstream at such a rapid rate that we finally latched onto one of our neighbors' docks a few houses down and had to walk across their yard and onto the road to get back to our house.
I've been painting and sketching every day, though I haven't come up with anything I like so far. The water is such a startling blue-green color, and the eddies bubble and sparkle in the sunlight, it's hard to mix the right colors for a convincing effect.
Yesterday, we finally got out the two kayaks that were in the garage and paddled upstream through the wildlife preserve for about two hours as the river meanders towards its source from the incredible Weeki Wachee Spring. We estimated we covered about four to five miles or so, and it was quite a workout, but the scenery was worth the effort. We encountered a manatee along the way, lazily browsing along the bank, and numerous birds: herons and a hawk perched on a branch overhead. The afternoon was magic--better than any Disney jungle safari. On the way back we drifted downstream at such a speed it was hard to control our kayaks. It took only about a thirty-five to forty minutes to cover the ground we'd paddled upstream so laboriously.
