The two of us put in our Old Town 14 ft. Guide at the Bellville Landing in N. Florida at 9:20 a.m. on March 31. It was a smooth start and we were surrounded by spring greenery. The waterway was clean of litter, unlike the Georgia landing at Knights Ferry. It was smooth and relaxed until we came to our first shoal. Being novices we took the canoe out of the water and ported it around. Also, we did the same on the second shoal we came upon.
We used one of the stops to enjoy our "Hot an Spicy" vienna sausages, stale triskets, and fizzy water with lemon and ice. Later, as we approached another shoal we pulled in and observed boaters that seemed to be in trouble on the shoals. We walked down to see if we could help and they had made it through and were ready to move on. They were loaded down, traveling with a canoe, packed kayak, a dog, and three men. There was no way they could port around a shoal. It did make us realize we did not have to port and could wade through the shallows with the canoe. we came upon at least two more shoals and waded through with little trouble. We had a couple of good rides through some small shoals that had a deeper channel.
The egrets and kingfishers were plentiful and fish were jumping a foot in the air as we moved along. The river was uninhabited all along the first half of the trip, but as we got closer to Blue Springs the cabins, campers, and trailers began to appear. Real estate signs, Confederate flags, and weakly built piers became the norm. As we approached the high bridge we heard the voices coming from the Springs and knew we were there. We put in around 4:00 p.m. in the Springs after a seven hour ride over a twelve mile stretch of river. Our ride back home arrived shortly and since here is no ramp at Blue Springs we had to carry the canoe up the steps to the parking lot. It was a good ride overall. Our next trip will be to tackle the stretch from Knights Ferry to Bellville.
