Day 10 - Chassahowitzka River, FL

We left Sanibel Island this morning and headed towards Tampa to meet up with Marina and Cat. We were a little late setting off as it had rained the night before and we wanted to try to dry out the tent as much as we could before we packed it away, so we ended up sticking to the interstate all the way to Ruskin where we met up in a restaurant called Ybor Grill.

It was fantastic to catch up with Marina after such a long time and to finally meet her really cute daughter Cat. We had a lovely meal in Ybor Grill, the paella was really tasty and we all shared a flan for desert. Marina has also given us some excellent tips for Raleigh and Seattle and Cat taught us that eating a lemon isn't so bad once you're over the initially shock, we all tried it.

We then had to say goodbye as we needed to continue north towards Chassahowitzka River. We reached the campground around 2pm and quickly pitched the tent in a dense forest campsite. Our pitch was right at the back and we were the only ones in the camping area. It sounded like a jungle outside, even during the night we heard little animals rustling nearby. We were so far away from the rest of the campsite where the RVs were that we needed to drive to get to the bathrooms.

With the tent up, it was time to explore! We headed to the campground store where we rented a kayak and headed off down the river. It was amazing! First we headed to an area called Seven Springs where there are 7 natural springs in the river. The water was crystal clear due to these springs and when you looked over the boat whilst on top of them, you can see the caves where the water was coming from and all the pretty blues and greens around it.

We then went to the other end of the river where we met a Manatee called Rachel who swam right underneath the boat and then popped up to say hello. We found out after that Rachel was a rescue manatee who had been injured by a boat and had been looked after by the local wildlife preserve. She was now fully back to health but enjoys spending time on the Chassahowitzka river right by the campsite. Had we put our hand in the water, she would have rolled over and let us stroke her belly but we didn't know this until we returned to shore.

Sharing a kayak was a lot of fun although a bit like the tent, we had to work together and to start with, we weren't very good at this. Lee was the 'power motor', he drove the oars as hard as he could regardless of the direction! I was supposed to be steering but the power motor was too powerful and we ended up in the trees! In the end, I found it easier to sit back and give orders on what side to row. It worked perfectly until Lee noticed I wasn't doing any of the work! We had a lot of fun and laughed the whole time.

In the evening, Chef Lee prepared sausages and cowboy beans (out of a tin) on the gas stove. It was really yummy and exactly what was needed after the boat trip. We had to head out to the local store to grab the food and on the way, we saw a bar offering $1 beers so thought we'd stop in and have one as it was such a hot day (any excuse!). The bar was exactly the sort of bar we'd hoped to see out of the big cities - everyone looks at you as you walk in, it has the grimy look and the smell of sweaty ashtrays. We loved it..... but only for one drink!

Here is a video of our day, sorry the video quality of the boat isn't great, Lee didn't trust me in a boat with the camera so we took the iPhone instead. I don't know where this mistrust comes from, I didn't cause us to fall out the boat once although there was a moment when I panicked due to a dragon fly landing on me and nearly jumped into the water, iPhone in hand!