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| Arrival at Ginnie Springs! |
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| Three Aussie friends at the Dive Shop |
Gennie Springs is a camping resort just east of Gainesville on the Santa Fe River. It is world renown for its many crystal clear springs. Divers from everywhere come to explore the many caves in the area. We however, were looking forward to floating down the river on our tubes.We walked into the reception area to get our camping site. The room looked like a dive shop with everything needed for underwater diving. At the desk we struck a conversation with some mates from Australia. They were young ski instructors who just finished a winter at Whistler. They bought an old beat up motor home and traveled east to the coast and down to Florida. This was almost the opposite of our travel plan. Jake and his mates were going to have lunch and do the float after their long ride from Georgia. We told them we would look for them on the river.
We hurried to our campsite and set up our tent in record time, found our Mud Splatter Inner Tubes and headed to the air station. It was a short walk to the first spring and a cool and refreshing 75 degrees. Everyone at the dock said it would warm up to 80 degrees when we rounded the bend of the river and sure enough it was like a warm spring as we were lazily carried by the current. Along the way we encountered many a flotilla of rafts as they floated meandering under lichen waving branches and around sunning turtles sitting on outcrops of old logs. John floated near the shore at the edge of the river when a lady yelled, "Hey, Bud, stay away from the shore unless you want to get bit by the water moccasin snakes!" John did not need to be told twice as he paddled furiously with booties and flipper arms back to the center of the river. Annie Andrews was sitting in her row boat anchored in the middle of the river watching out for her husband who was scuba diving for valuable items left by the hoards of drunk people who had floated during the Memorial Day weekend. So far he had found Oakley sun glasses and a diamond ring.We struck a conversation and she said she wanted to keep track of our adventure, so we added her to our blog list. We floated past her and rounded the corner and noticed a large sign indicating 300 ft. for the tube exit. We continued floating by many campsites along the river, and soon two foot ball fields later saw a sign,100 ft to the exit. We certainly did not want to miss this one as was cautioned by the lady we left telling us that, "You'll get your butt kicked by the rapids down river if you miss the last EXIT!" We continued another football field distance and noticed the huge sign saying,"EXIT HERE!'
We exited the river and walked a mile and a half back to our campsite. By the time we got back, we built up an appetite. We showered up and dressed to go into town. The cute girl at the "dive shop" said her favorite place was the sports bar in Alachua but she said there was a pricey restaurant in the city of High Springs that we might try. So we went to the Great Outdoors Restaurant on Main Street. We settled for Mahi Mahi on a bed of wild lettuce and Israeli Couscous, and a glass of Pinot Giorgio from Northern Italy. As we waited for our meal we struck a conversation with Mike and Beth from Alabama who were in town to do cave diving. Mike was a master welder for specialized projects all over the world. Beth is a math teacher with a masters degree who was frustrated by public education and has chosen to teach at a small Christian school. She seems to love teaching and working with kids...Hooray!
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