Hanging Out at Home

Crystal River, Florida

We decided to hang around the house yesterday and get some chores done.

We had bought the Max Air II vent covers for our Fantastic Fans and decided it was finally cool enough for Al to get up on the roof and install them. 

While he did that, I inflated the kayaks.  Since we are right on the water, we decided to take a short paddle later in the afternoon.

Our site is on a canal that leads to Crystal River.  It’s about a 200 yard paddle to the river.  Once you get to the river, you can turn left to get to the Gulf of Mexico (about 5 miles) or right to stay in the river.  It’s quite a distance to the springs from our site.  It wasn’t the nicest paddle we’ve ever had and we decided to cut it short.  We probably won’t launch at the campground again.

We found a couple other places to launch the kayaks that were a little closer to the springs, and clearer water. The closer to the springs, the clearer the water.  We may go there today, depending on how we feel.  Al is stiff and sore from his work on the roof.  He is feeling his age today. 

Last night I woke up cold and aching all over.  I took some aspirin and felt better when I got up, but I’m wondering if I’m trying to get sick.  Not much energy today, so we’ll see how it goes before we decide on our afternoon plans.

Crystal River is a very popular place to dive or snorkel with manatees.  Hundreds of Manatee come into the warm spring waters (72 degrees) in the winter months.  Manatee are mammals and need warmer water to survive.  They start coming back into the springs once the Gulf or Atlantic waters start cooling down.  We’ve been told a few Manatees are already showing up just from the last cold front. 

There is the potential of some tropical formation in the gulf, so we need to get some paddling done while we can…just in case.