Kayaking the Little Manatee River

On one day during the time she was camping with me Becky the Camping Buddy and I visited the friendly guys at the Canoe Outpost on the Little Manatee River near Arcadia, FL.  Our intent was to kayak down the Little Manatee and Canoe Outpost offers two different kayak packages.  We opted for the longer (approximately 9 miles) package which included a pickup service at the end of the trip.

Due to rains the Little Manatee was just under flood stage.

The little Manatee tended to be 50 to 75 feet wide along most of it's twisting path during the 9 miles we followed.  There was plenty of wildlife to observe although we didn't see any manatee.

Momma and baby turtle near the bank of the Little Manatee.

The river's current moved us along at a moderate pace and there were only one or two spots along the route where trees had fallen across a portion of the Little Manatee leaving a narrow path to navigate through that presented much trouble.

And I finished the run DRY!

The views along the kayak run were pretty spectacular with huge moss covered trees predominating.

Spanish moss covered tree along the river.

It took us a little over three hours to complete the circuit and the Canoe Outpost guys showed up right on time to take us back to the Tank, parked in their parking area.  Cost of the run was $34 per person.  Even if you've not done much kayaking I'd recommend the Canoe Outpost kayak run, it's a blast and really not very demanding.   Here's their website:  Canoe Outpost .

Thanks for reading!