Alligators & Monkeys

Canoeing down the Silver River

 Alligator lurking above......

                                         Monkeying around!

Alligators and Monkeys!  Oh my!  For as many times that I have visited Florida in my life, I have never seen an alligator in the wild.  So...I was a little (or a lot) hesitant when Dave suggested we rent a canoe and take a little ride down the Silver River.

The Silver Springs State Park offers rentals at a reasonable rate on site.  It is a good 30 minute walk down a trail to get to the river and they dock an hour from your time.  It's not a bad walk and very pretty.  We were fortunate to experience a beautiful day out on the water in our canoe.  

I was riding the front of the canoe.  Imagine my surprise and horror :-0 when a huge Alligator, slithering through the top of the water, headed towards our canoe.  All I could do, was to hold my breath and sit still as he came right for me and swam under me at the front of the canoe.  I was scared stiff.  I did not move one inch.  It was also a thrill but one that I would prefer not to complete again.

Also, down this beautiful river were several monkeys.  Monkeys? You say.  What?  Are there Monkeys in Florida?  Yep.  There are.  In the 1940s and beyond they made Tarzan movies here.  It looks just like a jungle so makes perfect sense.  The monkeys, they brought in, multiplied and still live there today.  It was amazing seeing them in their natural habitat instead of in a zoo watching them pick at themselves.  

I highly recommend taking this canoe ride down the Silver Springs River which ends at the Silver Springs Resort.