Another look at Aripeka Florida

From a earlier post
Aripeka is on the west coast of Florida about five miles from my home in Spring Hill. This very small town on the gulf has been all but hidden for so many years. unfortunately...It has just been announced that they will now build some two hundred homes in Aripeka. Its one of the last best kept secrets that is no longer a secret.

Another look at Aripeka Florida

Last Saturday I posted about kayaking off of Aripeka Florida....Sense then I have made a number of great trips...Sundays it was a solo paddle out to the gulf @ Hernando Beach...What a trip that was!!! More about that later in this blog.

Tuesday I made a return trip to Weeki Wachee river and springs to take friends from Tampa down that river...Four of us had paddled there a week before and I looked forward to making that kayak trip again... The Weeki Wachee river is listed as one of the best rivers to take by canoe or kayak here in Florida...The best part of it is its only about seven or eight miles away from my home here in Spring Hill...My friends did love the river and said they are looking on returning.

Yesterday...Friday was In the low 80°s so I decided to head back to the bridge in Aripeka to do yet some more kayaking.....Out to the gulf is just about ten minuets from the bridge....Again today the wind and surf was a bit rough but I still wanted to kayak....Staying close to the shore line made for a much safer trip....Made it to point two to the south...Natures coast here in Florida is much different than most places on the coast of Florida... Anywhere else you would see homes, high rise condos, and hotels...but not here...If you kayak out any distance in the gulf in whats called natures coast you will note by looking back to the shore that its lined with nothing but pines and palm trees...The shore also has large areas of tall grass that's called the flats because it is all the same hight and it seems to just go on forever...At low tide only...off the coast of Aripeka you can find very small sandy areas of beach just large enough to ground the kayak and spend some time playing in the gulf.

Note.....At any time while looking at these pictures please feel free to click on the photo to see a lagrer image.

Photo one shows my boat at one of the small sandy areas... Having spent about three hours on the gulf I began making my way back to the main channel that leads back to shore and the bridge....As I reached the channel... rather than head back to the bridge...a small island about a half mile of shore caught my eye.....Photo two...Is not all that impressive of a picture but it shows the islands I can see off the coast.....On the left side of the photo is a larger Island perhaps about a mile and a half to two miles out...The smaller island in the center of the photo is the one that's grabbed my attention.....The wind at this time had died down and as I looked out on the gulf I thought that small island would make for a great back drop for a sunset photo....Picture three shows me looking out towards the island...Note that my shaved head is covered with a green shirt to protect it from the scorcing sun...Looking like a cross between Peter O'Toole as T.E. Lawrence in "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962) or actress Lilia Skala as Mother Superior Maria in the movie "Lilies of the Field" (1963)...Boy!!!...Now thats vintage.

About twenty minuets of paddling and the island is mine...Ones around it and I pull my boat on the island and set up for my sunset short. About a half hour and the sun settled in the west and It was ones again time for me to make my mad dash for land. I took many photos of the island sunset the last picture is one of them.

...............Gator Ron

P.S. Early in this post It had been mentioned that last Sunday I had kayaked to the gulf @ Hernando Beach...In my next post...will tell you about this very interesting place....Perhaps It should called..."Bare ass on Hernando Beach"

SORRY NO PHOTOS OF THAT ONE