Re: Ichtucenee springs/Santa Fe river and a bad video

["Don Matakis" <dmatakis at charter_net>]

>      The Ichtucenee springs were a real treat. Imagine floating down a
plant
> tank tank 6 miles long. That's really about the only way to describe it.
> The spring fed river that flows into the Santa Fe, is crystal clear water
> 72F, no algae, nice white sand, about 1-6ft deep, 6-30 ft wide, lots of
> fish, small turtles, and of course more submersed plants than you could
ever
> see in a tank in one day.
> The park allows folks to take inner tubes down the river and they port you
> back up every hour or so. So you float down this 6+ mile shallow plant
> filled river and enjoy the ride and scenery. Not a bad way to see how many
> of these plants live nor cool off on a hot summer day. No mucky swamp
water.
>
>  Lots of Sags, Vals, Mayaca, Ludwigia, Crinum, Hornwort, Pennywort,
Lizard's
> tail, Lobelia, Micrantherum umbrosum, Salvina here and there, Potamogeton,
> Najas, and I'm missing a few I'm sure.
> The plant beds were pretty dense, nice white sand bottoms, fair amount of
> wood and organic mulm along the edges, good current, 100% water clarity
> contrasted with the Santa Fe river.
I so enjoyed the story about Thomas floating down this river that I found a
link with pictures of it. Here it is.
http://www.dep.state.fl.us/parks/district2/ichetuckneesprings/index.asp Don
M.