Tubing Ichetucknee Springs, Florida

Happy tubers setting up for floating down Ichetucknee

At one of our PGIslander (Boating Club) Dinner for 8 events, Toby & Almut along with Karen & Terry related happy memories about a a bunch of boating friends going tubing.  Before we knew it, Toby organized another trip for 10 of us to north Florida!  

From the website on Ichetucknee State Park:  "Fed by 9 springs, the Ichetucknee River lets you experience the natural beauty of its blue-green waterways...the gentle current of the bright turquoise river guides you on a relaxing retreat through shaded hammocks and forests of cypress, maple, oak and pine...See turtles, otters, deer, birds of prey, wading birds, fish and maybe even manatees and beavers." 

Downtown Micanopy

After a 3-1/2 hour drive up I 75 North, we all made a lunch stop at Micanopy, an historic town that is one of the best preserved examples of Old Florida culture and contains antique shops and cute stores.  From there it was a quick half hour to the Grady House Bed & Breakfast, where we checked into our navy colored room.  We all gathered for Happy Hour and the proprietor treated us to homemade freshly baked warm chocolate chip cookies.  Yum!  We then explored downtown High Springs and had a wonderful dinner that night at the Great Outdoors Restaurant.

Grady House B&B

Next morning after a delicious breakfast of french toast casserole with parfaits, we drove a short distance to the park, rented tubes and jumped into the river.  The current was gentile and we floated together and met groups of teens and summer visitors.  Suddenly, a wall of water, a storm, approached us.  Of course, we were already wet, but some of us got out ponchos and even umbrellas as we watched the world float by and got drenched by warm rain.  We really enjoyed the lily pads, birds and huge cypress trees lining the shores.  After about 4 hours, we reached a pull out area and hiked up to picnic tables.  We had left coolers with sandwich fixings, drinks, chips and cookies.  Boy, that tasted good!  Most the group got back into the water for a few more hours floating to the very end point. Richard and I decided to go back to the B&B, shower and rest up.  

Our happy group gathered again for Happy Hour and then decided on a Chinese restaurant in the area.  We toasted our organizers and agreed this was a great way to cool off in the Florida heat. Check out pictures below!