Kayaking At Riverbend

For all my new couples or single people, if you ever want to really get to know someone or test your relationship, go kayaking together, up a windy stream with a strong current. If you manage to not drown each other, your relationship is golden. 

That’s exactly what we did this weekend, and as you can tell, neither of us drown {even though there were talks of throwing the other person in the gator infested waters a time or two}. 

The first part of our 4 hour trip was easy! The 8 of us floated down stream. Some parts were complicated with the narrow, sharp, turns, but nothing crazy. River bend isn’t a lazy river by any means. I couldn’t even drink my beer because we were consistently have to maneuver around logs, turns or roots. My arms started burning on the way down, so I knew going back was going to be hell. 

We stopped 2/3 of the way down for snacks, drinks, and lunch. I was so impressed with the food section on our trip. We had cheese and crackers, assorted meats, hummus, and curry chicken salad. And of course we had some really good homebrew and other craft beer assortments. Sweetwater IPA in a can! Yeah! 

We hung out on the bank for a while before make our way to the turn around. 

We seen an alligator along the way. All the times we’ve been to River Bend looking for alligators, this was our first time actually seeing one.

We made it to the second dam, and immediately turned around to head back. The current was strong, but the real problem came when going around the bends in the river. We seen multiple couples, in kayaks, having troubles and getting really frustrated with each other. 

I wasn’t able to paddle, through the turns, by myself. Huck would stop paddling or try to turn us in the right direction while I was paddling, and we wouldn’t move anywhere. I blame it on the fact all the weight was in the back and middle of the kayak… 

I was so happy to make it back, and I’m 100% sure we burned every calorie we consumed from the fried chicken! 

Kayaking is fun and we both enjoy it, but kayaking at Riverbend… Not so much. I think we both agree, lazy rivers or wider streams are way better, like Itchetucknee! Or one way trips, and the one way being down streams, are the only way to go!