Holmes Creek Canoe Livery — Attraction in Chipley

This past weekend, some of my friends and family got together to go on a nice canoe trip. When we arrived, it was incredibly disorganized. I went ahead and tried to write it off as trying to get back into the swing of things after being shut down due to the quarantine. But then it took us half an hour just to get signed in, when we were there without anyone else ahead of us. Then it took an extra 45 minutes to get the van to come around to take us upstream. It was a hot, summer day in Florida, so we dipped in the spring to cool off while we waited. When the van got there, we realized that the disorganization wasn't just from the break. It was an older van, with no A/C and windows that only cracked open, not fully opening. With 14 people piled into this closed off van, it got very hot, very quick. Thankfully it was only about a 10-15 minute ride. As they dropped us off, we got all of our gear and waited for the canoes, kayaks, and paddle boards to be unloaded. It took a while longer because that, too, was disorganized. They unloaded the transportation, and left. We didn't receive any direction as to where to go or how to get there. The springs are beautiful, and we did have a lot of fun on the trip. That is, until we got lost, in the middle of nowhere. There were many different branches of stream going off in multiple directions, with no signs or tags telling you which direction to go. We had to turn around multiple times which resulted in us getting very tired and sore. We ended up rowing for an extra three hours than what the normal trail called for, due to lack of communication and direction. We asked multiple different people on the river and they all sent us down a different route. We got separated from one of our canoes, and they made it back first. Thankfully I had cell reception to call her and let her know we were lost and couldn't find our way back. She let some of the employees of the "Livery" know what happened, and they simply laughed. It was getting dark, and we were still on the river. Needless to say, this is one of the worst experiences I have ever had, and I will never go back. If you want to take canoes/kayaks down a spring, by all means go to any other location...

My family drove from Louisiana to come experience the hidden treasure known as Cypress Springs. We used Holmes Creek Canoe Livery to get there by renting kayaks. We had the time of our life! The staff at Holmes Creek was super nice and friendly.

Some tips for anyone deciding to go: The trip back kayaking to Holmes Creek Canoe Livery is about and hour and a half in a kayak. Keep that in mind. It’s quicker to get there when they drop you off then the journey back. Save some of your energy if you’re in a kayak! BUT it was the most quiet and peaceful experience because there weren’t many people behind or in front of us. Pure nature and her beautiful peaceful noises.

The water is freezing at the spring. BUT if you get in the water shoulders deep, you’ll adjust. It won’t get better until you do so.

We didn’t have little kids but at the end of the trip when you come back, you unload at the Holmes Creek water park. It looked like a lot of fun! I wish my daughter was young enough so I had excuse to go down the water slide!

Overall trip, it was worth doing and using Holmes Creek Canoe Livery just made it an amazing adventure for us.

PS: We didn’t have a fancy waterproof GoPro. I ordered us waterproof phone holders with a neck cord from Amazon. Tested it before we left for our trip and it worked beautifully. No water got in and I was able to take videosThank and pictures! Just a tip if you don’t live...

They dropped us off on a piece of county land where it's illegal to camp (this information is only available on a sign once you show up). They reassured us it was OK to camp there since a campground down the road was closed. It was sketchy, but we really didn't have anywhere else we could go now that we'd already come all this way, so we took the risk and set up camp. A cop gave us a ticket for camping there and said that they regularly have this problem with Holmes Creek Canoe Livery customers. The cop even made us pour out our beer since we were on county land instead of a private campground that we thought we'd be on and therefore were not allowed to have it. After we returned, the canoe livery admitted they repeatedly have customers with this problem, but refused to accept responsibility for it and did not give any compensation for the large fines the police gave us. Legally, it's fair enough that we broke the law and have to pay the fine, but it is a shame that they put people in a situation where they can't go on with their camping trip without breaking the law and can't leave without wasting the money they spent on renting kayaks, and they take no responsibility for the situation they...