Venture Outdoors — Attraction in Orlando

This kayak adventure was a Christmas gift, and I must say we enjoyed it immensely. My wife had never kayaked before, while I had once kayaked several miles of the Marne River in France.

Blackwater Creek gets its name from the color of the water, which looks very much like freshly brewed tea. The creek source is Lake Norris, which is spring fed. However, the abundance of Cypress trees and plant life that comprises the swamp which, where navigable is called Blackwater Creek, gives the creek its name due to the tanin content of the water.

We put the kayaks in the water near the entrance to a county park near Eustis, Florida, and began paddling against a very slight current as we headed upstream toward Lake Norris. It was fairly effortless but, novices that we are we had to learn to work together to steer as we worked our way toward the lake against perhaps a 1 mile per hour current. At 9:00 AM it was still cool so we didn't see any gators on the way to the lake. Once we exited the swamp (Blackwater Creek is really just a channel through a swamp that is perhaps 10 feet wide, with trees and plants all around) and made our way into Lake Norris, we were immediately drenched in sunshine, a balmy breeze and unlimited vistas of Cypress Trees lining the shores of the lake. We explored the shoreline near the creek mouth and after about a half hour headed back to the creek.

It's surprising what a difference paddling downstream is compared to paddling against the current. Because so little paddling is required except to steer, it is incredibly quiet. The temperature had warmed considerably as the sun climbed higher in the sky, and as a result we saw several alligators, a few turtles and far more bird activity than on our way upstream.

Our Tour Guide, Astrid, was a pro. Having abandoned advanced degrees as a software engineer, her motivation is to share the importance of habitat and wildlife preservation as she encourages her kayakers to enjoy the amazing natural beauty of Florida.

This is an excellent and very safe adventure, and Blackwater Creek is quite beautiful. I highly recommend it to people of all ages. We plan to kayak on the Wekiva River to see the...

Our family did the 8pm bioluminescence kayak tour with Nigel, it was a 3 hour round trip from where we were staying at WDW. Nigel was very friendly and helpful as a guide but the bioluminescence was underwhelming to say the least. All we could see were minuscule bits of light, it really just looked like frothy water. Nigel was very enthusiastic but there was nothing much to see. We did a similar tour in Florida a couple of years ago and had an amazing light show and so I guess we were expecting something similar. We did, however, go out in our kayaks for 20 minutes or so while we were waiting for another party to arrive and we were absolutely delighted to find about 4 dolphins swimming quite close to our kayak. There were others in the distance, it was a real treat to see. Nigel said he had heard there were dolphins in the waters but he had never seen them himself. We did see a couple of manatees and had a lovely relaxing paddle. The sunset was beautiful also. It did feel a little unsafe with clip on lights on the front and back kayaker as these moved and went inside people’s lifejackets. I think these would have been better attached to the kayak. Also when heading back to the landing area it was pitch black, a couple of portable battery lights would have made it feel a little safer rather than ‘head for the...

Took a kayak safety course with Astrid and her assistants. There were only 15 people in the class, but three instructors, which made for a good student/teacher ratio. We learned about all kinds of safety and rescue techniques that i was not aware of. We learned how to rescue each other and how to rescue ourselves. She and her assistants made sure everyone understood and practiced every technique. It was very worthwhile and I would recommend it if you do any kayaking.

Update: I got to actually use my skills this week when my friend's (Dave Darsey's) kayak capsized and got pinned by strong current against two trees on the flooded upper Econ River. Barry and I had to move his swamped kayak to a low current area and drain it using the techniques taught in class. It wasn't easy because the kayak weighed a ton with all that water in it. Also, the water was deep everywhere, so you couldn't stand on the bottom. We tried to bring the kayak back to Dave, but couldn't reach him because of the current, so I used the "bear hug" technique I learned in class to carry Dave on my kayak...