King's Landing — Local services in Apopka

We fell on our feet, just! A beautiful June in Florida state, sun shining, daily warmth like no British person has ever felt and not a speck of rain in the sky. This is not Britain, this is the Orange state and a perfect opportunity to go kayaking!!

I wanted to get off the Disney estate and see the backwaters. I wanted to tune into the Emerald Cut, so called for its crystal clear waters and white sand lined bed. I wanted to paddle with Alligators and take in the fauna of genuine Florida. I booked into Kings Landing just north of Orlando and hired us two Kayaks and two paddle boards. The weather though was not looking peachy, in fact on our journey it was fairly overcast at times and in Florida terms… brisk at times (positively cooking in UK terms!)

Upon arrival we parked up on the main road in and wandered down to the main reception hut. I had the tickets embedded in the iPhone wallet, disclaimers in a hand and we donned our waterproof shoes and sun protection (yup still needed it!). Within minutes we were wandering down to the cut and handed the paddles, offered any assistance we needed and helped into or on to our device of choice.

Taking a paddle off down the dank and muddy stream it would easily be asked where the Emerald cut was. It was safe to say it was not where we launched. However, on reaching the end of the short stream we found a junction clearly pointing left to the Emerald cut and right to Rock Springs Run. (Although technically they are both Rock Springs Run and the Emerald cut is just a somewhat more scenic part of it).

Soon the floor becomes pale with the whitening sand and the water shows the clarity it is famous for. The overhanging fauna shows the tropical nature, Florida is made of and the flow of the river works in against your favour as you paddle with relative ease down the halcyon waterways.

Having convinced my family there would be no reptiles (possible lie) I was relieved to find out there was none to be found during our journey down Emerald Cut.

We passed many a riverside abode complete with distinct warnings to “stay out” but all contributed to the charm of the journey. Even the one with a jetty, a magazine of assault bullets and a shooting range complete with cans. However, I get it. I can come to see the beauty. They want to live or relax by it and the two should never mix… it’s a matter of respect.

Some of the river visitors took time out to swim and paddle in the clear waters. Many were to be found in the shaded areas and relaxed tributaries on the many winding turns. The rain didn’t hold off for us and biblical amount of rain fell. The ambient temperature fell a little but this was offset by the effort made in paddling. We didn’t get cold and it didn’t dampen our enjoyment.

On reaching the end of the run it was an obvious halt point. We turned and followed the natural flow back. We passed the same areas we saw coming, encountered the same freezing kayak doggo “enjoying” his day out on the river and headed to the Rock Springs Run to enjoy a different take on the local beauty for the final hour or so left within our hire. We didn’t get far when a Kayaker told us about the Alligators a little further down. My significant other grew muscles and headed back to the entrance way with the youngest in tow. The eldest and I went a huntin’! We found one, about 3 ft long and taking in the now abundant rays. Box ticked, home we went. Happy in sourcing natural predators sharing h20 with Brits on tour!

This was a great way to see a little more natural Florida, leaving the theme parks behind and being at one with all that tropical Florida has to offer. We recommend it heartily. It is possible to book a tour here. They do late night paddles and for those local and have their own equipment… they do that too.

Food is a distance away. Take some snacks if you need to. Maybe in a plastic bag or three and if the worst part of your day is the somewhat lacking facilities, I think you like...

Water is crystal clear, you will see lots of wildlife which is good and bad. On our trip we ran in to alligators, giant Gar fish, otters, huge herons which was awesome! However there are several raccoons that are clearly fed by people which is very dangerous as they absolutely WILL climb into your kayak and try and steal items ( one grabbed my dry box and shoved it in the water). We were at kings landing from 8:30am-12:00pm and the fact that they are out during the day is crazy and shows they have way too much human interaction. Big turn off that they’ve named these wild animals and they are this comfortable with using them as an attraction. These animals carry many Diseases and are supposed to be nocturnal (only out at night) yet once they see you rowing up river several come out on the bank waiting for you to pull up. They also go to the spots where everyone stops to take a break at the end of the spring upriver. So we couldn’t even stop and relax after an hour of paddling upstream as the raccoons were waiting and trying to get over to us. FYI we’re from the country so not our first raccoon but these ones will literally walk right up to you and touch you. This it’s not safe especially when this place is full of small children and families. I get that they are “wild animals” and you can’t just get rid of them however giving them names and not stopping anyone from feeding and trying to get close to them is a major problem. There is videos all over YouTube of people at kings landing trying to touch and play with these wild animals this is unsafe and illegal. (And your guides were present during this so please don’t say “we don’t condone this” because she didn’t care….at all….) Lastly Bring as much bug spray as you can find because trust me you didn’t use enough. We used it and still left with welts and huge rashes from bugs.

Edit: Thank you for the explanation and it does make sense that most people are inconsiderate and rude. If there are some who are breaking the rules, Kings Landing should just make them leave or ban them from coming back, it’s such a beautiful place it’s a shame to let a handful of individuals ruin the experience for everyone else. I have updated my rating as we did have a good time other than the raccoon issues, so I won’t let the one bad thing cloud the whole experience thanks you for...

We LOVED the VIP kayak tour at King's Landing! After checking in at the tour area, we took a 10 minute golf cart ride through the woods to the put-in point where the staff had our kayaks ready for us. The put in point is just near a little swimming area that was gorgeous. Our awesome tour guide, Owen, guided us downstream from there. It was amazing. The kayaks were quite comfortable (my husband has back issues and he was fine.) The scenery is simply gorgeous. You are immediately immersed in the most beautiful, calm and serene place. We could just feel ourselves relax! Only light paddling was required - pretty much only to direct the boats. We saw lots of birds, some turtles and fish in the water. I told Owen how interested I am in butterflies and he showed me a spot where a type of caterpillars were flourishing. Owen knows everything you could ask. He has the BEST way of being available for conversation, but bring the relaxed vibe! Nothing pushy here! When we arrived at the take out point, Owen asked if we wanted to go further down stream (so we'd know that we had to paddle upstream to get back). We opted to do that and were so glad we did. The river downstream from where we were was a it different from the upstream part, and beautiful in its own way. The paddle back was not strenuous for our group (ages 62, 55, 52, 26 and 20.) We took the 3pm tour (ends at 5:30) in mid-March. I forgot to bring bug spray, but there were no bugs at all!!! I was glad I wore a ball cap because some spots are sunny. I cannot wait for more family and friends to visit so I can take them on this tour again. I would do this every day if I could. Our 26 and 20 year old nephews were hesitant to take a kayak tour at all and the absolutely loved this tour. 5 stars,...