Alafia River Canoe Rentals Inc — Local services in Brandon

Ok... Not gonna cut any corners here on my review. This location was a last minute decision for us as we initially were gonna go to Lithia Springs to swim but due to how crowded they were we decided to see about renting a canoe or kayak which led us to here! Our first time canoeing on the river (let that linger for a moment or two to give you some insight on what is about to be shared...).

First and foremost, $25 for an all day canoe rental or $20 for kayak. You CANNOT beat that rate! The young man who got us started was also the young man who came and saved us (or attempted to, I'll explain later) and a very pleasant individual to deal with....

So, with that being said, let me revel you with a story. Please know that this is in no way a negative review or Alafaia River Canoe Rentals, y'all are AWESOME! This was ALL on me/us (depending on who you ask... wife or me).

This joyful voyage on the good ole alafaia started around noonish on a beautiful sunny Saturday where the temps reached a lovely 90° (there is a reason this was mentioned)... We decided to go up river against the current at first as we felt coming back would be much easier, and it was!

We paddled up stream for about 45 mins (or what felt like it) and then decided to turn back and go with the current to take a break from fighting it. This will ne the only smart decision that was made that day on the water...

The ride back with the current was such a relaxing and cooling ride (when the wife wasn't scaring me shittles rocking the boat).

Made it back to the dock in record time and feeling a lot more confident in our rowing abilities and knowing that we already went against the current and it wasn't that bad, gave us a false sense of hope/security/confidence in our canoeing abilities considering we successfully navigated low clearance spots, trees/logs in the water and such. We decided to keep on going (mind you we have already paddled both against the current and back a total of 1.4 miles).

We decided to keep going & thourghly enjoyed ourselves guiding the canoe past the houses & just enjoying the scenery.

Now, up to this point, everything was amazing!!! But, now queue the faster moving water with the current now (we were not told/warned or aware of this)...

Wife makes comment about maybe turning back as the water is moving faster & we are now at almost 3 miles of canoeing. At this point, I'm thinking that she is absolutely right but we are just picking up speed & then directional control is now longer in our favor/contol...

Enter in low hanging tree branches and fast moving water that is now turning our canoe sideways sending us directly into what I can now see a bunch of low branches with spiderwebs everywhere!

Wife is is full on panic mode while we get raked across the chest and back with the branches and spider webs and we slowly tip over and into the river!

Cooler thankfully doesn't fall out and we didn't lose anything but a seat cushion that was able to be rescued.

I fight the current pulling the boat now half filled with water to a large rocky bank that we were thankfully near when we flipped over. 20 mins later after getting all our gear out of the boat and another 5 mins of trying to tip it over to empty it we finally had success.

Only problem now was fighting the current all the way back to the to the starting point...

We made it barely to Lithia Springs dock where we pulled up and attempted to hydrate and get our energy back.

30 mins later we decided to head back out on the water with the hopes of making back before one of us dies...

This lasted for about 10 mins before we had to again pull off due to that 90° heat I mentioned earlier and also the fact that are both severely out of shape and obviously have no common sense when it comes to outside adventures.

What transpired for the rest of our voyage consisted of me stopping and falling out on a tied up paddle board where I proceeded to throw up for about a half dozen times and the wife calling the people at the canoe rental to come save us! 5.18 miles...

This place is great! $25 gets you a canoe that can fit three adults or two adults and two children. Also included is a life jacket, a seat cushion and a paddle for each person!

And let me tell you about the lady that runs it! She is definitely somewhere in her 70s/80s but she sure doesn't show it! She will write up your ticket, give you your life jackets and paddles then she will get down to the dock (which includes going down steep steps). She will then pull the canoe out of the water, clean it with a hose and a towel, get it back in the water as well as hold it for you to get in! ALL BY HERSELF. This lady is awesome and she's been doing it for over 40 years.

The only thing that was disappointing for me: they no longer provide trips up river to Alderman's Ford for launching. This means that you can either paddle the 12 miles upstream (which isn't easy... We made it about 6 before hitting a small stretch of rapids that we just weren't ready to fight) to Alderman's Park, enjoying some Class 1? rapids and going under some downed trees and or you can go a little bit downstream to Lithia Springs (which we didn't do). Either way, the trip is enjoyable and we had a great time!

Would definitely recommend doing...

As of 7/13/25, they are CASH ONLY. They said their credit card machines were out of commission. I think this put their phone lines down as well because we tried to call a few times and the call wouldn’t connect. They were open though. It’s kind of in a neighborhood. It was $25 per canoe for the whole day. This was the first time our kids (7 and 11) ever canoed so we were probably only out for about an hour, but it was a nice easy first paddle for them— there was a slight current in some parts but definitely manageable for us (around 10 am - 11 am in July). There was a good amount of shade for most of the route we took. There were lots of bugs in the water but for the most part they left us alone. We saw a few snakes and turtles— good with us because the kids were worried about gators lol. The water was murky the whole route— probably just how it is but I wanted to mention that if you’re looking for clear water, this isn’t the place. I’m not sure if there was a change in ownership or just an off day with the staff. Nothing wrong or rude or anything just not quite like how others described. Overall a...