Silver Springs Kayak Rentals - Discovery Kayak — Local services in Ocala

Yesterday we rented two tandem kayaks from Discovery and did the 5 mile float down the Silver River. The prices with Discovery were great. It was easy to reserve the kayaks on their website. Be sure to get to the park at least 30 minutes before your launch time. You need to pay a park entrance fee and a $4/kayak launch fee and the line through the park vendor was disorganized / slow. You also want to use the bathroom before you leave for your 3-4 float down the river. The Discovery team did a great job to tell you about going down the river, walked our kayaks down the boat ramp, and set us on our way.

We have kayaked before, but this was by far the most beautiful river we have ever been on. The water is absolutely clear. There are SO MANY fish. Lots of birds, flowers, and turtles. We also saw river otters and 3 gators, but did not see any monkeys or manatees. The springs are beautiful and there were long stretches on the river when we were the only people in sight. We actually made the trip in about 2:45 minutes - we could have coasted more. If you stay near the shore you can be in the shade most of the time - so the temperature was pretty comfortable.

The "get out point" was obvious. Once we paged them to pick us up they were there in 10 minutes. It was a short drive back to the park.

I highly recommend both Discovery and this as a...

Yesterday (Friday morning) I had a delightful experience while kayaking with Discovery Kayak Tours & SUP at Silver Springs State Park. There were only two of us that morning. I had experience with the company several times in the past, but this was the first time for my friend. Our guide and owner, Ryan Toler, spent a lot of time training the newbie so she could feel comfortable maneuvering her kayak for the first time. During our 2 1/2 hour tour, Ryan kept close watch on both of us. He identified plants and animals along the way. All through the tour he gave the history of Silver Springs from the time of the arrival of the Spaniards down to present day. He pointed out each of the named springs which provide the beautiful fresh water that supports the flora and fauna of this area. We were fortunate to have a cool fall day with a nice breeze. At the end of the tour Ryan downloaded to our iPhones several photos he had taken of my friend and me so we had a pictorial memory of our day. It could not have been a more perfect experience! If you are going to kayak at Silver Springs State Park, be sure you book with Discovery...

It is very busy did not get to go kayaking it all Saturday Sunday or Monday forgot it was Memorial weekend and kids just got out of school and graduated they said it will be busy like this until end of summer most likely so you really need to book a reservation to be able to get the kayak or paddle board Etc and Silver Springs does not pick up people at Ray's Wayside and if you want to be picked up at the bottom it raise Wayside you have to contact a company one of them I remember is Discovery and you can also Place reservations with them with their equipment and they drop you off at Silver Springs and you go all the way down to Ray's Wayside they will pick you up and bring you back to your vehicle so if you want to go down that River your best bet is to try and book it now it is beautiful if you have not done it it's something I suggest you should make an effort to do bring lots of water and sunscreen there are shady areas of the river but it is just beautiful between the monkeys in the manatee the alligators the birds are amazing anyway...