WEEKI WACHEE | Travel Guide 2021 | Spring Hill Florida | Exploring the Nature Coast | Ep. 5
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- Опубликовано: 31 май 2024
- Join us as we spend another day exploring Florida's Nature Coast. In this video, we'll be your travel guide as we depart Rogers Park and paddle up (and down) the Weeki Wachee River in Spring Hill Florida. We'll show you the good and the bad of our day on the Weeki Wachee, as we encounter two manatees, hundreds of (EVIL) yellow flies, and even big foot.
Along the way, we'll also explain how to access the river via kayak or paddleboard both at Weeki Wachee Springs State Park and Rogers County Park. Stay tuned to the end as we wrap up our day by visiting a great local brewery and explaining how you can best avoid the evil yellow flies.
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#florida #explorcation #weekiwachee #RogersPark
Timeline:
00:00 - #1 Intro
01:37 - #2 Arriving at Rogers Park
02:30 - #3 Beginning our Paddle
04:21 - #4 Attack of the Yellow Flies
06:13 - #5 Arrival at the State Park
06:51 - #6 Turning Back
08:20 - #7 Other paddling/kayaking options
10:15 - #8 Tree Jump
11:47 - #9 Manatee Sighting
14:08 - #10 - The Aftermath (Yellow Fly Bites)
14:32 - #11 - Yellow Fly Precautions
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Websites from Video:
Florida's Adventure Coast - floridasadventurecoast.com
Rogers Park - floridasadventurecoast.com/ro...
Weeki Wachee Springs State Park - www.weekiwachee.com
Marker 48 Brewery - www.marker48.com
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Music Credits:
RUclips Audio Library
- Breathe by Slenderbeats
- Simple Step by Slenderbeats
- From the Fall by Dan Lebowitz
- Laugh and Cry by the Mini Vandals
Explorcation consists of Jamie and Skylar, a couple who typically shares their experiences traveling and staying active via blogs and travel videos.
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Explorcation can be contacted at explorcationblog@gmail.com
You are absolutely right about the yellow flies. Omg the bites and the swarms.... i dont know which is worse. Then there is something called a no-see-em' Those little things are horrendous!!! Great video. 😊
Yes they are the absolute worst! And yeah, no-see-em's are a huge pain as well. Thanks for watching and taking the time to comment as always!
Thanks for the tips! Those yellow flies are no joke!!
Happy to help. Thanks for watching and for taking the time to comment. And you are 100% right on the yellow flies!
Bay Port and Pine Island are places I’ve made memories as well over the years.
That area really does have so much to offer! Great place to make memories for sure.
Lol...know your bugs...beautiful
Right, we learned the hard and itchy way 😆 thanks so much for watching!
I enjoyed that cruise, we did not see any manatee , but still fun and relaxing.
It really is a fun and relaxing experience (as long as you're not getting eaten alive by yellow flies 😂). We can't wait to do it a gain some day with long sleeves and extra bug spray!
yup them deer flies are vicious LOL
They sure are. Around 48 hours later was when the bites were worst. They kept me up all night and I had to sit in a tub of nearly scalding water to get any relieve. Last time we make that mistake!
@@Explorcation Im sorry you guys got bit up by them things they are mini demons. Loving your channel look forward to your upcoming videos!!
@@thathodgepodgeguy7156 we had no idea how bad they were until this trip...hopefully this video has warned at least a few people about them...to avoid what we had to go though! Thank you so much for watching, we really appreciate your support!
The sound of the water in your camera triggers the best memory and feelings! I can not wait to be back!
It's such a peaceful place (when not getting eaten up by yellow flies). We can't wait to go back next summer (with long sleeves and pants)!
Woww this place is really amazing... like the river and forest around it. Hello I'm from india.🇮🇳😍 liked your video and subscribed. 🙂
This area of Florida is really beautiful 💗thank you so much for watching and subscribing, we really appreciate your support!
Those yellow flies sound like a nightmare that haunted an otherwise gorgeous day out.
Loved Skylars jump from the tree, looked pretty high and the kids sounded impressed 😎
Love the footage of the manatee, they’re so calm and gentle 🤗
Yeah, it really would have been an almost perfect day if not for those flies! We would 100% return and are confident we'd have a great time, but we'd definitely be covered up head to toe!
Looks like an amazing day, minus the yellow flies of course! Thanks for sharing!
It really was such a great experience minus the yellow flies. We are going to re-do it one of these days with long pants and sleaves and a couple extra bottles of bug spray. Thanks so much for watching and taking the time to comment, Andrea!
Weeki Wachee is a very cool place. I’ve had good memories there. I’m also on the committee that makes decisions and helps with cleanup projects…etc when available. I’ve had the free boat tours..etc. The only negative is it can get really crowded, and the flies can be bad during those months. I call them deer flies.
Even though we got eaten alive on our paddle, we've been wanting to back ever since (with long pants/shirts and lots of bug spray)! That's awesome that you are on the clean-up committee. Hopefully clean-up projects aren't needed too often.
@@Explorcation Right now, they’re cleaning sediment out of a portion of the river, which is great.
@@Victory1981 that's great to hear!
The water is SO CLEAR! The bug situation sounds awful, but good on you for persisting! Seeing a turtle fall into the water must have made up for it a little bit, no? Poor thing! Thanks for sharing this!
That turtle 😆 he was walking on the branch and I didnt quite hit the record button to capture that footage...but I at least got the fall haha. He was alright and just swam away. Thanks so much for watching!
great vlog you guys! This area of Florida looks beautiful!!
Thanks so much ❤ we do think this is an area worth checking out!
We feel your pain! We recently got 64 bites at a beach in Thailand. The river looked lovely though. I'm so impressed that you guys paddled that far! What an adventure!
Getting bit up by bugs can really put a damper on an otherwise great day. Sorry to hear that you had to go through that experience recently as well.
Thanks , great info. Planning a trip possibly in early October.
We're so glad to hear you found the video to be helpful, Russ! October would be a great time to visit. We hope you are able to make it happen!
I enjoyed watching your travel trips guys, this one is also an amazing place to explore, so beautiful nature and so very relaxing.
Thank you so much ❤😊
What a beautiful paddling route! Sorry about the flies, that's never fun to deal with. But at least you got to see some manatees! Love the part of Skyler jumping off of the tree. The kid yelling "DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!" had me laughing 😂
Yeah there is no way Skylar was going to let those kids show him up, even if it meant getting bit by yellow flies the whole way up that tree 😂
Love the name Weeki Wachee 😅
This is such a beautiful paddling route, the colours are unbelievable 💚💙
Amazing to have the place to yourself! Except for the yellow flies 🤣🙈
All I would want to do is jump into that clear water! Don’t know if I would jump from that tree though, a bit high 😅
Just so beautiful paddling alongside manatees 🥰
Really like the look of that brewery! Great end to the day.
Wow! You guys really got attacked by those bugs 😱😱
Weeki Wachee is a fun name, and such a beautiful area. We sure will go back some day...but will be prepared for the flies . I think they got us so bad because we were on paddleboards and standing most of the time. If we were in kayaks we would have been sitting most of the time and our legs wouldn't have been so exposed 😣 oy they itched for dayssss. I still dont regret it, seeing the clear water and manatees was worth it. Thanks for watching guys :)
Oh no, those flies sounded awful! But the water was beautiful and so clear. It must be so cool to see the manatees in person. I don't think I'd be brave enough to jump from the tree. Or to climb it in the first place 🤣 I got close to the end and was like... but what about the beer!? Lol. The samples looked great 👍
Oh yeah the yellow flies really were terrible. About three days after was the worst. The itching was so bad we weren't able to get a dent night's sleep for the rest of the trip. We still did manage to enjoy it though, with the help of lots of caffeine and beer of course! The tree climb was definitely a little sketchy, especially when getting bit by flies the whole way up. But Skylar couldn't let those boys show him up 😅
These places are gorgeous, thanks for sharing a very nice video.
The are really is quite unique, thanks so much for watching ❤
The river is beautiful. I would love to see the manatees while paddling. Sorry you got attacked by the bugs! -S
It really is such a beautiful area, even though the bugs were terrible! Thanks for watching :)
Omg we can totally relate to being attacked by bugs, so annoying. This looks like a great day trip though, definitely something we'd love to do!
Yes, if you can take the bugs out of the equation it's a pretty amazing experience!
This looks really pretty. Never been there and I've been all over Florida. Thank you for giving another place to visit. 👍🙂
Thanks so much for watching, Thomas. When you do make it there, we hope you'll enjoy it as much as we did!
You guys are so adorable! So good to see you having fun and sharing your experiences together.
Ahh thanks so much for the kind comment. While filming can certainly feel like a job sometimes, we always seem to find a way to have fun!
So pleased you found a spot for some beers to ease the pain, those bites look so painful 😖
Yeah, some beers always help. Luckily the bites never got too painful, but they were easily the itchiest bites we'd ever experienced in our lives.
Its so beautiful 😍😍 . new friend here stay connected to you 🙏🇮🇩
Thank yo so much ❤
Wow.. awesome 👌💕
Thank you for watching. It really is an amazing place when you aren't getting eaten alive by flies!
@@Explorcation welcome 🙏.. stay connected
I've never been to Springville. It looks like a lot of fun.
We hope you are able to visit sometime. It really is a nature lover's paradise. Just be sure to bring bug spray!
Ouch, running out of bug spray while paddling must be brutal. We have been dealing with mosquitoes for days now so i can understand how frustrating it can be. I like the way you are forgetting about the yellow fly attack! Cheers :) P.S. Yikes, they really bit you guys so bad.
Yeah, being on paddleboards really left our legs exposed, and bending over to slap them off of our ankles was really difficult without falling off the board! If we were in kayaks I don't think it would have been quite as bad.
A few beers sure did seem to help numb the pain and the memories of the yellow flies!
We want to visit Weeki Wachee but those flies would not be fun! We hate bugs, lol! ~ Shion and Matthew
We hope you do get to visit, we would recommend avoiding May/June to try and avoid some of the bugs :) Thanks so much for watching!
Always spray yourself for the flies. They inflict a hell of a bite
They sure do. We had sprayed ourselves, but unfortunately, it came off every time we got in the water to cool down, and eventually re ran out. Next time we are bringing two bottles of bug spray!
Great video guys! I had the same issue with the yellow fly. I hope you are feeling better guys! 🙃
Thanks so much! Sorry to hear you had to experience the yellow flies too. They are truly the worst. But thankfully they are just a distant memory now!
I've gone there easily over 20 times throughout my life and I have never had any issues with bugs
Yeah, from our research and conversations with locals, it sounds like the yellow flies are only bad for a few weeks out of the year. So the vast majority of the time they shouldn't be an issue. Thanks for watching!
How did you guys get into doing these vlogs? I was looking into Treasure Island info for an October trip and found your channel. I’ve binged most of your videos and really enjoyed the content. Keep up the good work!
Thanks for the kind comment, Jim. We started our RUclips channel several years ago, but moreso as a personal video-scrapbook to document our travels and share with family and friends. We found that some of our videos were actually getting thousands of views (despite being quite poor quality), so we started gradually investing more time and effort into them. Now it has become almost a full tine job for Skylar. Covid travel restrictions really forced us to focus primarily on local content, but we are blessed to live in an area with so much to do and see and love exploring the bay area.
Dryer sheets. Just rub dry dryer sheets on you. Bugs stay off and you’re not sticky….
Wow, we'll definitely have to give that a try next tie. Thanks for the tip!
FYI the Yellow flies are April-June but can be found in smaller amounts from July-Nov; with the lowest numbers being Dec-March.
Thank you so much for sharing! Definitely wish we would have known about them before this trip though 😂Hopefully we are at least able to save a few other people from the agony of the yellow flies!
@@Explorcation Its funny how bad some of the insects can be in different states. Here we have blackflies near the rivers, mosquitoes near the lakes, greenies near the beaches, and deerflies in the woods. LOL you cant escape them.
@@highcommander2007 i had to look up backflies and greenies, i had never heard of them!
I love to hear you guys say the name weeki wachee - sounds so cute.
The area looks so beautiful and the waters are crystal clear. Good thing you saw the manatee at the beginning ( and the end), but I think the area is so pretty to explore anyway.
I heard you talking about Yellow flys so many times - I was just about to look up what they were.....Then you gave me that info anyway. I don't think I have heard of them around Australia, but we definitely have the horse flys and hate their bites. Good thing they eased off for you!
The current was certainly working for you on the return.
Hey Jamie, Why didn't you do the tree jump ?
You guys were wearing bug spray but didn't seem to help against the bites - It's hard wearing long clothes on the water - there must be something better to help deter them.
Yeah, we are really hopeful that sharing our experience and providing some information on the yellow flies can help save someone else from the horrible itching we had to deal with afterwards. They are pretty similar to horse flies. But the worst thing about these is they landed on you so lightly that you had no idea they were on you until they were biting you.
Regarding the tree jump... Jamie is not quite the risk taker that I am. I guess another way of saying that would be that Jamie is much smarter than I am 😂
@@Explorcation hahahahah
@@Explorcation I would have given it a go...It didn't look that deep but you weren't that high either, would have soften the landing
@@AquariusTraveller I (Jamie) maaaaybe would have considered it if we also weren't still dealing with the flies. I wasn't willing to get more bites like Skylar was haha
@@Explorcation haha :) Love ya work
I want to go there it looks awesome. I would have to bathe myself in mosquito repellent though 🤣. I have the same top you have (min 5:18), it complements your figure ✨
We hope you get to visit someday, Maria. It really is an awesome place, minus the yellow flies. But yes, bathing in bug spray is a must!
Kayaking in the Florida Keys I was forced to soak the brim of my hat in OFF. It resulted in a cloud of mosquitoes just inches from my face the whole day. I wonder how effective it is on yellow flies. That trip looks too good to pass up for a few bugs.
That is a good question. Before we visit Weeki Wachee again we will definitely do more research on what keeps them away! Thanks so much for watching 😊
oh he swearing lol
Yeah, those yellow flies definitely got the best of him!
Have you done a vid on Anna Maria island yet?
Hey Ben. We haven't yet, but it's definitely in our near-term plans, as it's one of our favorite places to visit. Do you have any favorite spots on AMI that you'd suggest we visit when we do make the video?
@@Explorcation I love all of it!! We ate at a bar right on the beach, I cannot remember the name of it! I’m from the uk and was there 2 years ago. Also ate at the surf shack in st Armands, tacos to die for but believe this has now closed?? AMI has some beautiful beaches!!! Also loved the drive to get there, some very big and expensive houses to peek at!
@@bentyrrell8083 right, you can't really go wrong on AMI! When we filmed in St Armands a few weeks ago we noticed the Surf Shack was closed :( we enjoyed that place too.
Are there alligators in Week I Was his River?
Yes, there can be, although we have never seen one in the river. Thanks for watching.
Paddling around gators? No thanks.
From our research, it's not too common to see gators in this area, but it's certainly not impossible. We're definitely thankful that we didn't see any during our paddle! Thanks for watching, Julie.