We are excited to announce our team who will be working together to carry us into the future. Joining us as Gear Transport Managers are Guerry Bradley, John Courtright, and Tom McLaulin. Joining us as Operations Specialists/Festival Trip Leader Trainees are Jodi Eller and Shirley Kasser Creech. There are about two hundred years of accumulated experience in this team. From leadership, to first responder/EMT training, to trip leading, to paddling trail knowledge and most importantly to integrity. The common thread is their dedication to our paddle community, the environment and to each other. Please join us in welcoming them aboard!

Meet our team

In this issue, you will hear from Doug Alderson, Professional Writer & Photographer (Doug's Amazon author page), who is sharing an excerpt about the Suwannee River from his Florida Rivers book and from Kathy Hancock who is introducing our NEW Environmentally Friendly Dish Program. We hope you enjoy this issue and we look forward to our 15th annual Suwannee River Wilderness Trail in October!  We hope to see you there. 

“Having supplied ourselves with ammunition and provision, we set off in the cool of the morning, and descended pleasantly, riding on the crystal flood, which flows down with an easy, gentle, yet active current, rolling over its silvery bed. The stream almost as transparent as the air we breathe; there is nothing done in secret except on its green flowery verges.” --William Bartram, 1773, commenting on a clear Suwannee River

The Suwannee is a hybrid river that defies categorization. During normal water levels, it is a tannin waterway fed by both the vast Okefenokee Swamp—one of the Southeast’s largest wetlands—and numerous springs. In fact, the Suwannee basin is believed to have the largest concentration of freshwater springs in the world and during severe droughts, the river flow consists almost entirely of clear spring water.. [Read more…]

Photo credit: Doug Alderson

Paddle Florida is going green! We listened to your concerns about the Styrofoam and plastic ware used to serve our breakfasts and dinners. Beginning with the 2022-2023 Paddle Florida Season, we will be providing single-use biodegradable plates, cups, and eating utensils. Our plates will be made of sugarcane bagasse, the cups for OJ made of waxed paper, and our eating utensils made of birch wood. For your morning coffee or hot tea, please bring your own reusable mug. Just in case, we’ll have some 10 oz, insulated, metal mugs with the Paddle Florida logo for sale. And, of course we’ll have wooden stir sticks.

Gulf sturgeon are present in the Suwannee River as well as most other rivers in Northwest Florida, including the Apalachicola, Choctawhatchee, Yellow, Blackwater, Escambia, Pearl and Pascagoula.

The sturgeon’s roots go back 200 million years. As it has for eons, the fish makes its presence known by jumping out of the water. With adult sturgeon reaching up to 8 feet in length and weighing up to 200 pounds, they can make quite a splash.

Why do sturgeon jump? Scientists have determined that the fish jump to [Read more…]

Photo credit: FWC

Kayaking Expert Advice: Basic Strokes

Brad from the REI Outdoor School discusses different paddling strokes.

Click here for video.