Martin McDowell's Blog

After getting a chance to see the Florida wildlife from a motorised boat there was a great chance to see it from a little bit more down-to-earth – or should I say down-to-water perspective. The Hillsborough River State Park offers canoe rentals on the Hillsborough river and other activities, such as camping, walking, swimming in the pool… The park is located on the road from Zephyrhills to Tampa and is a popular destination for the Tampa locals.
We were there on a Sunday and the place was very full, we had to wait a few hours to get a canoe and it was not possible to reserve one as only a first-come first-serve policy was used.

Click on the large picture above (or here) to see the photo album on Picasa.

I would suggest this or this kind of activity as a must, as you can see so much and it’s really something else when you can quietly row down the river and duck trees (or sometimes not duck them successfully and then getting pretty well stuck in them), look at alligators up-close and learn how to canoe. In any case it is great fun. Just hope you don’t have some noisy locals shouting on the river and making you sorry you haven’t put a hole in their canoes