We love kayaking. It is so amazing, to be out on the water - sitting so low in the water that you almost feel a part of it all. We'd like to share an upcoming kayaking event with you, Paddle Florida. Paddle Florida will be held March 19-26 along the Suwannee River.  We were lucky enough to sit down and talk with Bill Richards, of Paddle Florida, about the event. Here's what he had to say...

Paddle Florida is a week long paddling/camping event that is held in the spring and fall of each year. We travel on the Suwannee River Wilderness trail. Our staff transports all participant's gear to the next overnight stop and serves breakfast and dinner at the campsite, while providing a snack lunch on the river each day.

Each of the first two Paddle Florida events in the spring and fall of 2008 included educational lectures, we are considering the same for 2009.

Our sponsors or 'partners' as we call them, include the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park, the Florida Park Service, the Suwannee River Water Management District and a few others.

One thing is for sure, the river will be a different river in March, no matter whether you paddled last March or did our Fall Paddle Florida event in November.  That’s the magic of rivers in general and the Suwannee River in particular.  The challenges are different each time we do the trip.  It makes one marvel at this great natural wonder.

For this spring, we have booked some new artists and some old favorites for our entertainment lineup.  Here is what I mean:  after our first night at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park on the 19th of March, the entertainment lineup begins with Mark Smith at Suwannee River State Park.  After that, Paddle Florida favorite, Magda Hiller will entertain us with her unique brand of off-beat musical promiscuity at Lafayette Blue Springs State Park; followed by Tom Shed’s look at Florida history, humor and the human condition at River Rendezvous.  Katherine Archer serenades us at Gornto Springs on Tuesday with some surprises being planned for our final night’s party at Fanning Springs, before we do the final nine miles and everyone departs near mid-day on Thursday the 26th of March.  Additionally, we will have all breakfasts and dinners prepared by our award-winning caterers, Jim and Cheryl Hollis.

For those who haven’t had enough musically-induced relaxation they can go back to where we started, as the critically and musically-acclaimed Suwannee Springfest will be beginning at the Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park.

As ever, we will have our crack staff at the ready to address any and all issues that arise during the week.  All of our volunteers know that the reason the event is so much fun, is because the paddlers always rise to every challenge.

River travel and singing around the campfire has taken place on the Suwannee for over 12,000 years.  We are just the humble inheritors of this tradition.

So come join us, and tell your friends, because you, the paddlers are the only ones that really know what the experience is like.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot . . . always remember . . . to go with the flow.

WE: Thanks so much, Bill!! I wish we were there this year with you.

For more information, please see: http://www.paddleflorida.org