Tubing Down the Sante Fe River

Monday morning spelled peace and quiet for Ginnie Springs. We had time to take photos of the actual Ginnie Spring, as well as take the camera into Devil's and get the photos of the caves that have been littering my blog posts.

Kev at the first steps from the parking lot into Ginnie Spring

Ginnie Spring from the first stairs looking out to the Sante Fe river

Ginnie spring (dark crack to the right of the reflected tree is the spring)

Recreational area around Ginnie Spring

There were three other divers that Monday. Two guys trying to complete a circuit from Hill 400 to 1200' on the main line, and a guy doing a solo dive along the main line as practice before starting his full cave certification with Larry Green the next day. We all chatted a bit after our dives, happy with our experiences that day. Then as they prepared for the second dive, we decided that we had to try out the local craze of tubing down the Sante Fe River.

We collected a few ciders for our tubing trip and then spent a wonderful afternoon tubing along the Sante Fe River with college students and families all having a good time and relaxing along the river. I understand what the craze is about. We walked up-river to the farthest point and then we jumped into our tube and let the current bob us downstream towards the springs that we had already dived and swum in.

Tubing down the Sante Fe River

Sante Fe River

Camping along Sante Fe River

Mike's - a must have for extra relaxation while tubing down the Sante Fe River

Kev in the tube at Devil's Spring

First we hit Devil's Spring and pushed ourselves in for a quick stop. It really is amazing how cold and blue the spring water is compared to the warm and tannic river water.







We knew Devil's well so we pushed on. I'd seen an inlet on the other side of the river across from Devil's, so as we left I jumped in and propelled the tube across the river to the other side. As we approached, it started to smell swampy and vegetative (compared to the springs which have no smell). I was kicking along and peering over the tube towards the inlet when I noticed a log that looked remarkably like a crocodile profile I'd seen in South Africa. As we kicked on the "log" turned to look at us so that the side-ways body disappeared and the two eyes pivoted to look directly towards us! Kev and I were both yelping "alligator, alligator " as I spun us around and kicked us furiously out back into the main river flow :)

Tuber climbing to the tree-rope-swing

Next stop was Ginnie Spring. As we approached Ginnie, we noticed a guy climbing up a tree towards a rope swing on the right-hand side of the river. He really looked out on a limb ... as if he wouldn't make it far enough along the branch for the fall into deep water, but heading back down would cause him a world of pain. We tried to shout encouragement (along with everyone else floating downstream) and snap some pics (especially of his girlfriend with their tube + cooler-box). Just as we rounded the corner into Ginnie Spring, he jumped into the river.

Tuber still climbing

Tuber still climbing, girlfriend + cooler-box downriver shouting encouragement

At Ginnie we decided to get out and fetch our masks so that we could play around in the entrance. We had a lot of fun here, making the swim through the cavern at the entrance and trying to get nice pics.

Terrapins enjoying the sun along the river

Looking out from Ginnie Spring towards the river on a tube

Kev tubing in to Ginnie Spring

Kev floating in Ginnie Spring

Ginnie Spring

Cavern entrance and swim through at Ginnie Spring

Side-mount divers entering Ginnie Spring cavern

Me at Ginnie Spring

Then we floated on down the rest of the river to the boat ramp and jumped out to carry our tube through a beautiful evening forest back to the car. The masses are right, tubing is a lot of fun!