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Tubing Ichetucknee Springs - Be In Line at the Park's North Entrance at 7AM

Aug 2
Sat 7:00 AM
Location
Ichetucknee Springs

12087 S.W. US Hwy 27
Fort White, FL 32038
386-497-2511

How to find us
"Look for my white 4-Runner truck in line with tubes on top!"

Who attended?
Estimated attendance:  40  people attended.
4.75

Rising up from deep beneath the surface of Florida's cavernous aquifer the pristine waters of the Ichetucknee River are absolutely the cleanest in all of Florida.
These waters give rise to a spectacular and complex ecosystem both on land and under water. Its shores are lined with ancient old growth cypress and mixed hardwood forests that are home to many species of rare birds, mammals and reptiles.

Have you ever been inner tubing down a river? Just imagine banding multiple inner tubes together and floating down the river with some great people. You will be floating through cystaline waters shaded by huge trees. The head spring of the river is a National Natural Landmark. The Ichetucknee is six miles long and there are three different starting points. We are planning to do the 3 hour float. Get your old tennis shoes ready! Tubing will be Saturday 7:30AM.


Bring a Mask,Snorkel,Fins and a bag or way to attach your gear to tube while not using them.

Tube Rental: @$5
We will be meeting at Lowe's Tube Land at 7:00AM to rent the tubes.
6252 SW Elim Church Rd.
Fort White, FL 32038
Phone: 386-497-1115

Direction from Cedar Key to Lowe's Tube Land-
If you are coming from Cedar Key it will take about 1 hour and a half to make the trip. Take FL 24 to 345 - 9.4 miles. Continue on 345 for approximately 17.8 miles. Turn left onto S. Main St. / Turn right onto US-129 /Rodgers Blvd / FL-49. Continue to follow US-129 / FL-49 - 10.3 miles. Turn slight right onto FL-47 - 19.8 miles. Turn left onto Elim Church Rd.

Park Fees
Admission Fee - $5.00 per vehicle (limit 8 people per vehicle). Single Car Occupant - $3.00
The park has two entrances. We will be meeting at the North Entrance.
Tubing- $5.00 per person.

Agenda for the day-
7:30AM Ichetucknee North Parking Lot
After we get our tubes all passengers and tubes will be dropped off at the North entrance parking lot. The drivers will drive their cars to the south entrance parking lot and then take the shuttle back to the North Parking lot where we will all go to the launch area and float down the river. YEAH!

Half Way Point:
The south parking lot is at the half way point. We will stop at the half way for a snack/breakfast. There will be concessions at the half way point, but you will be able to go to your car if you drove it to the south parking lot. Make sure to pack some goodies to drink and snack on, but leave it in the car as we are not allowed to bring it on the river
***Please note there is no food, drink or tobacco products allowed on the river.****

After lunch we will tube the lower half of the river.
--First stop - Dampier's landing - 30 minutes
--1 1/2 hour more to the South Take
--Take shuttle back to South Parking Lot

If you choose you can tube the lower half as many times as you want since there are no capacity restrictions. Take the tram back to the south parking lot.

Accomodations:
Park Place Condo Information:
We are planning to stay at the same place as last year: a nice, three-story condo building across the street from the park/"beach." Here's the link:
http://www.parkplacei...

Some people have mentioned camping, you should organize that on your own.

Linda at Park Place Condos offered us the same discount as last year. If 6 rooms are booked under "Ft Lauderdale Travel & Adventure", each room receives a 10% discount.

The rates are the same as last year, per night, $90 for 3rd floor units, $85 for others. Each room has a different layout, with different bed setups, so you should look at the website with the description of each unit, pick one, and call and make your own reservation. Of course, mention that you are part of the "Ft Lauderdale Travel & Adventure Group"...then we can all get a discount!
Phone # for reservations: 800-868-7963

Link to Florida State Park Ichetucknee Springs
http://www.floridasta...
http://www.floridasta...

ONLY 750 PEOPLE A DAY ARE ALLOWED TO TUBE THIS PRISTINE RIVER - SO YOU MUST BE IN LINE AT THE PARK BY 7:30AM..

Slightly before 7AM we'll be getting our tubes here:

Talk about this Meetup

  • Pat
    Posted Aug 5, 2008 11:56 PM
    Pat
    The whole weekend was so much fun, we met so many new friends everyone was so friendly and made us feel very comfortable.. Thx for a great weekend!
  • darlene
    Posted Aug 4, 2008 8:45 PM
    I had so much fun, looking forward to next year! You are the fearless leader.
  • Jim
    Posted Aug 3, 2008 9:06 PM
    I can see why so many people had said that this was such a great place to experience. What a great day of floating down a lazy river connected with dozens of great people!
  • Pre-Meetup comments below
  • Jim
    Posted Jul 30, 2008 4:56 PM
    Jim
    • Organizer
    Be in line at 7AM or beware
  • Lou
    Posted Jul 28, 2008 2:08 PM
    Lou
    Who wants to share expenses ? Men or women for car-pooling and also one or more roomates for a hotel nearby the Park.
  • Arlene Allen
    Posted Jul 25, 2008 4:49 AM
    BEWARE!! MAKE SURE YOU GET OARS IF YOU RENT A RAFT FROM LOWES TUBING. They didn't give us any oars and we didn't know we would need them. We had to get out and pull the raft just to get to the half-way point...and that took 3 hours. I suggest that you go to the half-way point and tube to the end and then come back to the half-way point if you want to tube more and skip using a raft. It has something to do with the river level.
  • Jim
    Posted Jul 24, 2008 10:32 PM
    Jim
    • Organizer
    Kids have more fun than the adults, Javi - bring em on!
  • Javier Garcon
    Posted Jul 23, 2008 2:00 AM
    can we bring our kids?or is this just an adult event?
  • Jim
    Posted Jul 2, 2008 5:41 PM
    Jim
    • Organizer
    Without question, certainly one of the best natural wonders of Florida! Simply awe inspiring!

Who attended?

    •  Jim, This was a great time. I can't wait for a repeat. 
    •  Great trip. I only did the tubing at the springs and it was great. Lots of good friendly people and plenty of fun and laughs. Can't wait till next year. Thanks Jim. 
    • Jim
       Ichetucknee, one of the natural treasures of Florida... From the building of the anticipation as we waited for the group to assemble, to the quiet pristine upper half of the waterway, to the wild abandon of the final few miles... Just andabsolutely awesome adventure, with 40 of my closest (and newest) friends! 
    • Yeri (+1 guest)
       Well, we missed to meet up with you all (poor logistic planning on our part) but must thank the group's inspiring plan as it got us to visit Ichetucknee Springs. We were the only kayakers in the river, so we're sure we passed you all at some point and more than once! (did the river up and down a few times) 
    •  Ichetucknee is a Florida classic. I'm thrilled to enjoy this natural beauty and simple pleasure every chance I get. Rafting up with our great group of people was a terrific way to socialize with everyone as we floated down the lazy river. Awesome. 
    •  Relaxing and fun. Loved it! 
    •  See below. Bring your breakfast items for the long wait to get into the park at this early hour! We stayed in Lake City, which is only 17 miles from the park entrance, and has a variety of accommodations for every budget. Ichetucknee Springs is at least 6-1/2 hours from Fort Lauderdale via the Turnpike every time I go, and I prefer to be in the immediate vicinity in the morning rather than come up from Cedar Key or other points south. 
    •  Congrats, Jim, on another successful mega-event. 
    • Luciana (+1 guest)
       WOW! What a great place. It was so relaxing and a great way to make new friends. 
    • Peg
       Tubing ROCKS!!! I had so much fun. People were real charitable about lettin' ya grab any extended body part to save yourself. :-) Hat's off to ya James. Ya did good...real, real good!!...Peg :-) 
    • Patty (+2 guests)
       Had a blast. Jim, thanks for organizing everything :-) 
    • Jim (+5 guests)
       WOW! Where to start. We shared an unforgetable weekend at Cedar Key and made many new friends from Ft. Lauderdale. Everyone to a person, totally enjoyed this experience. Every day brought new experiences for me, I have many memories to cherrish and will definetely do this again. We will do more with the great friends we met from Ft. Lauderdale, this group knows how to have fun and Jim did a great job pulling this together, THANKS! ” ” 
    •  Another Fantastic tubing trip! Besides getting my bum stuck on tree stumps, what an adventure!! 
    • Pat (+3 guests)
    • Big Dave (+8 guests)
    • yana (+1 guest)
    • Eric (+2 guests)
    • Alana (+2 guests)
    • row
    • Lou
    • Kathie (+1 guest)
    • Ebonee (+1 guest)

Your organizer's refund policy for Tubing Ichetucknee Springs - Be In Line at the Park's North Entrance at 7AM

Refunds offered if:

Payments you make go to the organizer, not to Meetup. You must make refund requests to the organizer.