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It's Summertime And The Fish Are Jumpin'

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By PENNY CARNATHAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 23, 2008

It's hidden so well, you really have to look to find it.

Which makes looking worth the effort.

Google "Florida's Hidden Coast" and just three pertinent Web sites pop up, two devoted to kayaking and one to fishing.

"Its charm lies in its remoteness, its peacefulness, its wildlife," write Nick and Sandra Crowhurst, avid kayakers from England who created hiddencoast.net.

A magical playground, they call it.

We didn't know all that when we planned our visit. My husband, Ben, poring over his beloved Florida Atlas in search of a getaway, noticed the Suwannee River ran from a place called Old Town down to the Gulf, where it ended at a town called Suwannee.

Old Town, he noted, wasn't too far a drive from Tampa.

Wouldn't it be fun to rent a boat and cruise from Old Town to Suwannee? Stay a couple of nights? Take in the sights and do some fishing?

I hit the Internet to book it. Two hours later, I was still searching.

Suwannee had houseboats to let, but no powerboats. No motels there or on the river. Not much at all for the Floridian accustomed to attractions-on-demand.

Finally, scrolling through a chamber of commerce membership list, I found Yellow Jacket Campground in Old Town. It had cabins. It had powerboats. It had the Suwannee River.

And now, it had us.

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People-life moves at a slower pace in the small towns flanking U.S. 19 from Levy County north through Dixie, Jefferson and Taylor counties — the Hidden Coast.

Posted by the front door of the Seabreeze Restaurant and Lounge in Cedar Key, a 24-mile detour on the drive to Old Town, a page from the Cedar Key News congratulates the Class of 2008. Every one of the 16 graduates is pictured.

Paper placemats illustrate Birds of North America and waitresses in black slacks and white blouses serve pitchers of pink lemonade, homemade "Scottish fries," and the most delicious marinated roasted clams I have ever eaten. All for less than $15.

At the Save-A-Lot grocery store in Chiefland, allow a little extra time for each customer in line to chat with the cashier.

The people take it slow. Not so all the wildlife.

Much of the Suwannee River shoreline from Old Town southwest to the Gulf is preserved. Motor past in a boat and you get a rare view of Florida before the Tourist Age — before even the Industrial Age.

Graceful cypress trees, like elderly ballerinas striking poses, line the river. Their knobby knees protrude from the water, curving into giant fangs that seem to guard the eerie depths beyond.

I really did imagine, for a second, that I saw the shadow of a Seminole Indian brave dart behind a tree. Yes, it's that wild. I did not imagine the giant, 250-million-year-old Gulf sturgeon shooting out of the river like missiles.

Ben, who has seen a lot of Florida fish, ogled in awe.

"They're ' on a sturgeon show!" he said, amazed. "I've heard of them, but I never thought they put on a show."

The sturgeon, it turns out, are a little bit ham, a little bit thug. At 8 to 9 feet long, and up to 300 pounds or so of boneless flesh covered with armor plates, their spontaneous leaps tend to interfere with river recreation. Boaters and jet-ski riders have suffered crushed legs, broken sternums, severed fingers and worse.

Florida wildlife photographer Chuck Littlewood, taking pictures of the fish near the Manatee Springs outflow, has been a regular visitor for the past three years.

"We saw 15 to 25 fish an hour jumping during late June and July," he said, noting that the shows often draw a crowd on land and water. "Occasionally, someone gets too close."

At another hot spot, near the Fanning Springs outflow, parents and their kids tubed, rode personal watercraft and swam as sturgeon leapt all around.

The river is also home to alligators and manatee; we saw only sun-drugged turtles and a blue-tailed skink.

Ben's fish haul: 0.

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Yellow Jacket Campground is nine miles off U.S. 19, and another mile down a dirt road. The owners want to work "resort" into the name because it's so much more than a campground.

You won't find anything else like it on the Suwannee, they say. And the campers agreed.

"I hope to stay here till they carry me out," says Jack Rossi, who rolled in almost two years ago with his RV and his wife, Rosie, and never left.

To the best of anyone's knowledge, it's the only place on the river that rents powerboats. Licensed for 66 RV sites, some with waterfront views, the woodsy setting also has tent sites, cabins, a bath house, laundry facilities, a community center with a big kitchen, and a large heated swimming pool and hot tub surrounded by tiki-covered tables.

Your cell phone may not work here, but your computer will. There's free Wi-Fi Internet access.

We rented a cabin, a duplex that shared a front porch with our neighbor, Shorty, also a first-timer. Inside, the place was clean and comfortable and lacked only two necessities: a TV remote (for Ben) and a blow dryer (for me.)

The owners work hard to keep the place exceptionally clean and well-maintained, Rossi says. But the campers are expected — required — to do their part, too. The rules prohibit decrepit RVs and wet towels and bathing suits hung in excess on fences, among other things.

The owners are strict, Rossi says. "Rabble-rousers are immediately expelled."

Bibbi Oxendine and her husband, Ron, bought the decades-old fishing camp eight years ago with partner Jan Gjelset. When the couple first arrived, the driveway was so overgrown, they had to cut back trees with chainsaws to get their motor home through.

The 40-acre spread also was littered with junk.

"We hauled out truckloads of bridles, fuel tanks, wagon wheels, front ends of cars, back ends of cars," Ron says. Not to mention all the abandoned boats.

They found animals everywhere.

"We took out 18 head of peacocks; we gave away chickens and roosters," Ron says. "There was a Clydesdale horse, hogs."

They cut down diseased trees and set about working with the Suwannee River Management District to rebuild the place in compliance with strict environmental protection regulations.

It's a work in progress, they say. They're constantly expanding to meet the growing demand.

People may have a hard time finding the area, Bibbi says, but once they do, they keep coming back. She's a case in point.

She and Ron lived in Sarasota before moving here, and Bibbi was very happy with all the city had to offer. "I didn't want to live in the northern part of Florida," she says.

But she fell in love with the Hidden Coast. The place is good for the mind, she says.

"It's a head spot. The whole area is a head spot."

Reach Penny Carnathan at (813) 259-7612 or pcarnathan@tampatrib.com.

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