The Find
 
      Back in the 1960s I was attending college in Tallahassee, Florida.  After a year in the Tallahassee area, I got around to the Wakulla River.  My brother and I paddled down the spring fed river from somewhere below Wakulla Springs to US 98. It was only about six miles or so.  It seemed like a lot longer because we were paddling a fiberglass covered Styrofoam sailing surfboard.  I guess you could call it a boat. It was all we had. We could paddle it like a canoe, but it wasn't very comfortable.

    The Wakulla River was remarkable for four things. For one, the waters were crystal clear. Secondly, the river flows from Wakulla Springs only a couple of miles upstream.  The water is about 60 degrees, year round.  Third, at that time there was no signs of human existence for that stretch of river from state road 61 down to US 98.  Fourth, there were no visible banks to the river.  The river, away from the deep, clear channel, the river faded into the cypress swamps.

<-----My nephew and I heading towards the Wakulla River in June 2004.

     The clear, cold water, was even more remarkable because there were large areas of the river bottom that were white sand.  That whiteness helped highlight schools of fish that swam above those areas of white sand.  We were amazed at how clear the water was. We could see large schools of mullet everywhere, swimming just under the surface of the water. Then, looking down, we could see three and four foot alligator gars (a fish) ghosting along in the deeper water. It looked like a jungle in the middle of Africa. Off to the side we could see back into the dark shadows of the swamp. There was no sign of dry land. About half way down the river it rained on us. We were so excited that we were not disheartened by the downpour.

That’s me at the upper landing in 2004--->
      There was one thing that I noticed. If we were to get into trouble there was nowhere to go. There was no way to get to the shallower waters of the swamp. To the sides of the river channel were long strands of grass, maybe twenty feet long, that laid out flowing downstream. There was no way to swim through that grass. As I found out years later, and not so long ago, it would have been impossible to stand up in the shallow waters of the dark swamp. There were thousands of years of decayed vegetation that turned into a black muck, much like quicksand. If you did get in trouble, like your boat sank, you would have to swim with the cold current until you came to a place to get out of the river. That would be a long, cold, swim.


<------A place where the river widens

     When I told my classmate and friend Cal about the Wakulla River he had to try it. In the next three years we would paddle the river many times. Those crystal clear waters led to us swimming with face mask, snorkel, and swim fins. Of course going from 80 to 100 degree temperatures on the boat and the 60 degree water of the river was always a shock. You could not help but swim vigorously for a few minutes to get accustomed to the water temperature.
     After that, we never got tired of the wonders of the river. Only one of us at a time went snorkeling. The other one of us watched out for alligators.

     Only a couple of miles upstream, at Wakulla Springs, were enough alligators to make one faint at heart. One man snorkeling at the springs, but out of the designated swimming area was seen in the mouth of a huge alligator. We were definitely out of the swimming area. In all the times we went paddling down the Wakulla River, back then, we never saw an alligator. We never tired of seeing countless schools of two and three pound mullet, twenty pound alligator gars, blue gills, and a few elusive bass.



Away from the main channel-------->

     On one occasion Cal brought along his diving tanks. He waited until we reached a wider stretch of river. Then I held the boat in place with my paddle while he checked out the bottom of the river. I watched him swim along the river bottom as bubbles drifted downstream from his regulator. I was also looking out for alligators. It wasn't too very long before he returned to the boat. He placed on the boat two objects. The two objects were bowls. There were pieces broken off of both of them.

     The next Monday we both went to the archeology department at Florida State University. We showed a faculty member the bowls and asked if the department could tell us something about them.  He told us to come back in a couple of days.

     When we went back we were in for a surprise.  One of the bowls was 500 years old.  The other bowl was 1500 years old.  The professor told us there was probably an Indian village along the bank of the Wakulla River for many, many years.  When something broke the Indians threw the broken pieces in the river.  It was their trash heap.  Cal and I were excited about the news. For all we knew the pottery was only a couple of hundred years old.  We then donated the two bowls to the university.  We only told them the bowls were from the Wakulla River.  We never told them exactly where.

     Funny thing. We never again took Cal's scuba gear with us on the river.  Thinking back, it would have been nice to come up with some more of the pottery.  I guess our curiosity had its limits back then.

     Now, there are houses along both sides of the river, including the stretch where we found the bowls.  In many cases they have brought in fill so they could build on the river.  Their septic tanks in that swampy ground have leached nutrients into the river.  The water isn't as clear as it used to be.  Those white sandy areas of the river bottom are mostly gone.  It makes it harder to see the fish when you look under the water.

< --------The main channel where it narrows

     Two years ago I took my visiting nephew canoeing on the Wakulla River.  As we paddled that spot I told him it was where we found the pottery, forty some years ago.  I'm sure he would not be able to find the spot again from that revelation.

     Back in the 1960s we never saw an alligator on that stretch of the river.  That was odd, considering all the alligators just a mile or two up at Wakulla Springs.  Now, you can't help but see alligators on the river.  Most of them are pretty small.

My son and his girlfriend eyeing a small gator in 2001----->

     Where are the big alligators? I found out the hard way two years ago.  I bought a kayak. I took it to the Wakulla River.  I wanted to see what was back there in the dark reaches of the swamp, off away from the river channel.  The water back there was only a foot or two in places. I put my paddle down on the bottom and it went down as far as I could reach, a ways in the accumulated muck and decaying leaves.  Later, I almost had a stroke when all of a sudden there was an explosion of water from the front of the kayak.  I had paddled right up on top of a submerged sleeping alligator in those shallows.  As it raced away I guessed it to be about as long as my kayak.  It angrily cruised away from me and out into the main channel.  You should have heard the shouts coming from the people canoeing on the river that day.


     One nice change from the old days.  On two occasions in recent years, I have seen manatees in the river.  I paddled up within ten feet of them and they never stopped their feeding on the grasses of the river.  It was a real treat.
 
     On weekends the Wakulla River is now crowded.  Too many boaters.  One time I went to put my kayak in at the upper landing.  There were canoes crowding the landing, waiting to launch.  Almost 20 of them. 

     I haven't been to the Wakulla River in a couple of years.  It isn't the same.  Too many boaters and too many houses on the river.  I still have the secret location of the Indian pottery. Maybe some day I will tell someone where it is.  I'm in no hurry.  I'm sure that after more than a thousand years the pottery will wait.

 

Tom Sparkman
October 21, 2006
Go To Tom's Page