The River is fed by one of Florida's first magnitude springs, which produces 86,000 gallons of fresh water per minute. On a Sunday morning, a friend and I leave Tampa and canoe the Upper Manatee River for the first time (see photo at right). The scenery is attractive, but it becomes spoiled somewhat by very loud model airplanes flying overhead, a speedboat that nearly runs over us, and three obnoxious airboats that nearly slam into us.

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