So Close...4/30

HERE'S THE MOST CURRENT LOCATION LINK: AFTER I BROADCAST THIS I PADDLED TO AND LANDED INBETWEEN THE 2 GOLF COURSES ON DAUFUSKIE ISLAND (I'M NOT STILL IN THE MIDDLE OF THE WATER)

So I'm here on Daufuskie Island, just across from Hilton Head. I left Skiddaway right at 10 and despite what I said just the other day I started paddling out towards the ocean. I had talked the night before to Captian Joe who runs charters out of Delegal Creek and together we had decided that if the conditions were right it might be worthwhile to jump back out into the ocean to cut off some more miles. When I got out into the ocean it was a little choppier then I had expected but nothing like Monday it the waves were more of an annoyance then a concern. Although there was a north east wind it wasn't to strong and the breeze felt good. I had a real tough time getting around the side of Tybee Island, there must have been a pretty strong current wipping around the beach coming out of the Savanah River but once I turned the corner I was able to cross the shipping channel and some open water to get over to Daufuskie. I didn't land here till after 6 and the tide was starting to come out of Callibouge quick so I knew there was no way I could make it to where I wanted to at Shelter Cove Marina at the end of Broad Creek. I'm worn out. I pulled my boat up to Roger Pickney's house and am staying with a friend, Jack Anderson, who was nice enough to put me up at his art gallery . Tomorrow I cross to HHI!

Today's ocean venture was a just about 20 miles compared to over 30 if I had gone the "back way." What I realized today that I really should I have thought about a long time ago is that a mile on the waterway and a mile in the ocean are not the same. Its not apples and apples. Either way, it paid off again. I'm like 3 for 3 on my last couple shortcuts.

Its nine o'clock and I'm about to crash. I'll leave at low tide tomorrow at 11 and hopefully ride the incoming all the way to my marina. I would love a nice "lazy river" day.

Seth

NOTE: theres a new picture I put up of my first view of HHI when I rounded Tybee. You can't tell its HHI at all but I could and it was a fantastic sight. I'm too tired to link it or put in in the body of this post, but don't you be lazy too.....click the link at the top of the page and check it out.

Georgia Is Just Wild; Monday 4/28

Whew, what I day! This was BY FAR the hardest/most adventurous/dangerous/trying day yet.

It started out bad before it even began (does that make sense). I mentioned camping on the beach sucks bc of the exposure, well if I have any choice, I won't do it again. It was very windy all night and it made it very hard to sleep with my little tent trying to blow away. People have been asking me what I've lessons I've learned so far and I tell them that I haven't really taken the time yet to analyze all my reflections BUT there is one thing that I have concluded, and I'm totally firm on it: April is windy! I think I've had one calm day all month. The stiff wind continued all day, fortunatly at least from the South. It just makes everything a little more difficult and frustrating. Like trying to take down a tent, or read a chart book, or put in contacts, or make a phone call, or pretty much anything.

I left the beach at Blackbeard early and let the wind move me very quickly across Sapelo Sound. It was very choppy and so I had my skirt on bc it was a cool overcast day and the last thing I wanted was to be wet all day. Well...the wind was carrying me so fast and my boat wanted to track left the whole time bc of it I ended up missing the ICW at the entrance of Johnson Creek. It was my fault but I have to say that the waterway in GA is really not marked very well. There could be more channel markers. Its especially tough for me bc my view is from 2.5 feet above the water surface and I'm not carrying binoculars so it can be very ticky to discern land contours off in the distance. Shell banks can blend together and a cut though the marsh can be complelty invisible until I'm right up on it. So I get to this marker which is missing the yellow triangle and I realize that I went to far so I have to pop my skirt to look at my chart and of course get immediatly soaked. I then have to paddle about a mile back INTO the wind and waves to get where I need to be. What a start to the day. It wasn't even 11 am by the time I got into Johnson Creek and into calm water and I already wanted to quit for the day. I had only gotten a couple hours of sleep and I was sore and now wet. So I paddled slowly up to Walburg Creek and headed down that, leaving the ICW again, bc it looked like it would take me past some dry ground on the west edge of St. Catherines. I'm glad I did and got up close to it bc what a crazy island. As far as I can tell its pretty much undeveloped. I did pass one dock that appears to be part of a still-being-built high end resort, I could see a few nice stone houses through the trees but thats it. North of that was like jungle. I thought I had seen all of GA's wildlife in one day yesterday but boy was I wrong. I paddled past groups of whitetail deer, a couple wild boars (pigs??, I don't know what you call them), and more alligators.

Today's alligator sightings where much scarier then yesterdays. Two were up on the bank together and came upon them as I was paddling right next to shore - close enough that I could have reached out and touched it with my paddle. Well I think this is a case of them being just as afraid of me as I of them, and they must feel safer in the water bc as soon as they saw me they made a beeline for the water. The problem was that is where I was! They came racing directly at me full speed with their little legs, hit the ledge dissapear into the water. And of course I'm paddling the other way as fast as I can. At first I was a little shocked by seeing all these gators in the marsh but when I thought about it if they're out there (which obviously they are) who else has a better chance of seeing them then someone spending 10 hours a day in their environment moving in silence (when i'm not singing to my ipod) at 4 mph?

So.... (THIS IS WHERE THE DAY GETS INTERESTING) I stopped at the north end of the island - the above picture - to make some calls and a plan, stretch my legs and use the little boy's room. I heard back from some friends of friends who were very gracious to invite me to stay with them at their house on Skiddaway Island which I was siked about. The problem was that it was still 25 miles away by ICW, the tide would be against me, and it was already 3 oclock. I knew I couldn't make it before dark, if at all, unless I came up with another plan. I called the harbormaster at the marina where I could tie up and got his advice on the idea of jumping out into the ocean to cruise right up the east side of Ossabaw Isl to avoid the twists and turns of the waterway behind the island and cut off some considerable distance. I did still have that S wind anyhow. He wasn't complelty discouraging of the idea and when he checked the radar for me it looked like the big storm in the area was going to miss me to the west so I decided to give it a try. I made sure everything was secure on the deck, I attached my skirt and set off across St. Catherines Sound. Initially it wasn't so bad...there were good size waves but nothing to serious and as I made my way around the southern tip of Ossabaw I headed out past the breakers, a couple hundred yards off shore. Well, the waves continued to grow, and grow, as did the wind. My radio had said the wind was to forcast to decrease from 15-20 to 5-10 in the afternoon but that wasn't the case - the wind picked up plus I was in the ocean after all so theres zero exposure. I was out far enough that I didn't have to worry about the waves heading into shore, just the open-water waves created by the wind which were coming hard from the SE. At first it was quite fun, the waves were coming from just over my right shoulder bc I was on a N/NE course, and I was enjoying the thrill of the open water, the excitment of the waves and jamming out to my ipod. The waves just kept getting bigger though and I kept moving faster. At this point though there was no option besides stick to the plan to continue all the way up to Ossabaw Sound because the surf waves were way to big to try to land on the beach, especially without a helmet. I was taken tons of spray and waves over my bow and body and got complety soaked, plus it started to rain: the storm didn't miss me after all. And the waves got to the point where I started to get pretty nervous. I've never been involved, in any manner, with waves that big before. When I was in the trough I couldn't see anything else and the distance from the trough to the crests must have been 8-10 feet. I was starting to regret this decision but there was no other option then to keep going. After about an hour and a half I could see the end of Ossabaw and felt a little relief. The final 30 minutes though as I tried to enter the sound though was the trickiest. The waves lost all sense of pattern and started to come from my left, my right and from directly behind. (note: my charts only show the ICW and the small sourronding area on both sides so I couldnt see what the East side of Ossabaw was like. Today looking at the NOAA chart online WHICH YOU CAN SEE HERE, I noticed that there is a big sand bar coming off the NE tip of the island which was causing this) I had to conintually slow myself so I didn't take off surfing one of these monster waves. There were a couple close calls where I thought I was going over but I managed to stay upright. I fully recognize the potential catasrophy which could have escalated if I had capsized and not been able to succesfully roll being out so far off shore alone. FORTUNATLY it didn't happen. I finally made my way into the sound where the waves diminished a little bit and I was able to take a big sigh of relief and relax. I had traveled about 14 miles in just 2 hours and I thought at that point I was golden - naively I thought that I would just float right up to my intended target: Delegal Creek Marina. Well I got my bearings and realized I was South of Racoon Key which was about to become a barrier to my path in minutes bc of the outcoming tide which was stronger then I have ever felt it. At this point I was exhausted, soaked and mentally worn out. I was paddling with all the strength I had left and moving at a pace, according to my GPS, at .7 mph! So frustrating. To make matters worse Delegal Creek was right on the edge of two pages of my charts and I couldn't really get a good sense of where I needed to go. Instead of making a straight shot at the creek I ended up paddling in a million different directions at one point ending up all the way down at the cut between Wassaw and Pine Island. It was pretty brutal and the sun was dropping. Right at about 8 o'clock, 3 hours after leaving the ocean!, I made it to the entrance of Delegal Creek. As I was paddling into it the sunset was directly infront of me and the sky turned totally red and a pod of dolphin appeared all around me. It seemed like such a fitting end to such a tough day. Oh and then just a final twist of tragic-comdey the two markers in the creek were different then what they were identified as on my chart and so I thought that after everything I was in the wrong spot still! My chart must just be outdated. I have never been more exhausted and the only thing that kept me going was the thought of a hot shower and meal which the Smith's, Allison and Bob, provided after scooping me up at the marina. So I finished the day at mile 600, another 35 ICW miles that I was able to do in about 29. I would never have attempted to go so far without a place to stay so THANK YOU SMITHS!

So today was obviously I much needed day off and thats why this blog post is so long. Theres probably a lot more that I'm forgetting to mention but Ill add it later if I remember.

In retrospect the ocean venture might have not been the safest idea, it certainly was a gamble, but it paid off and I'm glad I did it. I won't again, that's for sure, but I'm glad I did. PLUS, now I'm only a day (two, tops) away from HHI!!!!

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!

Seth

Georgia is Wild(life)!; Sunday 4/27

Sunday couldn't have gone much smoother or been more enjoyable. I left the Lanier Isl. bridge (SEE THAT LOCATION BY CLICKING HERE) around 9 am at the start of an incoming tide. It was a beautiful few hours up the Mackay River where there was nothing but pristine, undeveloped marsh all around me. A maybe saw only a dozen other boats total before noon. I had scouted out a potential campsite on Blackbeard Isl which is a National Wildlife Refuge (so you're really not supposed to camp there) but the problem that I've noticed in GA is that dry land alond the ICW is hard to come by. Its pretty much marsh the whole way. So when I saw a nice spoil area at the NW corner of Little St. Simons I was tempted to stop, afraid that I wouldn't be able to reach my spot at Blackbeard, which was 40 miles away, and that I wouldn't find anything else. But I kept going into the Buttermilk Sound and thats when all the animals began showing up.

In a span of about an hour I was entertained by a large pod of friendly dolphin, several stingrays swimming close to survice and a sea turtle - I guess a Loggerhead?, I'm not good at identifying turtles. I also became a believer in what the crabbers had told me the day before bc I saw two alligators. The first was in the water, eyes and nose exposed as they often are, and I initially mistook him for a buoy and paddled too close. Just when I realized it was a big gator is when he decided to dive down so I changed my course and took off. Not even 5 minutes after seeing the first gator (I'm still looking over my shoulder to make sure hes not following me) I see some big shapes moving around on a marsh island in the distance. I was so curious so I paddled over to it and discovered cattle, at least 50 of them just hanging out. Where they were was on a small island, which my chart only classifies as MARSH -not even a name -on the north side of the waterway, just west of Dolbow Isl. I thought it was rather strange that they would be out there all by themselves and so I paddled along the edge of their island trying to snap some pictures of them to show you all. Well thats when I got an upclose look at my second gator. He was up on the bank sunning himself bc it was overcast and not too hot and when I came around the corner he let out a deep croak -kind of like a bullfrog - and then bellyfloped right in the water. I'll be honest I do not like seeing the alligators. I don't know if any of you have seen the horrible movie Lake Placid but I have and I could only immagine that gator swimming up from behind and jumping into my cockpit and tearing me apart. Anyhow, it was just a lot of animal interactions in a short time. Oh and I almost ran over a manatee right before: he surfaced right in front of me and I was just barely able to pull up my skeg in time so it didn't hurt him. Also I had these 2 annoying flies buzzing around my head like electrons all day which was so frustrating. I didn't get angry though bc I knew I would have the last laugh when they realized how far they had to fly to get home.

When I got to Deboy Sound (between Commodore and Sapelo Islands) the tide was moving out and the SE winds against the current created some large following waves. I didn't have my skirt on and I have to take my PFD off to get it over my head, which I obviously didn't want to do bc I was rough conditions) so I ended up getting pretty wet there. I took a shortcut up New Teakettle Creek and into the Mud River to avoid the longer Old Teekettle Creek/Front River route which worked out perfectly and saved me a few miles. It was getting late at this point and I was getting tired but I finished the day by paddling along the south side of Sapelo Sound finally reaching the beach at Blackbeard where I had planned on camping. It was a relief to see that it was indeed hard firm ground (sometimes Gmaps is hard to read) and that there was nice flat soft sand above the high tide mark. Stepping onto Blackbeard around 730 pm was the first I had gotten out of my boat all day so I was a little wobbly but was able to set up my tent and cook some pasta before passing out. It ended up being 42 ICW miles but only 37 for me bc of my sweet shortcut. One word about camping on the beach: it sucks. First off sand gets everywhere and you are totally exposed. It was my only option and it wasn't ideal but it worked so I cant complain. HERES THE LINK FOR WHERE I CAMPED

Also: Special Happy Birthday wishes to Sun all the way to Korea!!!

Last minute change of plans

As I was packing up my boat today at the ramp a couple of crabbers pulled up and began to unload their haul. After striking up a conversation they mentioned how earlier that day they had an altercation with an alligator. Their exact words were that they were "confronted with an gator that challenged them." They also claimed that they saw a total of 4 alligators just today alone all in the marsh, and that around here they are completely accustomed to the saltwater and are extremely brazen. Now, I'm sure you're as skeptical about all this as I was but they assured me and didn't seem like the kind of people to lie and mess with a stranger. In fact, one of the crabbers was a middle age woman who sincerely told me that she would be praying for my safety so I highly doubt she would worry me with fabricated gator stories and then be concerned for my well being. Anyhow, the point is that I decided to change my plan because of this new knowledge and abandon my intentions to camp on the VERY small speck of spoil land that I had scouted out on my charts and google maps. Instead I paddled a shortish session across to St. Simon Island which seems to be the most developed of GA's barrier islands that I've seen so far. My camping spot tomorrow night has to be gator free - its a little nook of beach on the north end of Blackbeard Isl but it means that its about 10 miles farther then I had expected. So tomorrow will be a BIG day if I'm able to make it. If I see something good before this spot that I have in mind and its getting late then I'll just stop there.

Now, you are going to think I'm totally cray and completly stupid if I tell you this but I will anyhow: one of my shortcuts got me into a very sticky situation today. Just one day after having such good self control and passing on a sure-thing shortcut I made a horrible decision to paddle up something called Mud River (should have been my first sign that it was a bad idea) under the impression that it was going to bring me out to Jekyll Sound west of the ICW which would make it nicer to cross with a quickly picking up outgoing tide. I think the sun and heat causes me to make bad decisions and I really need to be careful about that bc this was the most serious mistake yet, I think. My route kept getting narrower until and when I finally gave up and decided to turn around, well, I found I couldn't. There wasn't enough room to swing my 17.5 foot boat around so I HAD TO BACK OUT. It was miserable. Plus all I could think about were the alligators that I imagined lurking there, waiting to devour me amongst the marsh grass where I would never be found again. Those crabbers had really freaked me out.....


I guess thats all for now. Early day tomorrow so I need to sleep.

Peace,
Bishop

MADE IT!

Ok, I know its been a while since there has been an update. Here's the deal:

I ended up being holed up in Fernandina beach a little longer then I expected. Wednesday was the windiest day of the month so I didn't even go close to the water instead I rested and explored Fernandina, which by the way is a great little town.

Thursday I had every intention to paddle, and had set a pretty narrow window of when I needed to leave so that I would not be totally hindered by the tidal currents. Unfortunately I felt pretty horrible Thursday, ended up sleeping WAY in and missed that window. Fortunately my mother was still around and we were able to have a nice day together touring Fort Clinch, built to protect Cumberland Sound, and exploring more of Amelia Isl.

Yesterday was a big day. A milestone day actually, as I finally reached Georgia! I left Fernandina around 10 am, trying to cross Cumberland Sound just before the mid-incoming tide so that I could ride it up the backside of the island and into the Crooked River. A little way into the Crooked River my chart showed what looked to be a pretty convenient little shortcut, the Brickhill River, and there were a couple small boats that branched off and took it. Against much temptation I withheld. I'm sure it would have been fine but sticking to the Waterway ended up being the better decision anyhow I think b/c as the tide began to go back out I was rewarded by being in deeper water (so a faster current). I stopped for my only break on an exposed shell bank just across the water from the tip of Little Cumberland Island. The water had begun to get quite choppy so I wanted to rearrange the gear I was carrying to add some more weight to the bow, and put on my skirt before attempting to cross St. Andrew's Sound which everyone kept telling me was the hardest of GA's sounds to navigate. It took me about an hour to cross the 3 mile wide sound and the tide was still moving out pretty quickly so despite my best effort I ended up getting sucked out pretty well. I hit Jekyll Isl. on the very SE tip and hopped out just for a moment on the absolutely amazing beach.

I finished the day with just a few more miles around, into Jekyll Creek, and up to the Jekyll Island Club for a total of 32 miles where I was able to get some dinner and rest up. I am planning on camping the next too nights and have some good sites scouted out. It feels like it has been so long since I camped last.

Oh also, I noticed that people seem most interested in hearing about my "romantic escapades." I guess I should have mentioned that they will have to be exaggerated too.......sorry.

I'm going to try to get back to a regular blog update schedule so keep checking back please.



IT FEELS GREAT TO BE IN GEORGIA! Flordia was fantastic but I am not sad to be moving on. Plus, I should be within 100 miles of Hilton Head if I can reach my campsite tonight. Thats where I have my sites set now.

-Seth

GRRR, not there yet

I can now see GA but am not there yet.

After 2 hours of charting and strategizing yesterday I decided to start paddling at 4 pm, a little before low tide. My thinking was that I could get up to the north end of Amelia Is. by the time the current from the incoming tide really picked up and then I could cross Cumberland Sound and ride the current as it filled in the waterway behind Cumberland Is. Well, that didn't work out so well.

The current got strong sooner then I anticipated, there was a strong afternoon head wind, and the moon didn't rise till very late last night. Today was probably the windiest day yet, of course straight out of the north, so I took the day off......

TOMORROW, I paddle into Georgia!
(no fooling around this time - I have a better strategy)

a REALLY familiar face.

After a good night sleep Whitney and I hurried to go get the boat from where we had stashed it the night before - a friend of hers house close to the boat ramp - and get me underway so she could make her 9 am law school class. I was resuming at the exact same place that I had stopped that night before, under the rt 210 bridge in Ponte Vedra Beach. The first 7/8 miles of the day were through the cabbage canal which is just a narrow land cut void of any marinas, anchorages, fuel, or commercial activity of any kind. In fact, the entire western bank of this stretch was completely undeveloped and apparently belongs to the Davis family of the Winn Dixie enterprise.

Again, I had the wind in my face. I know I mention the wind a lot but only because it is such a critical factor with paddling. Plus, everyone keeps telling me how unusual it is for the winds to be out of the north for so long straight. It was a pretty stiff (15 mph?) but not debilitating so I was able to eventually, after 5 hours, reach the Saint Johns River crossing. Until this point there hadn't been ANYWHERE to get out, stretch my legs and take a break, and for whatever reason I just could not get comfortable today in my boat. I was the most UNcomfortable that I've been yet, actually. My legs were getting tight, my butt hurt, my left elbow was sore, I was developing a new blister on my right palm, the muscles across my shoulder blades were burning, and I kept (for whatever reason I don't know) scraping my hand on the cockpit coping - i guess something was off in my stroke today. Anyhow, I finally found a place that I was able to pull over just before crossing St Johns but it was certainly not ideal, just a steep oyster shell bank. Crossing the river was a little tricky but just on the other side was a huge boat yard with some crazy vessels in it. There were all kinds of different types of boats but that one that caught my eye was Le Grand Bleu so I paddled up to it to check it out. There were 2 HUGE bumpers hanging off the port side of it and I wasn't sure at first why but after inspecting it closely I realized that it is where 1 or it's 2(!) auxiliary, deployable yachts positions to be re-stowed. I found it online, check it out: Le Grand Bleu.

So up until this point in the day I had decided that the Jacksonville stretch was my least favorite section so far. Coincidently Whitney had given me two very interesting but unreferenced facts about the city doing my crash-course tour she gave me. First, that Jacksonville has become the largest city in America, as defined by square miles. And second, that it has the highest AIDS prevalence rate of anywhere in the country too. Who knows if either are true (I'm to tired to look them up). BUT after St. Johns I had a complete change of heart. The waterway became an absolutely GORGEOUS stretch of undeveloped marsh. As far as you could see on both sides. It was a little taste of what Georgia should be like.

....Speaking of Georgia: I pulled my boat out of the water again tonight with the help of family tonight at the south end of Amelia Island - so I'm very close. My parents were at there place on Daufuskie Island this weekend for the Heritage Golf Tournament in HHI and so my mother made the 2 hour drive south today to see her baby boy and pamper me with a nice dinner. I'm getting spoiled, this is the 3rd night in a row I can sleep in a bed use a real computer: thats why this post is a little long-winded.

The FL/Georgia is only about 14 miles away. I can practically see it and I can smell the peaches on the other side. Tomorrow I say goodbye to FL!

A familiar face

After a fantastic day of paddling and a 2 1/2 hour scenic detour where I took one of my famous “shortcuts” which I don’t want to talk about (this time I promised I learned my lesson) I finally made it to my intended destination. For the first time since I have started, I got to see a friend, the first person I have known along the way. A friend from Colorado Whitney was able to come down and pick me up when I was done paddling today. I was able to sleep in a bed for the second night in a row. We had to strap my boat to her small Acura… check out the pictures, it was quite comical, we had to go really slow and there was a long line of people behind us.

I am ready to be done with this state; I have Georgia on my mind.
Check out my current location!

A million thanks to Gracie and Zach!

Thanks to The McKennas, for their help in yee olde St. Augustine.
Yesterday, I tied my boat up at 2pm when I arrived to St Augustine at Zach's dock where he operates a fantastic eco adventure company called St. Augustine Eco Tours. He runs a no compromise environmental education water based tour company. They are awesome guides, please check them out if you are in St. Augestine. I hung out in town for a while, I was a tourist though I didn’t get on the touristy streetcars, and I saw Flagger College and the old fort. I saw the St. Augustine cathedral and tons of funky art galleries and shops. I killed some more time in a rowdy local bar called trade winds. I met the McKennas who were coming back from Orlando from a wedding; they loaded me up on thousands of calories and then got to go to sleep in a bed for the first time in a week! This morning, Gracie served me up a glass of fresh squeezed vibrant pink juice she made. It was delicious and gave me the most unbelievable energy the whole day, I never got tired. When you check out my most recent pictures, please note that the picture I put up is just a temporary bridge, not the Bridge of Lions. The town is using this temp bridge while they renovate the other bridge. The locals were adamant about getting the bridge restored, not replaced. They are using this temporary 45 million dollar bridge lift bridge which can be put up in 2 weeks time while they restore the Bridge of Lions, which is regarded as the most beautiful bridge on a waterway, which I sadly don’t get to see. When the renovations are complete the large lions that it is famous for will be back up. Yesterday's location!

paddling by the pale moon light

I woke up yesterday at about 8:00am to intense morning sunlight. It was a gorgeous day and I kind of slept in so i considered my options and with a place to stay in St. Augestine tomorrow night and knowing that there was a full-ish moon tonight, I decided to relax and take my paddling session for the day to the night.
It was nice being in a sanctioned camp ground because I really enjoyed talking to my fellow campers and it turns out my neighbors were from Swanton, Vermont and were UVM alumni too! They spend 6 months (the cold Vermont months) here in Florida. It was also really nice to have a hot shower and electricity right at my site to charge up batteries.
I walked down to check on my boat and it had rested fine during the night. I got out some breakfast stuff and my bathing suit and took a dip in the ocean which was a little brisk. Once i got in, it felt great, the waves were very big and powerful, a couple knocked me down and there was a strong rip current, I found I was using a lot of energy so I stopped thinking it was more wise to save it for paddling later. The beach is beautiful and the sand is reddish (i will try to put a picture up of this) one of the local guys told me that there is a shell that gives the sand this reddish color. I broke down camp and took another shower and put things in my kayak where they would be safe near the Ranger Station. I walked back up to High Tide to get some lunch... ended up staying there for a while, place it great, fun atmosphere right on the beach.
I got my stuff together and got on the water about 6:30pm, paddled through the sunset into dark and paddled along with the almost full moon over my back until about 11:30. I had only gone about 16 miles (roughly half way) and I had intended to go farther but I didn't know if I could navigate the inlet coming up. There were also a lot of people out last night being a full moon and a Friday, they were tearing up the waterway in boats and personal waterway, a few didn't have any lights on. I don't know if it was because of the full moon or because it was Friday but there was some unsafe and strange boating behavior going on. I think most of the drivers were pretty young, there was a lot of "whooping" and I just about witnessed what would have been an ugly head on collision with a boat that was going way to fast without any lights on at all. So I found a nice spot to pull over and slept for 7 hours.
*It came to my attention recently that the nice folks over at Clark (junglehammock.com) put up a blurb about the trip (coincidently it was the same day that I happened posted a picture of my tent on the blog. I am actually carrying two types of shelters (tent and hammock) with a combined weight of only 8 pounds. It has proved invaluable to have both. There are sometimes when the conditions only allow one to be possible for use. Clark has saved my butt many times already because it can go up so quickly and you can tie their hammock pretty much anywhere, trees, fences. Plus, its green so it blends in. To be honest,I sleep better in the hammock then in the tent but I have to carry the tent because there have been many times when there are no trees or area to put the hammock up. For example, last night, my camping site was just a hard patch of sand/gravel so there was no way I would have been able to use the hammock. I am lucky because both my tent and hammock compliment each other well. I am very grateful to the people at Clark. I love the hammock, I actually keep it past my foot-pegs, in the cockpit so I can get it out without opening either hatch and unpack things.
I have about 20 miles or so to St. Augestine, I am going to try to get there about 2pm and sight see a little bit and walk around what is regarded as the oldest town in America.

Right down by da beach, boy!

Yesterday, 4.17.08, I woke up and was upset to find out that they put out a small craft advisory the night before, which meant I would be paddling in a lot of wind but I decide to go anyhow, it was only 25 miles to where I had intended. I had a set goal because I made a reservation in Gamble Rogers state park for a campsite for the night. Once you make a reservation you can’t cancel or alter it.
The wind was awful, right in my face and yesterday’s course was perfectly straight, as straight as Wilt Chamberlin. So I had no cover at all, and I paddled along the side as best as I could, but the wind was in my face all day. I saw lots of good places to stop and camp but didn’t want to waste my reservation.
Made it there about 6:30… Found out the campsite was quite a walk from where I had to leave my boat, which I wasn’t happy about. I tried to load up on just the bare necessities for the night to make one trip up to the campsite. I got a ride from my “neighbor” to a place called High Tide where I had some beers and loaded up on calories and then got to bed early.
The park is actually cool because it is right on the beach and I have electricity and a shower so I am happier today. I found out this area used to be a lookout for German U boats during WW1 and then was given to the Park Department after the war. It is pretty cool, beautiful beach; Gamble Rogers (I wasn’t sure who he was) was apparently a Florida folk singer who was very popular and died while trying to save another swimmer in the surf.
I think I am going to hang out for a bit, its hot, its about 35r miles to St. Augustine, which I am excited to get to, everyone is saying how much I am going to love it. I plan on starting around dusk today and paddling in the full moon tonight and then hopefully arrive in the morning so I can enjoy St. Augustine during the day.

That’s the plan
Stay tuned to see if it changes
Bishop

Check out my current location!
note: as I'm dictating this blog a long black racer snake just slithered by. A little to close for my liking.

We strive for accuarcy

Editors correction... Devin King, helpful with local knowledge on the Indian River Lagoon, his name is spelled with an "i" I wanted to make sure I got that right. Thanks for the knife cleaning trick, it worked great!

Thanks for all the comments guys, they are very encouraging, I read each and every one.

Make sure you check out the new poll!

4.16.08 3:30pm ET

Here is my sweet camping spot! I have decided to stay on my island today because of the wind intensity today, 30 miles an hour. I am relaxing, eating and reading my book. I have checked the forecast for tomorrow and the wind looks like it will be on my side, so I plan to make it to Daytona tomorrow.
Check out my current location!
(P.S. I love the blog master)

Update- getting nowhere fast 4.15.08 12:25pm ET

(I tried to capture the essence of the wind in this one. I call it: The Wind from Within (I know, you can't even tell its windy))

I have been paddling for 3 hours in a tremendous headwind and I am not making much progress. In the last three hours, I have only gone about 6 miles. It’s the coldest day so far, it’s windy; my radio says guts up to 20-30 miles an hour with gusts up to Gail force. I am not even sure what Gail force is exactly, but it can’t be good.
Fortunately I am seven miles from a camping site I found in Port Orange, just south of Daytona. I am going to push through the wind, make it to the camping site and hopefully get to Daytona tomorrow. I miss the Night Swan already.
This morning after crossing under the bridge, I saw a path branching off the left through the mangroves, thinking I was being clever, I thought I would take it as a shortcut. I looked at my map and it looked like a shortcut.
After paddling for about 25 minutes, I saw two fishermen and asked them
“Oh this is a dead end” not only was this embarrassing, but I had to backtrack and retrace my steps which cost me about 45 minutes. I have learned my lesson not to take shortcuts unless they have been more scouted out!

This can only end in tragedy
Bishop

(new pictures!!!)

April 15 8:00am ET

I had a fantastic day yesterday in New Smyrna Beach. I walked up to the public library, was able to use the computer to do a lot of correspondence, used Google maps to plan out the next 150 miles or so nice to use a real computer instead of trying to figure things out on my phone…hate to leave the night swan, they have been so good here. This morning I will paddle underneath the bridge and pass the Pons de Leon inlet where I hope I can catch a glimpse of the lighthouse, 159 feet, tallest in the state, second tallest in the country. It’s actually quite interesting because they retired this lighthouse in 1970 because there was a coast guard station right next door so it was redundant Then in the 80’s there were condos built along the beach so this coastal development blocked the coast guard station and they then had to restore the lighthouse. I am headed up to Daytona, the wind is going to be bad but I have to make it to Daytona to one of the places I picked out to camp. I found out why they can drive on the beach around here, it has to do with Daytona. That is where NASCAR started. They used to drive the cars on the beach which is where the tracks used to be. At low tide they had hard, flat sand which they could race their cars on. They let people do it still to preserve that tradition. I learned all of this yesterday and thought it was very interesting. I had a great interaction last night at a place called Maloney’s. Jim the proprietor was super nice; I also got to hang out with his roommate Jason. He makes an oyster stew and a shrimp skillet dish which is one of the best things I have ever had. Everything is cooked in one of these really cool and old fashioned steaming skillets which is one of only 8 in the country. They are very unique! Jim gave me a lot of tips and share some interesting stories as he has been a sailor for a long time. He has sailed his boat down here from Michigan down here. If you are near New Smyrna, I highly recommend stopping here; it’s a very cool place.

Further bulletins as events warrant.
I will send my location tonight.

Sunday April 13th, 9:00pm ET

Click here to see my exact location!!

(Picture to the left is of the Night Swan B and B!)
Sorry it’s been so long since my last update, Friday was a fantastic day off, and I got rested up. I owe a lot of gratitude to the King Family, Devon and Deanna. First we went and saw The Cape Canaveral Locke, which was great because I had never seen a functioning lock before. We went downtown and they showed me Cocoa Beach, we had lunch at happening place called coconuts. It felt like I was on vacation. Devon was full of local knowledge and for a third grader, I was very impressed. Yesterday, I finally had a south wind. Went about 30 miles, finally left the Indian River lagoon. Even with the wind on my side, it was still a tricky day, if you don’t pay attention; you end up getting hit by big waves over the deck. I was pretty wet all day yesterday because I paddled without my skirt. I went through the lagoon and found a place to camp on the other side. My camping spot was less then ideal. I got up this morning and was on the water by 8:00. There was a huge headwind; probably 15-20 miles an hour, it was pretty rough. I was able to hop from small island to island but still with the wind I wasn’t making very good progress. About noon it started to rain, so I wasn’t making a lot of progress. I made it to East Mirna which was my target and shacked up in a fantastic spot called the Night Swan which is a little bed and breakfast along the water just south of the Bridge. I took a really long hot shower, went into town and got a great meal. This is where Ponce de Leon stopped for resupplying and was attacked by Indians. It’s the largest colonized settlement by far, three times larger then Virginia.

Very cool, historic downtown, everything is in walking distance, its an awesome town that I wish I could spend more time in. breakfast tomorrow at 730, then I am out of here and I hope to get to Daytona Beach

Type at your later,

Seth

Sat 4.12.08

Click here to see my current location!

4.11.08 12:15pm ET

Click here to see my current location!!

4.11.08 8:50am ET

Sorry it has been so long, I hope nobody has been worrying about me. I am fine in fact I have a roof over my head tonight.

I started out yesterday morning with a hard paddle continuing up the Indian River. The wind was coming out of the east 15-20 miles an hour; I hopped from island to island along the west taking cover from the wind when I could. I saw so many manatees, almost 15 just today! I passed the coolest island I have seen so far Grant Farm Island. Great houses, not that big, but with a lot of character. There I saw a sea turtle that followed me for a little bit which was pretty neat. The Indian River lagoon is really wide and straight so you ca see very far in the distance. As I have mentioned before, when I see a bridge in the distance, it might take three hours to reach. The islands were starting to end and the sun was dropping so I was worried about finding a place to stay, I went as far as I could…. By the time the sun set at 745, I still hadn’t set. I was very very fortunate to find a spot, although it wasn’t a perfect spot as it was very illegal being on someone’s property. There was just enough room for me to put up my hammock. In the middle of the night I heard a loud sound and realized it was sprinklers! I was on someone’s property. There were also spotlights underneath the trees.

I was up on the water by 7:30, paddled about 18 miles. A ways up Merit Island, just north of coco beach, about 5 miles from Kennedy Space Center. I am staying with some really nice folks from Maryland. Devon (a young boy actually) came out to meet me as I was paddling in…

We had a great dinner, I was able to buy some food and supplies…tomorrow I will be reevaluating my food situation, recuperating and site seeing.

4.9.08 8:10am ET

Check out my current location!
Check out my most recent pictures!

Welcome to Manatee Country April 8th

I woke up today at 730 in the morning in my mondo camping spot. I had arranged earlier to meet up with Steve Cox today. Steve is the owner of a bunch of kayak rental places and I was going to met up with him and some of his paddlers to get a better sense of the Indian River Lagoon where I will be paddling the next few days. One the way to met Steve, I was paddling along and, on a sand bar, there were a bunch of birds. Maybe 50 total. Pelicans. Cormorants. Common Terns. They were all just sitting groups by type. I was trying to admire them without getting to close but the wind kept pushing me towards the sandbar. Unfortunately, I got blown too close and triggered their flight. After they took off I looked back at the sand bar and saw a single Cormorant on the sand bar and thought: "what a brave little bird". Turns out I had just caught him mid poop. He finished up and afterwards followed his friends. About 15 minutes before I met with Steve and his group I had another animal encounter. I saw my first manatee. He was just swimming along so I paddled along next to him for a while. But then, when I met up with Steve and his group they were surrounded by manatee. Like a half dozen of them. This made me feel a bit less excited about my encounter. I paddled with Steve and his group for a while and then pushed on to the River Side Cafe where I stopped for lunch. I met three nice Marylanders who "sponsored" lunch! Thank you, Kent. I am really going to have to rethink my food strategy though. I don't think I am bringing in enough calories and all of this paddling against the wind is exhausting. I am finding I need one really big meal, either I have to stop for lunch or cook a lot when I finally camp for dinner. After lunch I paddled on until I almost dusk when I found a good place to camp, just past Paul's Island and directly west of Pelican Island National Refuge. The refuge was the first bit of land ever set aside by the Federal Government as a protected animal Refuge. I think that is pretty cool.

I will send my location in the morning and upload some pictures in a bit.

Let's hope for a shift in the wind, the last few days have been tough.

Seth

What a doosey! 4.07.08 9:20am ET

Today was some of the hardest paddling I have ever done. Ever. I am in the Indian River now and it’s very wide and the wind was coming out of the Northwest which made it very tough to paddle. I was hugging the west shore to try and buffer myself and of course all of a sudden the wind picks up and changes direction, the northeast and I find myself on the wrong side. This stretch is very straight and wide. I might see a bridge in the distance and it takes 2 and ½ hours until I reach that bridge. It plays with your mind so I have to be patient.
The one redeeming part of the day was that this morning I slept in and for whatever reason I packed my pee Nalgene in the front bulkhead. I am not sure why. Of course, I needed to pee 1 hour in. the wind was too strong to lean over the side. I thought I would go over to the side to pee. As I was heading over to the bank, I caught a glimpse of a manaray jumping out of the water. He made a huge splash!
Even with the bad conditions, I made it to where I had intended….Just past Fort Peirce inlet. The one that I had intended to camp on which is called Boy Scout island was filled with trash, which was a little disheartening, I hope that’s not what they are teaching boy scouts these days.
I kept going, which I thought I might regret, but I was happy to find a small grassy island. I met a nice family who was also camping on the island. The husband and the young son promised not to come scare me in the middle of the night. Today I will be paddling with some men from the local kayak club.

Check out my current location!

4.7.08 9am ET

Check out my current location!

Hey everyone, I am here in Jensen Beach, I have had two relatively easy days, and I feel great! I paddled up to a fantastic little spot called the Caribbean Shores, really nice people and right on the water. It is a Key West style retreat on the west side of the Indian River. The compound is bright pink with brilliant murals decorated all over; this place is a work of art. I uploaded pictures, so check them out! I walked into the town last night, had an unbelievable dinner and had a great night sleep. I slept in this morning. I am planning on paddling about 25 miles today to this place called where I will be staying tonight called Boy Scout Island, it is just south of Vero Beach.

Peace, Bish

big ups to my main man wayne

I have a confession to make, I didn't paddle yesterday, I took the day off. Friday night, I was worn out. Fortunately, my new friend Wayne, who is a connection through a family friend was able to save the day. He drove down from Vero Beach to pick me up, he strapped my boat to his car and put the gear inside, brought me to his place and gave me a bed to sleep. I was like a zombie, I crashed, it was probably the best night sleep I ever had. Yesterday I met some of his friends, also from Baltimore, we ate some crabs and I had a great day to recover, make some connections and plan. 

This morning, he brought me back to the same beach that he picked me up from. It was important to me that I resumed paddling in the same spot I had left off in. I saw a lot of sting rays and ibisses today. A pelican flew right at me and was hovering over the water, neither of us wanted to change our tragectories... at the last minute, he flew right over my head, I could have reached up to grab him but I let it go, knowing that I won. Right now I am stopped on a small beach I am going to this funky little bed and breakfast that is supposed to be really cool. I am looking forwrad to it because there is a town that I can walk to and pick up some more food supplies. 

Thanks again Wayne you are my hero...

Stay tuned for more!

Shout out to Koop-aloop and his eggs benedict

4.4.08 3:00pm

Lots to update since last time:

Yesterday left the canal and entered into Lake Worth, it was very windy. Paddled until about 5:30, 6:00 with no word back from the marina I was interested in staying, I decided to stay at an island I found called Hunters Island which looked nice. I circled and found the best spot, facing west, left my batteries to charge up a bit with my solar panel. I then cruised over to another island to try to find a place to set up my hammock. I found a great spot on a teeny little island, went back, got my solar panels…I set up and secured the boat, found out that it was new moon today, and there was an extremely high tide, started to worry my island was going to disappear. Fortunately it didn’t and I made it through another night! Now I am resting on Jupiter Island, its 3pm I have been paddling all day. Came through the rest of Lake Worth today… I passed Peanut Island which was cool; Kennedy had his fall out shelter there. The water there was real clear. I finally saw one of those big sharks; it must have been four feet or so. I am pretty exhausted, I might rest for an hour or so but then I’m going to try to paddle some more….

I am happy to have officially have left Southern Florida!

4.3.08 12:01pm ET

Dear Diary,
I woke up this morning just before sunrise at about 6:30am after a pretty good night sleep I felt rested and ready to go. Packed up my things and got on the water by 7. I hugged the east side of the bank all morning and stayed in shallow water. It was very clear; I looked down and saw many fish although I don’t know what kinds, a big turtle, lots of egrets and a great blue heron! I did another 13 miles this morning and I am here taking a break in Del Ray and trying to make it to Palm Beach by tonight.

I was just forwarded a very interesting email about a site that you should check out called miami2maine.com you can read about a woman who paddled a canoe on a very similar path as I am.

It is another beautiful day and I will keep floating on...

You dont have to worry about me mom

I experienced a very unexpected random act of kindness today while lounging in a park taking a nap. A very nice couple, Ed and Edna. We talked for quite some time. Ed is a fellow paddler and had some great advice about the local area and they were kind enough to bring me juicy local navel oranges, plums and jerky as well as a great water supply that will last for days. It was very thoughtful of them and very touching. Thank you Ed and Edna!

4.2.08 11:58am ET

11:25am ET Distance 43 1/2 miles, average pace 3.8 miles an hour, max 10.2 mph

Last night was a little rough, after paddling for hours and hours up the canal with 4 feet sea walls on each side. I finally found a marina with public boat launches similar to what I left from in the morning. Several of the slips were being worked on and were blocked in by a barge- there was just enough room for me to put my kayak in between. Once I slipped my boat in and tied it up, it was basically protected like a little harbor, with the barge protecting my boat from wakes.

Wasn't any great place to set up shelter so I opted to sleep under the stars. It was a little chilly, windy and I was a little nervous about being unprotected. I woke up at 4:30am because I couldn't sleep anymore and got on the water by 5am. I just did 5 1/2 more hours and 17 miles.

I just found a nice little beach at a public park, there is a sign that says the name, but I'm too tired to go down and see what it says. I plan on taking a nap, I pulled my kayak up by some rocks, there is a bridge a little ways up so there shouldn't be any wake concerns for my boat.
Click here to see my current location!

Today has been a lot like yesterday afternoon because I have been paddling in a canal which is not very wide while yesterday morning when there was a lot more open water. When the big boats come back and forth, they create a bathtub effect and I get jostled which is fun. This one guy must have passed me 6 times, I don't know what he was doing. I noticed this other guy that was fishing from his boat and he was using bait that was as big as my forearm! Maybe he was going after some of those upriver sharks I have heard about!

Lots of new pictures are up! Make sure to check them out here! They are in no order whatsoever so use your Nancy Drew skills to figure out the chronology.

I hope to do 8 more miles today after I rest, so I can get to 50 and continue with a 25 mile pace.


Dictated but not read...
Seth

4.2.08 9:15am ET

Hello, I wanted to formally introduce myself as the "blogger" I will be using this forum to dictate everything Seth has to say about his journey so nothing from the trip will be "lost in translation"

From Seth:
"I have had a lot of requests to be added to the list to receive the g-maps link which is awesome! Unfortunately, it turns out the device can’t accommodate all the addresses. So to avoid playing favorites and leaving anyone out what I’m going to do is post the the most recent link of my location at the top of each blog entry."

Click here to see Seth's current location!
Latitude:26.0144
Longitude:-80.1218
Nearest Location: Polk St, Hollywood, FL, US
Distance: 0 km(s)
Time:04/01/2008 22:19:25 (GMT)

Starting location: Key Biscayne, Florida
Starting Date: 4.1.08
Starting Time: 8:45am ET

Departure

Its 8:45am and I got all packed up, boat seems to be riding well, put it in for a test spin around the harbor, then it started to rain which I thought was a little ominous but following that a beautiful rainbow appeared which I figured was a better sign!

Thank you everyone for your support so far. I cant believe this day has finally come! I have equal amounts of nervousness and excitement.