Paddling the Intracoastal Waterway

Second To Last Day

2008-06-27T10:48:00.002-04:00

Hello Everyone, tomorrow July 28th, I will finish my three month kayak trip in the Baltimore Inner Harbor! I plan to paddle in at about 12pm. If you are in the area, please come and say hello.
Location etc. to follow.

Getting Closer

2008-06-24T09:29:00.001-04:00

Current Location- 6.24.08 9:30am

6.23.08

2008-06-23T10:16:00.001-04:00

Sorry I have been so lax in updating this blog the last week or so (basically since I got to the Chesapeake Bay) it’s just that I haven’t had great cell phone service and when I have it seems like I have been really busy, it has been quite an interesting few days. First of all, I had the most amazing time on Smith Island, I learned so much there about the Chesapeake Bay. I think I had crabs for almost every meal… soft, caked or steamed. It was so great to hang out with Phil. We paddled a canoe which man I stink at. I never would have made this trip in a canoe. Phil kept yelling at me to stop leaning. Next I paddled to Hooper Island, where I got stuck in a thunderstorm. It seems as though I have been stuck in a storm almost every night this week. At least at this point I had researched what to do in an electrical storm. I felt a little safer because I had the knowledge and knowing is half the battle.
The next day my aunt and uncle came down from Pennsylvania. I had my first on the water company which was great. My uncle paddled with me for a couple of days and it was nice because I was talking but not to myself for once. I was having a hard time keeping up with him, he is must faster then I am. On Sat, it was my father’s birthday. He came down from Baltimore with my sister and mother. Then his grandmother, (my great grandmother) came up from Chincoteague with my great aunt. It was quite a reunion! We had lunch and I hadn’t seen my father since March so that was great. My great grandmother is one of my biggest fans, she follow my blog very closely.
I came out to James Island and camped here Sat night. Yesterday when I woke up I felt like relaxing. Since I had a nice hammock set up I decided to stay for the day. I swam, read and made a feast. I should be Annapolis Tuesday afternoon and then hang out for a day. I am giving my self plenty of time, I am in no rush. I love not having to do 30 miles a day and I love being able to lounge. I know I need to upload pictures; I haven’t had a Wi-Fi connection so I will continue to look for one. When I get to a computer I will upload more info about Smith Island… what a cool place, I learned so much. It will be an easy day about 20 miles to where I am headed. More to come!

Happy First Day of Summer!

2008-06-20T12:34:00.000-04:00

Click here to see my location last night 6.19.08

2008-06-16T17:14:00.002-04:00

The details from a couple exciting days since crossing the mouth of the Bay:

Ok lets see.....

After touching the shore of SE VA on at Kiptopeke SP on thursday afteroon I was in a tremendously good mood. The folks at the park had been firm in stating that I was not allowed to beach my kayak if I wanted to camp with them ( I asked whether they were encouraging me to drive in instead to which I didn't get a response) so I paddled very leisurly for a couple more hours staying right off the beach. There were no creeks or inlets to duck into but I didn't mind camping there right under the sandy cliffs and I found a nice little spot between two big fallen trees that would provide a little break from the wind, hide me a little, and prevent morning walkers from strolling by. It was an un-eventful but pleasent night and the next morning I got up ready to paddle what I expected to be 5-6 miles to Cape Charles where I planned to visit South East Expeditions, a kayak/kite surfing shop owned by Dave Burden the brother of Sarah who helped me out in SC, to get some local knoweldge. Turns out I was already in Cape Charles because in ten minutes I had come to their little harbor. I realized why I had been getting looks from passing boats, they probably had never seen anyone camp there before. HERE IS THE SPOT.

Anyhow, I found Dave's shop which was nice and spent awhile talking to John who I suspect is from England (or Australia - I didn't ask) who gave me lots of good information. He did confirm my suspicion that the general attitude to camping along the beach is not a favorable one. Oh well. I spent a few hours poking into their little boutique shops and getting coffee/lunch and generally being a tourist. They were having a Schooner festival the next night (Sat) so I admired some tall ships that had already come in. By the time that I got back underway it was like 1 oclock and I had only gone about a mile earlier. I didn't have much motivation that afternoon either and I took full advantage of the Eastern Shore's ample kayak "rest stops" to relax and just Enjoy. I was feeling very glad that I spent the time and effort to get over here because it was perfect paddling. Very calm wind, I stuck close to shore and admired big empty patches of marsh, all the usual suspects of shore birds, rays, crabs and some nice houses up on the banks. It was just a very relaxing afternoon. Towards dusk my lucky timing once again struck and as I paddled past a large group of kids playing in the water their mother yelled out an offer of a cold beverage for a spin in my kayak. She was probably just kidding but I took her up on it imediatly before she could retract and just like that I was sitting in one of their lounge chairs sipping a rum and coke while she took the Steiner Liner for a little cruise. It was the first time in 2 and a half months that someone else besides myself has paddled my boat. After she was done we let each of the kids (ages 6-10) play in it too. I was so impressed that these little guys were able to maneuver it so well. The best one was the oldest boy, Jordan, who I'm ashamed to say handled the boat better then I do. It turned out two families had rented the place for the weekend and had come over from Virginia Beach. They didn't believe me at first when I said that I had come from Miami and insisted that I had to have a vehicle close by. They ended up feediing me a big plate of spagetti and let me camp there in their yard. It ended up working out well since I had just been warned that morning about camping along the beach.

Saturday I woke up early after something ( I suspect a pine cone) slamed into my poor little tent (I suspect a child with a good arm) and got on the water as soon as I could. It was another fantastic day and I decided there is no reason to push it so I moved along at a reasonable but certainly not aggresive pace. At one point I was saddened to see a large sea turtle washed up, still completly intact except for a large slit down its shell, presumably from a ship. I also learned about a frustrating trap for paddlers here on the eastern shore. When attempting to follow the shore you have to be very careful of marshy bays that you have to back-track out of. For almost the entire length of the ICW I was able to get by using eyeball navigation and perhaps I picked up some bad habits but twice on saturday I got suckered into areas that proved to be dead ends. These impeneratrable marsh walls seem to appear out of nowhere bc they are so low and I still don't carry binocs. Its particulary frustrating to when, like Sat, there is a tail wind and you're crusing and then you have to turn around and paddle back into the wind to get around the jutting laing. and its particularly embarrising when you pass a good sized riviera and wave and say hi to all the shirtless dudes and girls in bikinis and then 5 minutes later you are paddling back in the other direction. I don't know if that makes sense or not to you all but regardless its something I'm going to be more careful of.

Ok, and then the day got interesting. The plan that I had made in my head was to set my self up for a nice, straight-shot open water crossing to Smith Isl on Sunday so I stopped for the night at the tip of IIIIIIIIIIIIIIii so that I wouldn't end up paddling FARTHER from Smith. The little spit of land I selected wasn't like the ideal camp spot but I could have been fine, I've definitely stayed in stranger places along the way. Well it wasn't until I had finished cooking dinner and getting ready to through up the tent right at dusk did I hear over the weather radio that there was a rapidly growing storm that was going to be headed directly for me. I was being stubborn maybe but I was very reluctant to paddle somewhere "safer" so I decided just to hunker down and ride it out. Well it was only like 1.5 hours till high tide and I had at least 10 feet of sand between me and the water so I figured it could be close but I would be fine. I positioned the boate inbetween my tent and the water thinking that might help a little if the water did actually rise. It did, and my little breakwall didn't help. First the storm brought strong winds which pulled out most of my stakes - they don't tend to hold very well in sand - and lots of cloud to cloud lightning. The winds filled up my tent with pounds of sand and put a nice coating on EVERYTHING. I was sure that my tent was going to blow away with me in it. Then as it began to rain the lightning began to struck the ground/water. I'm not one that gets nervous in storms and have never really been worried about lightning but my tent being the highest thing in a large sourounding area I got a little anxious. I wasn't sure whether aluminum tent poles attract lightning or not but I felt pretty sure that I was going to get struck. And then my tent gets smacked by my boat. The water had already risen high enough to move it about 4 feet up the beach and hit my feet (yes, it was tied to something so it couldn't float off). I moved my tent back as far as I could which was not much farther and got back inside right as the rain began to pound. It was almost midnight and I was exhausted so despite all this excitment and my nervousness I fell asleep. I woke up a few hours later and the storm had mostly passed it was just raining lightly and I felt very fortunate. It was without a doubt the worst weather I have had yet - I cant remember ever seeing so much lighning associated with one storm.

Wow this is a long update already and there's still 2 more days to catch up on. Its funny, I'm here on Smith Isl and a very similar storm is coming through as I type this. Tis the season I guess. I'm glad I'm in the safety of a house this time. I was warned that we might loose power and I don't want this long update to be lost so the second half of this update will come once the storm

I am here on the good side!

2008-06-13T08:51:00.000-04:00

I made it to the Eastern shore of Virginia, no longer on the western side. It’s all down here from here; I am in a really good mood. I got stopped by a police boat in the beginning of the day. There were hover craft doing tests for beach landing exercises. The police told me that the guys flying the hover crafts couldn’t see me and told me that he needed to tow me. I didn’t want him to tow me because I had come so far. So I went out of my way a little bit out of the course I was intending to take because I wanted to make it on my own. I went 25 miles so here I am! Tons of dolphins and sting ray today!

End of the Intracoastal!!

2008-06-11T08:23:00.002-04:00

Monday was a big big milestone. I completed the intracoastal. I came to Norfolk and I felt like a little teeny ant amongst a variety of huge ships. I was a little disappointed I couldn’t see the “mile 0” marker. I wanted to take a picture as a memento. I heard there was one on the there but after looking and looking I couldn’t find it. I paddled along the port and around the piers and saw a ton of boats, container ships, a naval yard, huge Navy boats, aircraft carriers and cruise ships. I rounded the corner to go under the bridge to Hampton a submarine passed me. I saw just about everything coming through Norfolk, it was very lively. The cruise ship I saw was followed by a couple of police boats; they kept following me around, maybe because of my packed kayak and creepy beard? Yesterday, I set out to try cross the mouth of the river to, following the bridge over to Cape Charles. I didn’t get that far though before I felt a little apprehensive. I sat at the mouth of Little Creek and tried to make up my mind; it was HOT yesterday, near record temperatures. The part that got me worried though was the visibility it was really hazy from the heat and the south wind we had from the last couple of days had blown the smoke from the south Carolina forest fires up here and I couldn’t see more then a mile. I was at the mouth of Little Creek and couldn’t see the bridge. I was worried about getting run over once I get out there because I had been told that most guys put their boats on auto-pilot and I am going to cross the shipping channel about half way along. I am in no rush… I have plenty of time to cross the bay. It’s about 8am now. I am going to give it another try right now. I will let you know how it goes, I will keep you posted. Keep your fingers crossed as it’s a big crossing. Tons of pictures, next time I get to a Wi-Fi spot I will upload them…

I stayed on Al and Mary’s boat again last night. They are amazing, they have done so much to ensure the success of this trip, and I can’t thank them enough!

Great Dismal Swamp/Norfolk

2008-06-08T18:02:00.003-04:00

Here it is on Sunday and I have emerged from the Great Dismal Swamp, North Carolina and (very very nearly) the Intracoastal Waterway.

The last two days coming through the canals/locks have been a complete change from the Albemarle region and certainly a grand adventure. I just wish that it hadn't been record setting temperatures. When I got up to the visitor center on friday it was like 5:05 and all the girls were just locking up to go home for the weekend so I didn't get to check out their little center. I was able to step inside the cool, AC filled restrooms to freshen up and take a little break from the heat. When they told me the day before that I would have no problem tying up they must not have realized how low a kayak sits on the water bc I had to literally climb up the 5 foot dock to get ashore. I had been hoping that they had something a little lower so that I would have been able to get into my hatches because I had nothing edible left in my cockpit or deck bag and I was starving. (side note: I used to always say when I was hungry that I was starving but I think I've actually experienced that sensation a few times on this trip. When my body is eating away at itself because I'm burning many more calories then I can take in. This was one of those times). Anyhow, instead I had a lovely vending machine snack and then headed back out to find the feeder ditch that would take me to my intended campsite for the night.

The canal inside the locks is maintained at 6 ft. by Lake Drummond. Connecting the 2 is a feeder ditch that is about 3.5 miles long. Just about at the very end of the ditch is a recreational area overseen by the army corp of engineers which they call "the reservation" and that is where I camped for the night. CLICK HERE TO SEE THAT LOCATION. There's not much there except for a few outhouses, a very cool electric trolley that will take your boat/kayak over to spillway, and 2 screened pavilions. Those were a livesaver. You can imagine being in a swamp how bad the bugs must have been. Not only was it incredibly hot and humid but there was zero air flow. I took full advantage of the screened areas to cook, organize my things, and make a plan for the next day. It was so hot that I sweated right through the night even in a mesh top tent, with no shirt on and, of course, no sleeping bag that night. It was nice being the only one there and there were a few outlets in the laddies latrine that I found worked so I was able to plug in my phone and some auxiliary batteries too.

Saturday morning I was moving slow and by the time I got all my things together and packed the kayak back up it was 930 and I realized I hadn't left myself much time to make the 130 Deep Creek Lock opening which was a little over 15 miles away. The water in the canal is totally flat with no current so I could paddle 4-4.5 mph easily but it was hard to maintain that pace in the heat. I was sweating like I never have before. The air was so thick and humid in that canal that it was like paddling in a sauna. I couldn't take in enough water, I was stopping to drink every 10-15 minutes it seemed like. I tried my hardest to stay along the east side of the canal and get any shade I could, the only problem being that there are so many overhanging limbs and submerged obstacles along the side that it makes it tough. I pushed it as hard as I could and reached the lock right on time, bc he was running the southbound traffic first I really even had a few minutes to spare and I slipped under the low bascule bridge and got right up in place while a little nordic tug-looking thing that had passed me miles back sat waiting for it to open. The Deep Creek lock tender couldn't have been nicer and we chit chatted while he lowered me down about 7-8 feet and he brought me out an ice cold pepsi because he said it "looked like I desperately needed something cold to drink." He couldnt have been more right. I rarely drink soda, and I normally never would while I was paddling but that was one delicious pepsi and it saved the day. I felt totally drained at that point, and I was to find out later that the record high for june 7th in norfolk was set yesterday at 99.

When I got out of the lock it was like dorothy stepping out of her house into color after the twister. What a change! Whereas I had seen a total of 4 other boats in the canal on emerging I was immediately surrounded by at least 20 wave runners. Back and forth. They never seem to go anywhere exactly, they just stick within a little 1 mile range zipping around, hooting and hollering, and putting up bath-tub wake. That was when I realized that I had just about had it for the day. I called a really nice fellow named Al who had contacted me and offered a place to crash and we arraigned to meet at a public ramp another 4-5 miles up north. I am so luck that he was able to help me out because I was completely worn out. It also meant that I didn't have to worry about paddling through the Norfolk harbour while tired and with the tall ship festival going on.

Al and his wife Mary helped get me all fixed up last night. I had a nice big dinner, an unbelievable shower (it felt so good to get 4 days of sweat and river/canal water off me) and played with their awesome dog Pandit before crashing hard for the night. I took advantage of their generous offer to lay low for a day to hang out in some AC, hit the grocery store to resupply, and do a little planning. I'm 90% sure I have a good strategy figured out for tomorrow but it could all change at a moments notice. We'll see what happens. I've really enjoyed meeting Al, Mary, their son Chris who was nice enough to cart me around today, and hearing Al's great stories about his own adventure up the ICW with his daughter as his first mate. THANK YOU GUYS!

BTW I'm really glad I decided to go the Dismal Swamp route. It really was an experience. Not only is it the oldest waterway in the country (1784) but it was surveyed in part by George Washington, was a hide out along the banks for freed slaves, has the only joint highway/waterway visitor center in the country, and is listed on the registry of national historic places. I did hear a lot before I started about its tranguility and that's true I guess in parts but it does basically run parallel to rt 17 so there is a lot of car/motorcycle noise which is strange. From what I've read though many cruisers are scared of the canal bc of the many horror stories of broken props and snagged mast heads so the ones that do run it are part of a special little group. Plus not every boat can - you have to draw 5 ft or less. I would like to consider myself part of that group now.

Oh, so I didn't even mention: I'm not done with the ICW yet. I took out at about mile 4. So unless there is a VERY LARGE unforeseen problem tomorrow morning will be another milestone in the trip and I will leave the ICW behind. Its very exciting (to me).

Tomorrow is supposed to be hotter but on the bay there should at least be a breeze.

“Lock it up”

2008-06-06T15:49:00.003-04:00

After a great stay in Elizabeth City I ventured farther north today to the Great Dismal Swamp, woke up and the day seemed fitting because there was blanket of fog over the city, it was thick, I figured that it wouldn’t be very hot until it lifted. As I was getting ready this morning, I pulled a real bone-head move, I accidentally put my GPS and the spot locater in the water … kind of a long story, bottom line, it happened. I am an idiot. I found out that my Spot locater floats but the GPS apparently does not. I was tied up at the ramp and I saw exactly where it fell so I was able to wade in, walk down to the ramp and try to find it. I had to getn up to my shoulders in the beautiful, brown Pasquatank River before I could locate it. Fortunatly I was able to do so with my feet and I brought it to the surface like I was collecting sand dollars so I didn't have to go under with my head.
It wasn’t the best way to start the day but Im just glad that I recovered it. Coincidently, I haven’t dropped anything in the water in two months, not one single thing, yet here at the Pelican Marina I nearly lost 2 things to the river. The night before while trying to board Josh, the dock master's boat, my croc (shoe) slipped off and immediately began to drift away. Without a net handy I could only watch it disappear into the night. I tend to have the best luck with these sort of things though so the next morning when I took a walk I found that it had floated in about a 1/4 mile down the road. It would have sucked to only have one croc left - they are the best paddling shoes.

Anyhow, what they say about Elizabeth city is entirely true: the people are so kind, generous and hospitable. Everyone I met welcomed me so warmly and was excited to teach me about their town and make sure I enjoyed my time there.

I felt very fortunate to be able to stay on Dave’s boat. He is the photographer for the coast guard. His boat, "puffin," he got in a most unusual way. He actually got it for free from a fellow off Craigslist who just wanted to see it go to a good home.

Dave's slip neighbor (whose also named Dave, but goes by Hippie Dave) is a live aboard and certainly one of the most interesting people that I have met along the way yet. He's in the early phases of constructing a dingy of his own design out of discarded water bottles, vinyl duct tape, solar panels and an electric motor. I saw the plans and it looks quite impressive. He'll call it the Solar Gondola. I'm glad I was able to contribute a couple of empty bottles to the project.

The manager and dock master of the marina, Josh, was a big help as well. He is very enthusiastic and couldn't have been more accommodating to me. I can tell he is great with all of his customers and very fun to hang out with. I highly recommend if you are going to Elizabeth city (which is the thing to do) to go the Pelican Marina, they are great. I can’t wait to stop back there my next time through.

This picture here on the left was taken by Dave (my generous host) a few weeks ago. I loved it because it looks exactly like it did this morning.

So back to the swamp, don’t let the name deceive you, the name sounds scary but it’s actual quite beautiful and tranquil. It is very hot and muggy, well at least it is today. I feel like I am in the rain forest, I am baking. I missed the 1pm lock opening only by a little bit, but once I got up there and radioed to the tender he opened it got me through early so I didn't have to wait till 330. You are supposed to have two lines -bow and stern- to keep you against the side while the strong currents from the quickly filling lock try to move you. I only carry one and the lock master wasn’t too psyched about that so he gave me his dock-line stick to use to hang on to the wall. It worked fine I locked up about 8 feet or so and now I am on the other side and I’m going to cruise up here to the visitor center and then hopefully find some place to camp. That’s the plan for the rest of the day. Have a great Friday everyone!

Good bye Albermarle Sound

2008-06-05T16:40:00.000-04:00

It feels good to have Albermarle Sound past me and be in the Pasquotank River. It was an adventure yesterday, but it went really well. It took me from 9am until 2pm or so. It wasn’t too bad, the wind died down and from 12 – 2 it was relatively calm. I have been thinking about crossing this sound for the past couple of days now, it’s been in the back of my mind and I was anxiously anticipating it. I had heard scary stories about it. It really was just a mental thing; paddling yesterday wasn’t that much physically harder then any other day. Yesterday coming out of the sound, I saw this huge building in the distance, I saw it for hours. Turns out it was a blimp storage facility. It’s one of the largest buildings in the world.

Here in Elizabeth city now. They have a big public dock here downtown. They greet each cruiser with a rose and a wine and cheese party. They are a very generous town. I explored a bit yesterday and talked to a nice fellow Dave who offered his boat for the night. This was great. Tomorrow I will start my way up to Great Dismal Swamp which won’t take that long. Hopefully in about 2 days here I will reach the end of the waterway which will be a huge milestone. Hopefully I will have fun going through the swamp tomorrow.

Elizabeth City!

2008-06-05T08:38:00.001-04:00

Here is Seth's location last night June 4th at 7:51pm ET.

Getting Close!

2008-06-04T14:15:00.001-04:00

Here is Seth's location from this afternoon 6.5.08 at 2:15pm ET.

6.4.08

2008-06-04T08:35:00.003-04:00

I crossed Pamlico where the jelly fish were still crazy! I will update tonight so look for new pictures tomorrow. It was a beautiful morning; I had a bad camping spot the night before so I was on the water very early saw the sunrise. It felt like a big stretch the water was still and looked like it was frozen. , came up the middle of the Pungo river, could see a mile an a half to either side, I was out there all by myself, it was gorgeous. I pulled right into Bell Haven, was trying to get some supplies. I got some local advice which I am glad I did because I have a tough stretch coming up. Got a great lunch at this place called farm boys it was the most hoppin place in town. I met a guy named Mike and his juvenile Macaw Einstein. He let me borrow his bike. I used it to go down to the town and get some groceries. It started to get really blow so I ended up staying in Bell Haven, moved my boat around to Riverside Marina and ended up staying there in their dock house. There I met Keith who is coincidently he was on the second day of a bicycle trip, you can find out more about the trip on his website: (link to site) Make sure to scroll down to the bottom of the page! It was cool because I actually felt like I had advice to give him because he was just starting.

Got a pretty good start the next day after some Sunday breakfast, went further down the Pungo there was a huge Redneck Riviera. I talked to them and I wanted to get out and have a beer but I kept going because I knew camping spots are sparse through the area. Low and behold I got a killer camping spot, so much better then I had anticipated. I will upload a picture, it was gorgeous. It was right on the shore, tons of pine needles. Supposedly there are brown bears in the area but I didn’t meet any. Met a huge deer, climbed a huge deer stand and had a great evening.

The next day I didn’t want to leave (Monday) so I made breakfast and slow start and took my time packing up. I finally got going around 9:30am. I immediately wished I had got an earlier start because the weather report was dead wrong. The wind was flowing north not southwest as the report had predicted, NOAA seems to be wrong a lot of the time. I got up to the Alligator River; somehow the wind was still right in my face… it made for some of the worst paddling conditions. 1-2 foot chop coming straight at you in open water. My boat comes up and over the first hard into the second wave. It totally kills your speed and its draining to do that all day long for 5 or 6 hours, the up and down, you get soaked (event though I have my skirt on) it’s very tiring and if you stop paddling, the water pushes you back. The banks are impenetrable in this area. The cypress trees make cypress swamps. The old cypress trees that used to grow on the shore, so although the trees have died, the stumps and knees (roots) are still there. You can’t see them but if you get too close to shore, my paddle hits them or my boat hits them and some are very sharp. That have died and fallen down have left their stumps 40 feet out of from the shore and it’s like a mine filed. Even if you try to get close to shore it is pretty tough and I was really getting frustrated. Finally about 8:45 that night I got into the marina.
Later, a green 36 foot sail boat called the Transom that I have been noticing for a while, invited me for dinner. As I was changing, they left me a note on my boat saying they had noticed me as well and invited me to dinner on their boat with their cat named Mr. Mischief. They served me some fantastic goulash and we exchanged stories. Its funny, I have noticed that a lot of these cruisers have cats instead of dogs because it’s easier. They clean themselves and they aren’t interested in jumping into the water.

My body hurt badly from the past couple days, especially from the rough day yesterday. I have been contemplating which way to go because the waterway splits; there are two waterways from here up to Norfolk. I am about 80 miles from the end so I am in a pretty good mood! Tomorrow will be the most open water yet, it will be about 20 miles across. I decided to go up to Elizabeth City, its more scenic and pretty. It is going to be a big day; I am planning on leaving early and get going first thing.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Fish

2008-06-01T19:42:00.005-04:00

Yesterday I came out of Oriental, it was awesome. I headed north and I pretty much paddles all day heading east of the Neuse River. As I went through the sound, there was nothing out there, it felt like the ocean. I stopped and had some lunch at a beachy point around broad creek. I paddled until I got to the bay river and found a little cut there. There were very limited places to camp. All day today I saw soo many jelly fish. The night before at the silo barn I had been warned by a diver that the jelly fish were crazy right now and he told me I would see tons of them, well he was right, I must have seen 1000 jelly fish. I don't think there as any time that I looked and didn't see one. These weren't the jelly balls, they were the fish, they were white or purple with tenticles and I knew it was a matter of time before I got stung and sure enough one got wrapped around my paddle and bit me. I was testing my luck after seeing a few good camping spots that afternoon, thinking I would be able to find something better. I was wrong though and ended up having to camp at an awful spot at the end of the road. It was so buggy. the bugs were just out of control, they somehow infiltrated my tent just as I was about to get in for the nigth. It's about 6:30am now (Sat. 5.31.08) I'm heading up to bell haven.

(More to come, including locations...)

5.30.08

2008-05-30T10:44:00.000-04:00

I haven’t had cell phone service for a few days so I haven’t been able to call in an update, here is what’s been going on; Tuesday was a pretty straight shot out of Swansborough up to Moorhead, good practice for upcoming sections because the water was pretty wide, had m skirt on the whole day, in the morning a dolphin was hanging out with me for about half an hour, come right up to the boat, flip over and show me his belly then swim along with me. He seemed to really enjoy playing along with me. Paddled straight through the day with no breaks right to Moorhead city in-between there and Beaufort up into a creek, finally the waterway became a little smaller and I could take off my skirt and relax, then I paddled up to Sea Gate Marina met a great couple Mary Beth and Frank on vacation from Maine I hung out with them and they fed me. We enjoyed each others company, I was really happy they were there; they really took care of me.
Wednesday I thought would be a pretty easy day paddling up to Oriental. Boy was I mistaken. It took me all day to get 10 miles to Adams Creek because of the 20 mile an hour winds right in my face. I then had to cross the Neuse River where I was trying to meet this guy whose boat I was staying on. The waves were huge because of the wind because of the thunderstorms. I was supposed to meet Bob Lucy who is the editor of Carolina Coasts magazine. Although I could finally see oriental across the river, there was no way I could make it across. The Neuse River it the widest in the US so I didn’t think I should give it a try. Fortunately, there was a guy sitting in his truck watching the storm, he saw me paddling so he came out of his truck and asked what I was doing. His name was Ashley, he was really nice. He brought me to some land and called the property owners and got approval for me to camp on the land. It is never fun setting up a tent in the rain but once I did and was inside, dried off and made some dinner, it wasn’t that bad.
Yesterday I was finally able to cross the river, there were strong winds and a pretty good chop, it was about 3 or 4 miles, it was hard, exhilarating and a lot of fun, I felt like I was paddling all day, it was tiring but I made it. I spent the rest of the day in Oriental, had some lunch and ate about 4000 calories in one meal which was great. I enjoyed hanging out at the docks, going to a paddle shop, got a new pad for my seat, hopefully it will help. I met with Rob and Joe in the afternoon and I really enjoyed spending the night on their boat, I appreciate their kindness.
On Tuesday, as I was paddling up to Moorhead, I pulled a total bonehead move; my spare paddle saved the day. I realized that something was not right; I looked around and noticed that my paddle was 10 yards behind me, I to quickly put my spare paddle together and paddle back. I would have literally been “up the creek” if I didn’t have my spare paddle handy.

5.27.08

2008-05-27T10:38:00.004-04:00

First off, good morning to Scott, thanks for your message the other day buddy.
I hope everyone had as nice a holiday weekend as I did. Saturday I left Debbie and Keith pretty early and as soon as I got on the water it started to rain and it was pretty ugly for most of the day. I pulled over and tried to wait it out. It didn’t really clear up too much, it died down a little but there was pretty heavy rain and north winds. I trudged on and made it about 16 or 17 miles. I stopped just south of Camp Lejeune which is a big marine base with a lot of restricted areas as well as a big prohibited island. You cant stop anywhere along the base and it was getting late so I thought it would be best to just camp out for the night before I started paddling by. I pulled into Swan Point Marina, they were having a big party, turns out it was customer appreciation day, they were very nice to include me and Paul the owner let me camp right in the boatyard. Thank you Paul! By the way, Debbie and Keith, what a character Keith is, had a great time with you both, thank you.

Sunday, it seemed fitting to paddle by Camp Lejeune on Memorial Day weekend. There are thousands of marines stationed at Camp Lejeune, a huge base, this is where they do a lot of artillery testing and there are some active ranges there. Sunday of a holiday weekend I figured they wouldn’t be blowing anything up but I thought it would be better to paddle by quickly and to be safe rather then sorry. I stopped in Swansborough at the Barrier Island Kayak Company, I had contacted them earlier in the day and the owner Lamar let me pull up there on their beach. They were very nice and gave me a lot of local insight. I was going to camp close by but Lamar was nice enough to offer me his converted shrimp boat for the night which was anchored right off shore, she is called Savannah, cool little boat with a great deck and I sat up there for hours, there was an awesome view. I intended to get up really early the next day and paddle up to Moorhead city but I ended up staying there so I could watch the lax game which was dying to see. Unfortunately Hopkins lost, but I am glad I stayed and watched it. Today I am I heading for Adams Creek marina is where I intend to camp.

Thank you to Lamar, Debbie, Keith and Paul.

A LOT TO CATCH UP ON...

2008-05-23T18:33:00.002-04:00

Ok so I have a hodgepodge of different things that I have been waiting to mention but I haven't gotten any computer time in for awhile now.

so I want to go all the way back to Waccamaw River (which seems like so long ago). One of the coolest parts of the ICW is how varied it is. Its remarkable when I think about how many different types of ecosystems and the contrasts in the surroundings that I've passed through. The Waccamaw was completely unique. The water was dark and tanic from the cyprus trees that grew out of its meandering banks. It also seemed to be almost entirely fresh water but I guess it did have low levels of salinity. I was amazed by how abundant the Ospry were - I suspect that this was due to the fact that they nests were safe atop trees growing out of alligator infested water. I loved how I was paddling 10-15 mile stretches without seeing anything, not one house, marina, or bridge. Surprisingly though there was sporadic advertising attached to live trees.

And then, all of a sudden the beauty ended. Just north of the Socastee Bridge, Myrtle Beach's infamous "rockpile" section started. This was the last portion of the waterway to be completed by the corp and certainly the narrowest section so far. Apparently they were having trouble blasting through the thick rock to create the canal so as the construction schedule began to lengthen and lengthen they began to just making the channel narrower and narrower to remain on budget. You can see here why they call it the rockpile. It was very obvious from the development on the high banks that this was all very new. Houses were being built very close together on lots that never should have accommodated houses in the first place - I suppose everyone just wants something "waterfront."

I'm so glad things worked out and I was able to stay at Dock Holidays: thanks to Charles and Rhett.

As soon as I crossed into NC the waterway changed again. The last few days I have been cruising a pretty straight section on the inside of some barrier islands. I had a tough little stretch when I had to head up the Cape Fear river to Snows cut. I had it planned perfectly and waited around in Southport for the tide to change. Hank and I even went out on a skiff to check the conditions which was cool - that was the first I had scouted out a section prior to paddling it. Although I had a great plan I didn't execute well. I was riding the incoming tide well and hit 7.7 mph but I stupidly left the shipping channel to early and struggled to paddle 4-5 miles in stagnant 3 foot deep water. Yesterday with a low tide in the afternoon I enjoyed the Myrtle Grove/Masonboro Sound area. Its notorious for shoaling and I saw 2 people get stuck. The sea tow guy was busy all day - he looked surprised every time he passed me every few hours. I know that the traffic this weekend is going to be crazy because it was bad yesterday as I came through the Wrightsville Beach section.

Ok next, I've been meaning (since like FL!) to tell you guys about a game that I made up. It actually isn't much of a game, because its not really fun, and I also borrowed a name from another very popular game: power hour. The idea is to paddle for a full hour without breaking my stroke. so no taking a break for water, change the song on my ipod, or scratch an itch. It might be a little silly to sit there and be uncomfortable but it does really help me cover some miles. plus i've realized that when you are paddling at 4.5 mph that only means that you'll actually go 4.5 miles with you paddle for all 60 minutes. Everytime you take a break you're going 0 mph (or even worse, negative (backwards)), and so you have to factor that into your average. Since I made up this game like 500 miles ago I've gotten pretty good. I now sometimes play a couple times a day or even go for power 1.5 or 2 hours. One time I was able to do 2.5 hours straight without breaking my stroke - it felt great.

let see what else....

Oh I noticed that there are 2 versions of the website up which confuses me on how that could happen. Please make sure that you direct your browser here . If not you are seeing an old version of the site. This came to my attention because I think my notice on the gmaps link updates has been going overlooked. Unfortunately the SPOT is full and I can't accommodate any more email addresses but I will make sure to publish all of them here on the blog.

I guess thats it. There is a lot of big water coming up and I don't really no how I'll approach it. Does anyone have any advice??

5.23.08

2008-05-23T13:53:00.000-04:00

So yesterday I got on the water by 8:30am and paddled pretty much non stop for about 12 hours. I got out once just to fill my water and get some local advice in the Mason Borough marina, besides that I was just paddling along. There was a lot of traffic because of the upcoming holiday weekend. It was a shallow section and a narrow canal; I saw a lot of people get stuck, as low tide was in the early afternoon. I almost got stuck myself but I was really pushing it and even though I wasn’t making great time, because I was out there for so long, I was able to make it 33 miles. Hank was staying at his mom’s cabin just off the waterway so he and his step dad came out in their boat and met me on the water, gave me a beer and some encouragement. When I got to where we branched off, they actually towed me into the house which was a first and a lot of fun. It’s 2 o’clock now and I am just starting for the day so I am thinking I will only make it about 10 miles.

**Thank you to everyone for all the emails I have been getting. It’s really encouraging. It’s great to know I have so much support I am going to try my best to get back to everyone. Word must be spreading about the trip as I am getting a couple dozen a day! It’s hard to type out emails on my phone, I am doing my best to respond to everyone, it just takes a while.

Hank's the man

2008-05-22T13:06:00.003-04:00

Hank helped me out tremendously again, I came up to South Port and met him about 10 o’clock, we made a plan and a strategy and after lunch I prepared to leave. I left around 4:30 and the tide was a little late switching, but once it finally did I figured I could cruise up the river and get through Snows Cut where Hank and I could meet again on the other side. I was able to cruise up the shipping channel to Wilmington NC, at one point I hit almost 8 miles an hour, I was at 7.7! Once I got through the channel though, I was in only about 3 feet of water, there was a lot of friction and I had no help from the tide and I was struggling. I barley made it to our intended meeting spot. I finally did about 8:30pm.
Hank got me going from that same spot this morning. I hope he caught his ferry; I don’t want to make him late for work especially since it’s his birthday and he went out of his way two days in a row to help me out. Hopefully I am going to meet him again tonight at his cottage which is right on the intracoastal.
Its 11:30am, I just pulled in to Mason Borough Inlet to get some water and some local advice, the guys here were super nice, and I want to thank them. The goal right now is to go another 20 miles to Top Sail Inlet. If I can do that I might take off tomorrow because there is a lot of work I want to do on the website.

New State= Good......Tornado Warning=Bad

2008-05-21T08:07:00.001-04:00

I had strong winds to my back all day (5/20) and cruised as far north as I could, heading for Southport, NC. I stopped for a quick break at Ocean Isle to call my friend Hank. It was too far to make it to his marina (over 40 miles) so we arraigned to meet at a public ramp at Holden Beach. I felt very fortunate to sleep under a roof last night because not long after I got off the water the weather took a serious turn for the worse. The radar was showing purple - which is never a good thing - and there were tornado warnings all through the area.

Hank and his wife Laura filled up my belly and since he spends a lot of time on the water and works in a marina, Hank was able to give me lots of good advice about the upcoming stretch. About 15 miles from where I am now is the Cape Fear River which is apparently a VERY tricky.

I have a lot that I want to detail about the last few days, especially the transition from the Waccamaw to the Myrtle canal to my first impressions of NC and I will as soon as I get some time on a pooter. So I know I said this yesterday but please continue to stay tuned.

Here's where I stopped yesterday

And here is a link that you can check out too

5.20.08

2008-05-20T10:02:00.003-04:00

Its 9am and I am at Dock Holidays. It worked out really well to camp here; I slept like a baby and was un-bothered. There are southwest winds today and tide is going with me so I’m going to try to meet up with my buddy Hank and his wife Lara. I have spent the last three nights in a row camping so a bed will be very nice. I had a really good time talking with Charles form the local paper, learned a lot about the area. This has been a unique stretch not the most beautiful but unique. In about an hour I will be in North Carolina! Hopefully tonight I will be able to get to a computer and write more. Lot’s of pictures to upload so stay tuned.

Last night in SC?

2008-05-19T08:26:00.002-04:00

I left Georgetown and I guess I was a little naïve, I made 30 miles in 6 hours the day before and figured I could replicate that or at least close to that. I had a marina in range about 28 miles north of Georgetown (Bucks Port) and they were going to let me camp there. I didn’t get a real early start, woke up and had breakfast at the town diner. Once I got out there, I was hardly moving, it took me abut 3 hours to go the first 8 miles or so, I had the conditions working against me. It was pretty choppy and when you are down in the troughs between the waves you are not moving at all. Then, it started raining a storm came my direction I paddled in the rain and then I realized it was time for me to get off the water, I pulled into a place called Reserve Harbor, they were very nice to let me tie up and get out o the rain but it was a private marina gated community having two wedding rehearsals that night. They called me a cab and I had to get a hotel room for the night. Change of plans, but at least I was safe. I took the situation and tried to have ea little fun, it was Friday night, not that far from myrtle beach so I got tipped off to go to be SBB which stands for suck, burn, blow. It was a biker bar. Suck burn blow is what an engine does, they were having a hug rally, and there were police all over the street, thousands of bikers and bikes. Check out some of the pics. The next day, Sat I finished my trek to where I was trying to get to the night before Bucks Port. Sat was so nice. I really enjoyed the day on the water; it’s very unique in this section with the cypress trees and the huge osprey population. The dark water is different then what I have been paddling through so far. It seems like half of these cypress tress have big osprey nests in them. As I paddle along, the osprey think I am coming after them, so they come out of their nests and fly right over my head. It’s the same routine all day long. Everything about Saturday was great, but the highlight was my sandwich that I picked up at the deli before I left was awesome and it was very nice to enjoy on the water. I got to Bucks Port just in time to watch Preakness. After I had a little dinner, I got back in my boat and paddled to a boat to hang out with some folks who were traveling down to Georgetown. Sunday, I took the day off today, I needed it, and I didn’t feel too great when I woke up. I met the Masfield family from Burlington, Vermont, they were nice enough to buy me lunch. I really enjoyed talking with them about Burlington etc. Later in the day, I met up with a guy named Wayne Williams who is on a two week trip or so in his 27 foot sailboat, we talked all afternoon and shared some stories and beers.
It’s about 7am now on Monday morning and I am looking to get on the water by 8 or 8:30 after a quick bite with Wayne. I hope to paddle about 30 miles today to Dock Hollys Marina.

First night sleeping ON the water

2008-05-16T11:51:00.011-04:00

The last two days have gone pretty well… mostly uneventful on the water. From Capers Island, I had a nice easy paddle about 24 miles to McClellanville where I planned to meet Sarah Burden at the public boat ramp. Sarah used to work for Outside Hilton Head too and over a decade ago, she and another friend from the shop hiked up the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine and then got in kayaks and paddled back down to Hilton Head. It only took them 8 months for the whole trip, which is very impressive. It was great to get to hear some of her stories, get some insight from her and also to pick her brain on things I could be doing differently. There were a lot of similarities between our trips that we noticed, but the biggest difference between the two were the levels of technology incorporated into each one. She said she didn’t carry a cell phone with her and she only checked her email a few times during the trip. Its remarkable how much technology has changed and how I am able to use (and rely on) my GPS and solar panels etc. Unfortunately, Sarah was graduating from nursing school the next day and her family was in town so she had to spend time with them. She introduced me to her friends, Hayden and Richard Geere who live on about 25 acres right in town. McClellanville is cool, it’s very old and it’s the shrimp capital of South Carolina, there is a huge fleet of boats. The Geere’s have about 25 acres surrounded by woods where they keep horses and dogs. They really took care of me; I refueled my engine and rested it in a nice soft bed.

I passed the most obnoxious boater yet yesterday. He totally waked me after blowing his horn about a dozen times from a quarter mile away, warning me to move over. Then he comes flying by, totally wakes me and gives me the salute wave. Along this stretch of the Santee and Waccamaw Rivers, there are supposed to be a lot more gaters because the low levels of salinity. Richard told me at low tide they lined the bank and I would be able to see them so I envisioned the scene from temple of doom, where the crocs are lined up at the bottom of the rope bridge, waiting to devour anything that comes toward them. I did see a few, but the ones I saw were all swimming, with their whole bodies in the water. I’m such an idiot. I thought I saw a log in the middle of the channel; I was going to go move it until I saw that it was paddling away from me. Yesterday, Thursday, I got a late start but I had the perfect combination of tides and wind and I was bale to paddle 30 miles in less then 6 hours and I got to Georgetown, South Carolina. Richard came through big time by calling one of his friends father Jim Hills who arranged to let me stay on his boat: Bob’s Boat. I got to sleep on the water which was awesome and walked into the town for a great meal last night.

I am about to get some breakfast before I leave for the day!So, I am leaving Georgetown now, I just had breakfast at Thomas’s café. Delicious. I am going to go up to Buck Post where I have a camping site picket out. It is about 24 or 25 miles. Hopefully I can have as easy a day as I did yesterday when I averaged 5 miles an hour. I have the wind on my back and the tide change is only about 4 feet so I should be good.

5.15.08

2008-05-13T15:58:00.006-04:00

I finally got going yesterday around 4pm. I got advice from a local that the Wappoo Cut is tricky to navigate but I was able to time it just right because the tide was on my side and the wind was on my back which got me cruising at 9 miles an hour, double what I can do normally, it felt amazing. On the way, I came upon some dolphins that were “getting it on” and they seemed kind of upset that I interrupted them that one even went so far as to splash me. After finishing the 12 or so miles to Charleston from Adam’s on Johns Island, I was able to dock my boat in the Charleston city marina amongst the big yachts. My family friend Laura and her fiancé Scott were nice enough to meet me and pick me up. I got another night’s sleep under a roof which I am clearly happy about. Thanks Laura and Scott! This morning, I had coffee and cake samples (their wedding is 13 days away) Sugary goodness and caffeine were a great way to start off my day. I am looking for a place to camp tonight on Capers Island. I have heard you need a permit to camp; I think I will be fine though.

slow news day.

2008-05-11T14:40:00.001-04:00

if you have a fewe minutes to kill - obviously you do or you wouldn't be on this site in the first place - check out this link: http://www.islandpacket.com/lowcountrylife/story/494134.html

Happy Mother's Day

2008-05-11T13:47:00.005-04:00

Here is where I slept/started from.

Yesterday (5/10) was a surprisngly nice, easy little day. I had a moderate wind to my back and had the current assisting me almost the whole time. Only at one spot did The Waterway get wide at the North River, just East of Edisto. After that it was just hour after hour of nice meandering river. For whatever reason there were lots of cruisers heading north, maybe because it was Saturday, but 90% of the boat traffic was going the same direction.

The last 10 miles of the day was awesome. Definitely one of the best stretches yet. The Stono River along Johns Island and Hollywood is a narrow, pristine gem with large, unique private homes on both sides many of which had fantastic super-long docks. I love those long docks. I'm talking about the ones that seem like they're a 1/4 mile long. The kind that takes you 15 minutes to walk down. In the middle of all these homes there was a beautifully manicured golf course. I thought it was interesting the designers had avoided the usual aproach to have holes play out to the water and instead had created 3-4 hours running right along the river. The fairways were basically directly adjacent to the waterline. It looked like paradise. Plus they had their own dock so you could arrive but boat for your tee time if you felt so inclined.

I stopped just shy of the John Limehouse brige, about 10 miles south of Charleston. I am staying with the Lawrences, (Adam, Kate, Grace, and very soon Addison) who were nice enough to take me in. I met Kate's parents while I was in Hilton Head who got me in touch with them. Adam is actually a fellow UVM alumnus and a paddler himself. And because I got to their dock it 4:30 (earlier then I had planned) I had all afternoon to relax, meet the neighbors/friends, take advantage of Adam's kegerator, and eat some delicious home made pizza pies.

____________________________________________________________________

A special thanks today to all the awesome women in my life, especially the moms. And ESPECIALLY you mom! Thanks for dealing with me.

Monkey-ing Around

2008-05-11T12:33:00.004-04:00

Friday was quite a day....

I woke up to some pretty gross weather - overcast with storm clouds in the distance - but I ignored it, got my things together and started to paddle around 9. Pretty much right away it began to rain and quickly I found myslef with my skirt and rain gear on, head down trying to just trudge through the storm. At one point the rain did get so intense that I was forced to take shelter underneath a boat that was up on a lift at the end of a long dock. The people were probably looking out from the house wandering what I was doing out there in the first place. As soon as the rain passed it became beautful though. Well, sunny at least, but there was a pretty good south-ish wind. I entered the Coosaw River which was very wide and got carried along by the wind at a pretty good pace. The problem was that the river was so wide and straight that I was having a very hard time seeing markers which were way to spread out, I think, anyhow. I'm pretty sure that I have mentioned this before but it is VERY hard to navigate unknown water from a kayak. I don't sit much off the surface of the water so my eye-line is just 2.5-3 feet from sea level. From that height I can only see about 2 miles to the horizon - not much when you are in open water. Its easy to spot markers and distinguish cuts in the marsh when you are standing up on the deck of a boat but not for me. Plus I don't have any binoculars with me, which admittingly is my own dumb fault. Anyhow the point is that I got lost. I missed what I was looking for, the Ashepoo Coosaw Cutoff, with seems to be nothing more then just a small passage through marsh. I instead paddled to a marker that appeared to be right according to my chart but when I got up to it I noticed it was #3 (with no yellow triangle of course) opposed to #186 as I was expecting. If you think I'm an idiot then also understand that at the time I was also getting beat up by 2-3 foot waves caused by a 15-20 mph wind so it wasn't like I was just floating in calm water with lots of time to reference the chart.

So I was pretty upset about being lost. Marker #3 was nowhere on my charts, my GPS was vaue about where I was, and my phone (of course, Scott) had no service. I really was totally lost with no idea where I was. I refused to backtrack though which would entail paddling back into the wind so I just kept going. Fortunatly the island the I came to on my left had all these little white signs posted every couple hundred yards along the shore and even without being able to read them I knew that it had to be Morgan Island. Although I had never been there I knew of Morgan Island from its infamous reputation and I was aware that it was in the area. Actually I had originally always intended to detour off the waterway to visit the island but the night before Patrick and Rob had adamently advised that it would not be wise/worth it to go that far out of my way. I think Patrick's exact words were, "that would be an all-day affair." With that in my mind I had mixed emotions knowin that I had gone pretty far out of my way but also that I could see some wild MONKEYS! That's right, Morgan Isl is full of wild monkeys. Who would think, in SC of all places. I hadn't been out of my boat all day (it was like 3) so I ignored the no trespassing signs and went on shore to try to see if I could get a glimpse of one of the monkeys - I figured it would be hard to find them. Boy was I wrong. In just a minute I saw this little monkey in the trees, jumping from one to another and I was tiptoeing after him trying to get close enough for a good picture. I came around this corner and there was a little clearing and there in front of me were literally hundreds of monkeys. They all seemed aware of me and kept their distance but they didn't flee so I just watched them for awhile. I considered trying to lure one over for a photo with a piece of Sweet Baby Ray's beef jerky but I realized that (besides being ecologicaly irresponsible) there was the potential with so many of them for the situation to get out of hand.

Knowing that I was on Morgan Isl I was able to use my GPS to get my bearings and hatched a plan to get my back on The Waterway. It was 4 oclock by this point and I was tired so I didn't expect to reach it that afternoon. I also had no idea where I was going to sleep. My GPS did label Ottor Island which I remembered Scott mentioning that people sometimes camp there so thats where I was heading for. When I got up to the northern point of Ottor Island at about 7 I was SOOOO relieved to find marker 162 which signified that I was no longer lost. Apparently my very inacurate and outdated charts refer to Ottor Isl and Fenwick Island. Either way I was at Fenwick Cut and I was siked. Sure I had gone hours out of my way and paddled aobut 15 miles when the path was only about 7 but I had gotten to see monkeys. The sun was dropping and I didn't know what I was going to do for the night, though, so my excitment didn't last too long. I think have said this before too but while in this stretch them in right now (since basically the St. John's River) dry gound is really hard to come by. At least dry ground that is accesble by a kayak: pretty much everything has a border of marsh around it. Plus the tide was just starting to come back in so I had oysters and pluff mud between me and any land too. Based on my charts I had one potential option for camping: Raccoon Island. The fact that it was directly across from a place called Alligator Creek didn't make me to happy but I was desperate. I was very very lucky that Raccoon Island's banks were firm (that honeycomb-ish looking clay mud opposed to pluff). I pulled my boat all the way up, slipping and falling on my butt I few times, and found a few trees to sleep between. The old Clark Hammock saves the day again. It actaully wasn't that bad for the marsh - buggy, sure - but I was so tired I slept like a baby.

5.9.08

2008-05-09T11:44:00.001-04:00

So I got back going on the water at about 10am yesterday, leaving Hilton Head. It was hard to get back in the water and leave but I realized it was just mental and I knew just the first day would be hard. I left from Broad Creek, repeated a section I had done the other day which was about an hours worth of paddling. I cruised up Calibogue Sound, along Skull Creek where I saw my buddy Scott who was out on the water with some of his customers. It was nice to see a familiar face as I paddled out of Hilton Head. I am kind of rusty I guess and it was kind of stupid for me not to put my skirt on as I was crossing Port Royal sound, it wasn’t terribly rough but it was choppy and the tide was moving out of the sound fast. I got pretty wet and was wet the rest of the day. My shoulder was initially hurting very bad and I was getting worried but fortunately it loosed up a bit. For some reason once I got in the rhythm of my strokes, my shoulder started to hurt less but it hurts doing just about everything else. Despite my best efforts, I missed the Beaufort river entrance but I paddled back and got to see Paris Island and the marine recruiting station where I heard something going on above the marsh grass, some hooting and hollering, some sort of training exercise I guess. Apparently they used to tell the Marines that the river was filled with alligators and sharks so they wouldn’t be tempted to try to swim away because their boot camp (apparently) is the worst 8 weeks you could have in life. I passed Paris Island and came up to the town of Beaufort which is awesome. They filmed a lot of Forrest Gump and the Big Chill here, it’s the second oldest city in South Carolina, I really wanted to stop and stay in Beaufort as it’s such a beautiful place. I have been there plenty of times though when I lived in Hilton Head plus it was after hours and the city marina seemed to be full. I kept going past my original idea for a campsite in Beaufort and campsite and it was getting late, didn’t know if I had enough sun light to get to the campsite I had intended to stay at which was still 12 miles away. When I rounded the corner, there was a new boat ramp that wasn’t marked on my chart; I talked to some guys who were fishing. I decided to pull over and try to make a new plan for camping that night. One of the guys suggested that I walk up to the row of houses that lined the creek and ask someone to let me tie up my kayak to one of their docks. Luckily I met a really, really nice newlywed couple Scott and Tiffany who just returned from their honeymoon and were spending the night in their new house for the first time. They fed me, took me in They were very kind to let me crash at their place.
Click here to see where I stayed last night

Thank you for your help: Scott, Tiffany, Rob, Patrick, MJ, Abby and Charlie!

If you've been wondering what I've been up to.....

2008-05-07T10:08:00.003-04:00

I hope no one has been worried about me; I haven't drowned. Actually, I'm safe and sound here on beautiful Hilton Head - my old stomping grounds. Since I arrived on Thursday I have engaged in a stress free regiment of sleeping in, reading, eating and visiting with friends trying to relax and let my body recover. My sore left shoulder has really seemed to benefit from a couple continuous days off. I've set around the pool, I've gotten caught up on playoff hockey/basketball, and I've regained 8 pounds since I pulled in: its been a little vacation within a vacation.

BUT....The second half(ish) of this adventure is set to begin! It took 31 days to paddle the 556 miles from Key Biscayne to HHI and there are now 564 miles left on the ICW until its northern terminus at Norfolk, VA. Now, of course, after that I'll have to figure out how to navigate the Chesapeake Bay (which I haven't thought about at all yet), and there's the fact that I've actually done about 30 miles more then the waterway's length up to this point bc of my failed shortcuts, but I'm disregarding all of that because I like the notion of this nice break conveniently being right in the middle. Either way, I know I won't take another extended break like this. Pretty much since day 2 I had my sights set on HHI, knowing that if I could make it here I would be able to catch my breath, reassess, and that it would signify success in being able to reach the goal of Baltimore. I've also been able to take this time to get some small boat projects done - the critical ones anyhow. I fixed my thigh support padding, smoothed and waxed the hull, and made some more adjustments to the seat back supports. I abandoned what I decided was frivolous plans to attach cleats and install a fishing rod holder - I just don't think I would ever even take the time to fish when I could be paddling and its just another piece of equipment to care for and break. The most important project, repairing my good paddle's ferrule, was a huge success. I'm glad I wont have to use my spare paddle any more (btw the ferrule is the middle of the shaft, where the two pieces attach).

So tomorrow I'll be hoping back in my boat and leaving HHI behind as I head for Beufort. I'll be honest, I am pretty anxious about starting again. I think the second half of the water is going to be a lot different and that uncertainty has me feeling a little apprehensive. Part of it is that I've spoiled myself while I've been here on the island and its going to be tough to give it all up again. When I started in FL I was naive to a lot of the process and how hard days (c/w)ould be but now that I do know its tough to be excited for that. Then again, Miami doesn't seem like that long ago or that far away so I know its just a little case of butterflies. Plus all I have to do is remember how much fun I have been having and maintain the feeling of how fortunate I am that I get to do this at all. So tomorrow will be the day. If you're reading this and are in the HHI/Bluffton area and want to come out and paddle with me, well that would just be great.

I want to officially thank everyone again and who helped this first month. I've gotten tons of support through this first stretch which is the only reason I was even able to make it here to HHI at all. I don't want to leave anybody out so I'm reluctant to mention names but....
THANKS TO:
Wayne, Devin and Dienna, Bob & Allison Smith, Gracie and Zach, Ed & Edna, everyone at OHH, Whittney, Sari, Steve Cox, Brian Harder, Jack Anderson, Margo, LiveOac and everyone in my family particularly Jim&Becky, Barbie&Hudson, my brother, RACHEL, and mom & dad. THANKS GUYS, I owe you all one (or three or four). This list is totally incomplete btw, this is just a smidgen of the people who have been so generous to me.

And sorry for my absence in posting all week but the blog will resume a regular schedule tomorrow as the paddling continues. I hope I haven't lost any readers: you can't afford to when you only have a handful.

Also, in honor of the tight primary contest going on answer the new "exit poll."

So Close...4/30

2008-04-30T20:29:00.003-04:00

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

2008-04-29T13:39:00.004-04:00

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

2008-04-29T12:30:00.002-04:00

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

2008-04-26T22:02:00.002-04:00

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!

2008-04-25T23:27:00.001-04:00

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

2008-04-23T19:31:00.002-04:00

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.

2008-04-22T00:00:00.002-04:00

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

2008-04-21T09:31:00.002-04:00

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!

2008-04-21T09:24:00.003-04:00

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

2008-04-19T07:56:00.007-04:00

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!

2008-04-18T10:10:00.002-04:00

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

2008-04-16T16:43:00.004-04:00

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

2008-04-16T15:34:00.002-04:00

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

2008-04-15T12:25:00.002-04:00

(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

2008-04-15T08:57:00.002-04:00

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

2008-04-14T09:05:00.002-04:00

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

2008-04-14T08:50:00.001-04:00

Click here to see my current location!

4.11.08 12:15pm ET

2008-04-11T12:16:00.001-04:00

Click here to see my current location!!

4.11.08 8:50am ET

2008-04-11T08:51:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-09T11:58:00.001-04:00

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

Welcome to Manatee Country April 8th

2008-04-08T23:08:00.003-04:00

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

2008-04-08T09:18:00.001-04:00

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

2008-04-07T11:58:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-06T14:39:00.004-04:00

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

2008-04-04T15:56:00.001-04:00

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

2008-04-03T12:22:00.000-04:00

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

2008-04-02T14:34:00.001-04:00

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

2008-04-02T11:25:00.005-04:00

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

2008-04-02T09:03:00.002-04:00

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)

2008-04-01T09:36:00.002-04:00

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

Departure

2008-04-01T08:52:00.008-04:00

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.

Here in Miami

2008-03-30T18:39:00.002-04:00

Well...a lot has transpired since the last update on Wednesday.

My last few days in Baltimore were extremely busy, running around and taking care of last-minute preparations. Regardless of planning for a long kayak trip just preparing to go away for 3 months anywhere requires the tying of a lot of loose ends. This will sound lame but I had a very hard time saying goodbye to my dog, she looked so sad.

Anyways, my brother and I arrived safely here in FL, we procured some suitable lodgings and then paid a visit to our Aunt and Grandmother who we haven't gotten to see for a long time. After a lovely visit we began knocking off errands.

The first thing we did was go pick up the boat from the Forward Air shipping terminal by the airport. Initially I think there was a little confusion over which of the two kayaks that they had in their possession was mine but then the gentleman quickly disappeared down a row of palates and shipping crates seemingly knowing where mine was stashed. When he returned 10 minutes later he wasn't CARRYING the kayak with the forklift but rather PUSHING it. This is apparently how they had been moving it around the entire time because both layers of padding had been rubbed away from the bottom and my boat was essentially scraping against the warehouse floor. Although I was upset I had a hard time saying something because my ability to yell at a forklift operator in spanish is a little rusty. We never really covered those vocab words in class. After unwrapping it completely and careful inspection the damage is really pretty superficial. The stern hull may have gotten rubbed down a little bit but there is nothing I can do about it now. Its not worth worrying about because its not going to affect they way it paddles (tracks), or its overall durability, I don't believe. And still, do get the boat all the way down here for 100 bucks with that being the only issue isn't a big deal.

I was able to find some fuel and decided to get 4 canisters because who knows when I'll be able to easily get more. Thats about 5-6 hours of cooking time - tons when it only takes 4 minutes to boil water. We're staying in a motel in Coral Gables (seems like the only place in all of FL without a pool) who were nice enough to accommodate me with a 1st floor room so I could bring the boat inside. This way it will be safe and secure and I can continue to practice pack it. Up next on the agenda is to get the first round of food supplies. I just haven't been able to get everything done that I needed to and I don't feel comfortable starting tomorrow so I'm going to take one extra day and begin 8 am Tuesday from Bill Baggs State Park on Key Biscayne.

Also, I've had a serious change of strategy over the last few days. Basically I need to get out of S. Florida as fast as possible. From the dock-masters and marina managers that I've talked to over the past week kayaking certainly does not seem embraced in this region. You really need to have an 80 foot Hatteras to get some respect around here. So I'm just going to do whatever I can to get to Boca as fast as possible.

Ok thats a lot and enough for now.....

I appreciate all the calls and texts this afternoon from those of you who (accurately) anticipated that I was starting tomorrow but it just wouldn't be safe because I don't feel comfortable yet. I'm glad that I have my brother and the extra day to go down to the park tomorrow and do a dry-run. Thats a pretty bad pun, I'm sorry.

The weather is here, wish you were beautiful!

Seth

Out of my hands

2008-03-26T22:01:00.004-04:00

The boat is officially on its way to Miami, let's keep our fingers crossed that it makes it there in one piece. Right now it is actually headed north to New Jersey where it will change trucks and then start right back south, all the way to the Sunshine State. The folks at Forward Air were very nice (I talked to the fork-lift operator for awhile and got the inside scoop on how the freight industry really works) but I can't give them my endorsement just yet until I see the condition that it arrives in on Saturday.

Follow the pictures link at the top to see what today's quite extensive packaging process entailed - THANKS MOM!

I'll tell you what though.....I didn't make any friends today on I-695. I had to drive it down to their shipping terminal at BWI during rush our and it was bouncing even more, wrapped up, then it usually does so I was going like 40 mph, tops. I got a lot of stares, a few honks, and a couple of fingers. If you're curious, the pink material is just pre-cut carpet padding from The Depot. There's bubble wrap on both ends too all held on by about 2 full rolls of both duct and packing tape.

Terrible Timing

2008-03-26T11:25:00.001-04:00

I've managed to somehow catch what everyone else seems to have right now. A little late-season illness. I wouldn't necessarily say I'm sick but certainly sickly. That's ok, its not debilitating. It just makes running around and getting things done a little annoying. My head feels like it weighs 50 pounds.

Anyhow, here are some pics of the boat after it got its decals put on yesterday. Big thanks again to Luke Barosky (check him out at Lukebarosky.com) for designing a great logo:

I also have spent a lot of time playing with the hammock the last few days. I was a little confused when I first took it out of the box but have quickly gotten the hang of it. They say once familiar with the process it can be set up in 2 minutes; after many times up and down I would say I can do it in 5 - but I'll keep practicing. Last night I set it up in the dark and it was much easier then putting a tent up in the dark. The thing really is pretty amazing. Its just so comfortable. There are no sticks and stones poking you in the back, you're up off the cold ground, and theres no way for creepy crawlers to get at you.

Heres a pic from inside it last night ( I sleep in it all night because it actually got quite cold here in MD and I didn't think I needed to encourage this cold that I've managed to pick up):

Hmmm, looks like it needs to be rotated but I don't know how to do that yet so please just turn your head to the right.

Speaking of pictures.........I put a permanent link to the Flickr album at the top here and I'll link it from the main website whenever I get a chance. Check it sometimes because there will be a lot of pictures there that won't ever appear on the blog.

And lastly (for now): a request. If anybody has friends/relatives/or even if you barely know someone who lives on - or close to - the ICW PARTICULARLY SOUTHERN AND MID FLORIDA who you think might be willing to let me through my tent or this hammock up in their yard for a night PLEASE LET ME KNOW.

Jerry-Rigged Engineering

2008-03-24T16:53:00.000-04:00

I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter and as much fun as I did this weekend!

The boat modifications I was working on last week are just about done at this point and the kayak is just about ready to be put on the truck Wednesday to start way down to Miami. One of the things I did to it was to use some marine epoxy to attach fasteners inside the cockpit. These are going to serve as contact points to tether loose gear to. I also placed four on the underside of the bow deck to hang a mesh "gear hammock" which will be connected with short sections of bungee and small carabiners. It even has 4 pockets to keep things separated and from sliding around. If this sounds confusing its probably because it is. Everyone I've tried to explain this to has looked at me like I have 8 heads. I think its rather ingenious though and is going to work perfectly as an alternative to my deck bag. I plan on using it to hold smaller, waterproof objects (sunscreen, sunglasses, a nice piece of fruit or even my phone (in its WP case of course) close at hand. I'll try to post some pictures so its clearer what exactly I'm talking about.

Speaking of pictures all the trip pictures are going to be hosted by Flickr (go figure). They have a great, free service whereby you can email a picture from your mobile phone to a specially designated address and they will post it directly in your section of online photos. The link for those is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/24472130@N06/

And now for something totally unrelated to the trip:
I had a good, good friend pass through town this weekend; he just happened to be traveling from Colorado to Mexico via Maryland. Is it ironic or just unfortunate that there is often a dilemma when it comes to being both a socially responsible traveler and a poor college(ish) stud(ent)? Anyhow, he was able to pull some strings with an old high school friend who now works for the Washington Nationals and get us a tour or their brand new stadium. Its the only new stadium opening in the majors this year and it means that the Nats wont have to play in should-be-condemned RFK any longer. The new place is nicccccceeee - pretty much as soon as your ticket is scanned you have amazing views of the field no matter where you are inside the park. Most people will enter through the main gate in left-center field onto a mezzanine that looks over the sunken field. There's also not a wall between the seats and concessions, meaning that when you get up to get a dog or hit the head you don't have to watch the game on a TV. Although if you wanted to you could: this place is filled with Sony Bravias galore. They were all being installed as we picked our way under the scaffolding and around still wet cement.
Although, the coolest part just might be two rows of special seats that they call the Red Loft and which will remind Red Sox Nation of their seats atop the monster. Not only are they cushions and backs padded with a luxurious pleather but each pair is seperated by a small table (where the SERVERS will place your food) and have more leg room then an Emergency Exit Row. Also, on this level, which accommodates only these maybe 50 seats, is a gorgeous, long bar. This section was not designed with nuns and school children in mind.
Granted, its still not as cool as Camden Yards but it is nice enough that I'm sure it will steal away some of those swing-fans from the region who continue to give up on the Baby Birds.

confirmed.

2008-03-15T21:52:00.000-04:00

Another week has flown by but its been a very productive one.

There is now an official start date set of Monday, March 31st! That's right, its official now. Plane tickets have been bought and shipping details have been confirmed. There's no turning back now.

There was actually quite a bit of confusion surrounding the travel arrangements which had me on the phone for hours with airlines and 3rd party shipping companies. Let me explain: After scouring paddling message-boards for tips on getting a 17.5 foot kayak from Baltimore to Miami I came upon the very surprising recommendation to simply check it as baggage on Southwest - the only airline that will accept kayaks. Doubtful, I called SW who actually assured me that it would be no problem, just to show up extra early and that I would have to pay a 50 dollar fee. I was a little skeptical, but cheap flights and I can check my kayak; imagine my excitement! This was going to be so easy. However, the next day before securing one of their "web deals" I thought I would double check over the phone to make sure I wouldn't be showing up to a frustrating situation at the airport. Good thing I did. The representative was firm in telling me that there was no way they would be accepting a kayak - not for any fee - and this was after I had her triple check with her supervisor.

So...many quotes and questions later I have reached an arraignment with Forward Air who despite their name is actually a trucking company. For a reasonable 140 dollars they'll be moving my kayak (hopefully in one piece) from a terminal in Baltimore to one in Miami - just minutes from the airport where I'll be touching down. My brother is going to be accompanying me down on the 29th, helping me fill my first stock of supplies and then officially launcing on the 31st.

Its weird, but after 2.5 months of planning and preparation confirming these transportation details finally caused a sense of nervousness and anxiety. Its since passed, and I think its normal, but there was a strong feeling of inevitability resonating with me. I think more then anything I am just very excited to get back on the water and outside. Preparation has meant a lot of time spent on the phone and in front of the computer which just doesn't work well for me.

Anyways, a lot of gear showed up this week which is always fun. Pretty much every day this week was a mini Christmas. An array of dry bags on Tuesday, map cases & new stove on Wednesday, and then a very compact summer bag on Thursday. I'm very happy with the gear I've selected for this trip. I tried to pick gear that would have the best combination of weight, durability, and versatility. Also I was very fortunate to secure some very, very generous corporate sponsorships this week. Costa Del Mar has kindly furnished a pair of their fantastic sunglasses. Clark Hammocks is providing one of their totally bad-ass jungle hammocks which I could not be more excited about, and Werner was very accommodating in rushing out a spare paddle from their factory in Washington. LOOK FOR MORE ON THIS ISSUE ON THE WEBSITE.

After a satisfying week of productive work I thought I deserved a reward so I went to one of my absolute very favorite music venues to see a terrific band play. They hail all the way from Leeds, England and go by the name The New Mastersounds. These guys are fuuuuunkyyy. And, of course, being from across the pond, these smashing lads play to all the birds and blokes sporting rather dashing trainers and trousers. Check them out.

The Countdown Has Begun

2008-03-06T11:07:00.000-05:00

- Back from Utah and right back at it.

I really did put a little countdown on the site even though its not precise because it is a great motivator. There is still A LOT to be done and as I watch the seconds tick off I can stay focused on that fact.

There's a lot on the TO DO list this week:
Arrange shipping details to FL
Confirm my stay with marinas through W Palm Beach
Finish a solicitation letter to friends/and family (because expenses are adding up FAST)
Get decals (site address, logo) printed up for the boat
Continue to train

....actually I need to first FIND my To Do list because I know there is a lot more on it then that.

It turns out I may need to re-examine my partnership with AIWA. I really want this experience to benefit a good cause but It is beginning to look like it's not going to work out. Stay tuned for more details on this.

As for the ski trip, it was fantastic but I think we were a couple weeks late in the season. It was spring skiing. There were a couple days when the base was 50 degrees and the snow was just to soft/wet by lunch. Thats the first I've skiied in the state of Utah and I was impressed - all the resorts are so accessible and the mountains are much different then they are in CO. We skied Alta/Snowbird, Solitude and Snowbasin - where they had the men's and women's downhill for the Salt Lake Olympics.

So I don't know if anyone is actually even reading the blog yet or not. Please do. And don't worry it will get a lot more exciting once the trip starts.

Peace,
Seth

ON-LINE

2008-02-26T13:22:00.000-05:00

Thats right! Its finally up and (barely) running, both the blog and the website - paddletheicw.com. What a pain in the rear end that was. I don't know how these web designers do it. I mean honestly, what a tedious process.

Ok so now that its up....I'M GOING SKIING. Utah baby! I'll be in Salt Lake City for the next 5 days skiing with my Old Man. I set a deadline for myself to get the web site up before I left today and I just made it. Here's the thing: I mean I JUST made it. My flight is in like 8 minutes and I didn't have extra time to really proof read the whole thing. So do me a favor, be kind on the first read and don't think I'm and idiot. I promise I'll clean up all the typos and formatting issues when I get back.

And when I do get back its time to shift into the next gear. The last 4 weeks of prep are going to fly by. I'm going to have to burn dust........or something like that.

Please let me know what you think of the site in the comments and help me out with the editing by posting every mistake you find.

Wish for POW!

Peace
Seth