5.30.08

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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.