On a recent paddling trip to southern climes, I was again reminded of how birds can make our paddling outings more varied and interesting, just by their very presence. In the above shot, an Osprey enjoys a recently caught fish all the while keep an eye on me as I paddle past.

This Brown Pelican seemed to have other things on its mind than me paddling by. Was it an itch, a parasite, or just a feather or two out of place?

While taking a little break from paddling I came across this Great Blue heron strolling along in the surf looking for something to eat. The bird was totally unconcerned that people were sharing its beach. Instead, it gamely walked along, pausing now and then when a food item could be seen rolling in the surf.
So, watch the birds as you paddle. They have lots to say!

The Compleat Kayaker

Over the years I have slowly been evolving to meet any and all conditions while I attempted to paddle my kayak in places far from home. Here one can see what's happened during this voyage of discovery. First the kayak, mounted on it's long distance delivery system. Next comes the home away from home where the paddler, that's me, rests between bouts on the water, and last, the local delivery component which also doubles as the put-in scout vehicle, the foldable micro-transporter which allows me to venture here and there peddling between various bits of kit and caboodle which most paddlers carry about with them for reasons known mostly to themselves. It's been known to bring food and drink in as well!

It all seems to work rather well, amazingly enough!

Paddle Like Your Ocean Depended On You!

Margo Pellegrino set off to paddle from Ft Pierce, Fl to New Orleans 45 days ago. Right on schedule, she completed her journey paddling her Fuze outrigger canoe. Her mission has been to increase awareness of the deteriorating state of our oceans. It seems like nearly every day we hear another gloom and doom statement about what we've done with our oceans, so it's good to hear that people like Margo are out there trying to gently make us get to work to change things. Of course she's not alone among the paddling community. Reducing our carbon output is one solution that interests me. I know other paddlers are involved in beach clean-up programs. No matter where you paddle, there's something you can do for your ocean.

Thanks Margo, great journey, even greater message!

Banyan Trees in Key West

I found Silb's comment yesterday about the Kapok tree interesting because, like him and others, I too saw the kapok tree and immediately thought 'banyan'. A passer-by put me right when I tried to impress him with my vast knowledge of exotic tree species by referring me to the sign below the tree which clearly stated what it was. One learns so much through travel...

I was also informed that a locale B&B just down the street was called the 'Banyan Inn' or something like that and had a tree growing in the front lawn, so I wandered down to have a look. In the photo it is clearly a very different tree indeed. Not a kapok seed in sight, but instead dozens of hanging support roots streaming off the upper branches of the tree. The owners of the property had to pull some of the hanging roots aside so as to continue using their driveway. In time, the tree will no doubt envelope the house and enlarge itself throughout Key West, merging with the more native mangrove islands offshore. Be careful what you plant...

Key West Car Choices

One of my themes this year when blogging is to keep an eye out for alternatives to our oil dependent livestyle. While in Key West recently, I was impressed with the number of simple electric vehicles being used. Most were in the 'For Rent' category, but not all. Private citizens are making the switch to them as well. Certainly a place like Key West is idea for such vehicles. It is warm, flat and totally contained on a small island only a few miles in length. A full battery charge would easily last several days of use. Another plus is most of the technology is well known from the golf cart industry, easy to maintain and relatively recyclable. Adapting a kayak roof rack to fit would also be a simple matter...


Perhaps the downside was the almost total lack of visible solar electric panels either on the cars or anywhere else for recharging the batteries. Given that most electricity in Florida is produced via carbon based means, the actual benefits of driving these cars is not as great as it would appear at first glance. Still, people using them do get the idea that a 'real' car is not necessarily the drudgery they might have thought it was going to be and, by itself, that's a move forward.

Key West Schooners

Although not intended primarily as a paddling trip, my recent trip to the southern USA did get me out to the end of the Florida Keys. If you have never been to that part of the world, it's definitely worth seeing for several reasons.

One of those reasons is the chance to go sailing on a schooner. Once a common sight along the east coast of North American, not many still exist, especially ones which will take a person out for a day's sail on the water. In Key West, there are several schooners available for half and full day trips to outer keys. I didn't sail on the one in the photo above, but did go in another similar boat. It featured a 'swing-keel' which enabled it to be sailed into water as shallow as 28 inches! We didn't try it, but the easy motion and highly variable rig made sailing these boats lots of fun.

Campground Egret in Cedar Key

This short clip was taken with a regular video camera and edited (prepared for YouTube) much the same way as the one using the Viosport lens. Here the colours are a bit better. Certainly the original film is much sharper and full of bright colours.

Less Than Perfection

I've spent a fair number of hours since returning from my trip to Florida this past winter editing the video footage I took both with a regular video camera as well as my Viosport lens. The short segment shown above in the YouTube video, taken with the latter lens, is on Salt Creek in the Chassahowitzka area north of Tampa. To be honest, I am not very happy with the results. The pictures seem washed-out, over- and under-exposed, and not well focused. I have a few ideas why the results are not very satisfactory, but not enough to make me happy. This is such a new and complex world, I've much to learn!

Of course, the compression factors required for posting to YouTube result in less than perfect videos even for the pros. My pre-upload images are much clearer and of higher quality, still I have a long way to go.

Perhaps that's okay. I can see many days ahead perfecting my budding skills as a kayaking videographer. And the good news is that summer is just beginning, so I've got lots of time to learn!

Locked out at Cedar Key

One of my last stops on the Gulf coast of Florida was Cedar Key. I had picked up copy of Doug Alderson's book, Waters Less Traveled earlier in the winter and was curious about the area he describes. Cedar Key is actually at the southeast end of the coast he writes about and would be a good jumping off point. Doug may be better known to paddlers for his books on Vancouver Island as well as his Savvy Paddler and Rescue and Safety the latter written together with Michael Pardy.


Unfortunately for me, I was beginning to feel the effects of being on the road too long and I didn't give Cedar Key a fair chance to show itself off. The town itself is artistic, quirky and fun - like some very cool electric mini-cars for getting about - as these photos suggest. There are numerous offshore islands to explore and as I mentioned, one can easily head north and west along the shallow coastline and discover the seagrass shallows and marshes that stretch 'round the bend' of Florida. There is a paddling trail in this area, all set up with camping spots and so on. Permission to camp is required, which can discourage the spontaneous paddler like me. Check out the Florida Fish and Wildlife site for details if this interests you. I think had I not been a solo paddler, I might have gone to the trouble of getting a permit in advance of leaving. The area has lots of paddling appeal for many reasons.


While I was there the tides were extremely low during the day and the winds were high. The results were extensive mud-flats nearly everywhere and beside the town dock, short, steep waves dumping on the only available launching beach. Both these factors discouraged me from getting out on the water for any serious paddling. The $10 launch fee at the town dock didn't help either, although I found a free site nearby just as I was leaving. I'll know more next time! On the positive side, camping was cheap and friendly. One night we were all entertained by a very professional bluegrass group in the camp clubhouse by a huge fire-place. Nice!

Birding on the Suwannee

Here's a little 'teaser' video I shot with my Pentax Optio while paddling on the Suwannee River a few weeks ago. The banks varied from what looked like sand banks to mud flats flanked by cypress trees. Now and then you'd come across small flocks of feeding wading birds like the egrets and ibises in the video. Again the image quality is very mediocre, something that will hopefully change with my new camera setup. As I mentioned previously, that editing jobs is in the works, but will take me a while to complete.

I find it interesting that one would find such mixed flocks of birds together, often several species working a shoreline together. I'd seen sea gulls and cormorants nesting in very close proximity while paddling around Manitoulin Island a few years ago and thought it was an unusual pattern, but perhaps it's more common than I realised.

Hey, Where'd Ya Get That Hat?

Certainly one of the greatest pleasures of paddling is the opportunity it offers of meeting new and interesting people. The hat in the picture above belonged to one such person. He's a man born in Argentia, a community on the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland. He works as an archeologist and has spent most of his adult life in various parts of the United States. When I found him, he was sifting through data obtained from an old shell midden left behind by pre-Columbian native people in the Crystal River area. He remembered his home back on 'The Rock' fondly, but admitted it had been a long time since he's actually set foot there.

As we chatted about the Indians, their harvesting techniques and their garbage disposal habits, he was drawn to ask about my ball-cap sporting a 'The Rock' name and logo, which I had bought while in Newfoundland last summer. This led him to tell me his story and where he was born. By the time we finished talking and I began to move along, we had exchanged hats! He also threw in a CD detailing what has been learned by the Gulf Archeology Research Institute he works for. Small world, so interesting, so full of storied people!

Going up the Creeks

The Google image above shows the Chassahowitzka River on Florida's west coast and one of my paddling routes.


It's a spring-fed river, meaning that each of the little tributaries begins at a spring where clear, warm water bubbles up from the ground from a crack or hole seen in the picture to the left. Often the volume of the flow is enough to create considerable current requiring one to continue paddling just to maintain one's position at the spring itself.


The green area on the right of the map image is forest covered with a variety of tropical trees and other plants. It is thick and lush, not the kind of place a person would want to try walking through. It is too thick, wet and swampy. Paddling the side creeks, however is easy and filled with an incredible variety of flora and fauna both in the water and on . I paddled several of them more than once and each time saw something new and, to me, unexpected.


The brown areas on the left side of the map image is grass. The transition is abrupt and total. Suddenly there is an open horizon with waterways leading in many directions. It is no place to wander without a good map and compass! It is also an area where a paddling trail exists so that one can move along the coast from place to place. The trail is not marked on the ground, but it is shown on the map I had as a dotted line. Again the marsh grasses are teeming with wildlife including alligators, snakes and a variety of wading birds with manatees feeding in the waters. Large fish can often be seen rolling on the surface or jumping in the air.


The Chassahowitzka area is a 'nature preserve' which is slowly being developed for visitors. The picture above is of a small picnic area containing a dock, a covered area and a solar powered toilet. Over-nighting is not permitted, but I suspect it has been used in the past... All in all, the area is a fascinating one which is best explored by a small boat like a kayak which can peek into the many little side creeks without disturbing much of anything.

There is a third environment in this area, the mangrove islands. These form the outermost islands before one is on the open Gulf of Mexico. I didn't explore these this year, but they too are well worth the effort it takes to visit. It's always nice to leave a little something for 'next time', wouldn't you agree?

Paddle to Cayo Costa

Click on map to see route more clearly.
The Calusa Paddling trail in Florida's Ft Myers - Sanibel Island area is one of the sections of Florida's coastal paddling trail which has been best developed. Another section of the Trail can be found further south in the Estero Bay area. There are a variety of put-in sites to chose from and once you are on the water, there are signs along the way to help the visiting paddler, especially those with little experience or who don't really know where they would like to go or what there is to see. There are maps which enable one to follow set routes from sign post to sign post in a numerical sequence designed to take you past the various archeological sites of the Calusa Indian people who once lived in the area.


I put-in at once such site on the northwest end of Pine Island. My intention was to spend the day paddling out to Cayo Costa, a state park offshore island still untouched by the building spree going on along this coast of Florida.


It was a hot sunny day with little wind as I headed out. There being a series of low lying mangrove bordered islands along the way, each one far enough away, I was glad to have a map and compass on the foredeck, especially as I had chosen not to follow the Calusa route.


While there were buoyed deep water channels used by a large number of weekend power boaters and fishermen, much of my passage was over shallow water, often only a meter of less deep, a mile or more offshore.


I arrived at the park entrance around noon and realised I ought to have made arrangements to camp over-night prior to my departure from Pine Island. I spoke with several visitors and all agreed a stay on the outer island was well worth the time. As it was, I paddled northward around the coast, through the passage out into the Gulf of Mexico where I was hoping to find some more interesting paddling water than I had found so far in the sheltered bay. Alas, the Gulf was nearly calm, with barely a swell. Only the large number of boat wakes coming from a variety of directions provided any excitement.


It was time to turn around and head back to Pine Island. I was surprised to see only a single dolphin during the day. In previous years, there were frequent sightings, but perhaps the high density of recreational power boats discouraged them. Would I go back to this area? Yes! I'd arrange to camp on Cayo Costa and I'd also check out the southern section of the Trail, especially the nature reserve on Sanibel Island. It's not really 'wilderness' paddling by any stretch, but interesting none the less, especially for anyone interested in safe paddling in warm waters in what can frequently be 'natural' settings out of sight of built-up areas.