Calusa Blueway Trip Report Part 1

First off, props to Bill and Mary Burnham. If you are looking for an all inclusive guided trip in the Florida Everglades or Keys and Barrier islands I can not more highly recommend the Burnhams. Their knowledge of the area, tides, lodging, and weather is solid. And they cook smashing food! They even managed to provide me, the gluten-adverse, and James (no raw tomatoes) with plenty of yummy food. http://www.burnhamguides.com/

Mary

Bill

Mary and Bill below (with Jaclin) while making us lunch. It seems like this is the day they made the best tuna salad I have ever eaten!

Now for the trip: We left icy nasty Northern Virginia at about 8 pm Wednesday 1/29/14. We drove until about midnight, stayed at a Days Inn (I think, I was pretty torched). We drove the rest of the trip starting at 07:00 the next morning after (free) breakfast at the hotel. That night we were booked at the Bokeelia cabins that were conveniently located at the launch site. http://tropicstaradventures.com/

We finished our 1100 miles journey at about 8 pm. Whew.

We were to meet our group and guides at 10 am on 1/31/14 at the launch. 

We started packing and discarding items from our kits at 6 am. Mary had sent us a list of suggested items and said to use a 20 liter dry bag for clothes and a 5 liter for cosmetics. They provide the bags but we had our own and didn't use any of theirs. We brought our own camping stuff, tent, sleeping pads, etc, as well. We also had one 5 liter dry bag of electronic stuff chargers, batteries, head lamps. And I had to carry a 5 liter bag of meds and personal stuff that is kind of unmentionable but goes along with my chronic health issues.

Jaclin launching, and others preparing to carry the fully loaded boats down. We used four or more people to carry each boat. The Burnhams have worked out a system to move the fully loaded boats without damaging them.

The Burnhams can provide boats but we brought our own. Myself I brought my Current Design Solstice GTS and James brought his Point 65N XO 16. We put our deck bags on and stuffed the heck out of our boats. We each received a full 10 liter water bag (dromedary) to carry for the group. As well, I received a package of frozen shrimp which I tossed up fore of my foot pegs and James stowed group cook ware. 

It was cool and rainy when we launched. We paddled out of Bokeelia and on to Cayo Costa Island (Cayo Costa State Park) where we had a two night stay booked in a pair of primitive cabins and two campsites. The water was a bit rough so I didn't take many photos of the start of our journey.

James

Myself right after launch

Right from the beginning my camera acted up. This Nikon Coolpix AW100 is toast. It was at one time water proof but the gasket around the battery/card slots now lets a slight amount of water in. I had planned ahead and brought 60 1 gram silica packs. I stowed the camera in a clear dry bag with 5 new packs each night. In the morning it would be dry but inevitably I would either drop the camera in the water or take a good splash up over the deck and poof, the camera would be fogged up inside again. From today on, I have no water proof camera. It either stays in a dry bag designed for cameras or I just don't carry one. Sadly, this must be. Eventually I will be able to replace it but I am fund-less until at least  April. I must pay to play and so sadly, must return to my desk at the cat hospital in order to buy new gadgets and just be on the water, in general.

But enough of that, the trip report awaits! Ah, birds...This is very front and center for me. I paint and use photos I have taken to assist me in recreating the beautiful bird life I have witnessed. Birds are dear to my heart.

Yellow Crowned Night Heron seen with in five minutes of the group launching

ubiquitous selfie...

 We stopped for a lunch break on a tiny mangrove island half-way to Cayo Costa.

Kind of rough landing amongst the mangroves. There is a technique to landing on barely existent beach among mangroves, which I had to learn, and would serve me well on the 6 day trip

As I said, the water was a bit rough and the camera, not so good

Approaching the beach where we would be camping

The water went from a dark gray blue in the Pine Island Sound to an amazing opaque turquoise-green as we passed on to the Gulf side of Cayo Costa Island. As the water was rough it was wasn't clear as it would be on following days. The beach was soft sand, a big difference from the Keys that I had paddled a mere three weeks ago. We set up our tent in the site next to the Burnhams, opting to sleep together rather in the gender assigned group cabins.

The next morning dawned cloudy but warmer and with quiet winds.

Nice collection of high end boats. Current Design was well represented with the largest number of boats under their brand.

I had an embarrassing episode the night before where in my 2 liter dry bag holding my actual meds, antihistamines, you name it, had gone missing. It had worked its way into the long nose of my "Dragon" boat and was not visible to myself, nor the three other people who looked. Dork. Bill saved "the day" when he reached his long long arm all the way into the boat and was just able to feel it and snake it out. So the next morning I put the one tiny dry bag in a larger clear 5 L dry bag which I would then carry with me for the duration of the trip. I put the long bright green Hawaii lanyard on it, both to make it easy to see and easy to carry on my shoulder, almost like a hand bag. If one really gets to know me, one of the first conclusions reached will be that I love bags, bags of all sorts. So it was comical to me to be forced to carry this dry bag as a purse. You can see the 5 L bag I mention on the deck of my boat above. Really embarrassed myself, but now it's just comical.

We were sight seers this day. We had a base camp and a group of us, minus Mary, paddled out in the after noon to explore Cayo Costa. It was an interesting trip. At one point we portaged over the island from the Gulf side to a static lagoon on the other side. From there we paddled out into the Pine Island Sound and back around to our campsite, about a 13 mile circuit. We had a nice dinner and fire with s'mores. We headed back to camp to police our stuff for the early morning take down and launch.

James

Full Moon Paddle

The name says it all. No, really it doesn't. The rivers continue to rise around here. This spring has been really wet and the rivers are at or over capacity. This has led to the canceling  of some of my paddles. But others have gone off with just my core paddlers, not newbies. Friday night's (Almost) Full Moon Paddle, May 24,  being a good example.

Dusk but the camera was functioning well, and my post-processing wasn't too shabby either

This is the moon, 9:00 pm or so and fully dark, yowza!

Really, this is the moon, just hard to believe, huh?

The river rose at least 6 inches or more during our 11 mile paddle over three hours. It was nice to land and stretch at the park down river but that made for a heck of a workout going up river against the briskly moving current.  And while there was a steady 10 mile an hour wind , there were also 25-30 miles gusts that would just swoop in on us and then vanish. My neck was sore the next morning.

Moving along, I note when I blogged last that I seemed to feel some despair over my apparently poor choice of boats. I've totally gotten over that feeling. It lasted maybe a day. It was like buyer's remorse, something I've never actually experienced so I am just guessing here. Anyway, when I paddled that boat the next time the feeling that I had bought the wrong boat had completely evaporated. This was probably due to the fact that I was out with a relatively fast paddling crowd and the Solstice kept me from falling miles behind.

She's a long skinny tricky vixen

Truthfully I don't really enjoy speeding along. I like to take my time, photographing wildlife and just soaking up the scenery. Everything is prettier from the water. It's just a fact of paddling life. So, the fact is I LIKE to paddle slow. Weird, huh? Rather than being concerned with how twitchy my Solstice is in rough water I think I should be more concerned with the fact that my paddling companions are a bunch of speed-addicted gorilla-armed freaks.

I mean, seriously, what's the hurry?? I even created a little niche club for the soak-it-all-in crowd. But the only paddlers I get regularly are the hairless gorillas. Oh, there are some ladies too, but mostly they are also speed freaks, just less overly muscle bound and testosterone laden.

So I deliberately scheduled a leisure paddle for Friday morning. I will report back on the topic of speed. Of course, from what I can see I only have myself and two other paddlers so may not have much to report on after all.

Catching up

So I guess keeping up with a blog isn't as easy as I supposed it would be. I have less trouble keeping up with my tumblr blog as it contains mainly just photos and very few words. That blog is really dedicated to art and so I tend to only post stuff I have just made or good pictures I've taken.

Let's see, last time I was here I talked about a bike ride. Since then I have paddled a bunch. The water has warmed up nicely and I am able to sit in my boat comfortably for about two hours at a time. At about the two hour mark I start needing a stretch. After a little stretching and walking around I can paddle some more. But I'm afraid the days of sitting in my boat for hours on end might be drawing to a close. As I said in an email to a kayak instructor I have great respect for, "Sucks getting old. Youth is wasted on the young. And one last cliche, if only I'd known then what I know now I would have done it all differently". To which he replied, in kind with cliche, "fight the good fight, never surrender."

Words to live by sir.

Some pictures. Work, play, love:

Jojo Bob, our office mate, creating a work stoppage allowing me to stretch and laugh

gathering for a Full Moon Paddle 4-26-13

Pulling away from Bull Run Marina as dusk falls

Taking photos with available light from a moving kayak  isn't ever easy 

Just as the moon clears the tree line

Happy Hour Paddle 4-24-13

Sculls everywhere, river right river left...5-3-13

Becky's fabulous new (to her) boat 5-3-13

5-5-13 Paddlers at Jug Bay on the Patuxent

I always love wandering back into the log jams and strainers of the western branch of the Pax

Going just a little bit further

Our furry "love children." Such it is with empty-nesters in our country. Work, play, and love.

Oh yeah, the pleasurable feeling of nearly spring

Mid-February here and I have that spring feeling going on. Wild birds start screaming outside my window in the big cedar tree about 5 am. This leads to a last hour of uneasy sleep punctuated by odd wild life dreams. When I wake up my first thought is either "I need to get new rims" on my 'cross bike or "is it too cold to kayak?"

There are a few hardy souls paddling right now. Some claim to go out daily, or nearly. Hardy fellows. The husband and myself, we feel like it might be necessary to paddle this time of year if we had to leave our island of warmth for supplies or maybe if we were running from suburban zombies. But aside from those two instances, we really don't venture on to the water much this time of year.

We have wet suits, booties, hats, gloves... Not really a lack of equipment, more a lack of desire. Plus, the pros recommend you "swim" your equipment before each paddle. Now, if I bought a dry suit, and I might, then I wouldn't mind venturing into the water before paddling. But I have to say, NAY, I am not interested in soaking my wet suit etc, and then paddling on the windy river for a few hours. Utter lack of interest here.

Oh, and then the self rescue. Essentially, for my equipment to be valid I need to practice rescues in it, under the conditions I would be using it for. Mmmm, hypothermia here I come. Oh so sexy all that shivering. But that's the point. You want to figure out if your kit will prevent hypothermia or not. And whether you can get back into your boat with all that movement-stifling-gear on. I suspect the answer for me would be "NAY."

I'd hate to put the husband on the spot. You know, that place where he's doing the "Hand of God" rescue on me and then towing my unhappy self back to land because I am too shivery (or whatever) to take care of myself. So I will likely not see the water until April or so. Once the water hits 50 I have much more confidence in my wet suit etc. Also, I need less gear overall.

Don't get me wrong, I admire the guys that ARE paddling in the weather. I just know better than to place myself, and potentially others, in a place were I am less than confident.

So this is the place I find myself: I had the second hip surgery. I potentially pushed hip replacement back 10, 20, forever, years. BEST DECISION I HAVE EVER MADE. One of the worst decisions, tearing the hip sockets in January 2012 and putting off seeing a surgeon until August because I didn't want to lose the whole season recovering. Stupid stupid stupid. I caused lingering damage waiting, now have arthritis in the right hip I didn't have before and created all this inflammatory tissue. Dumb.

I figured out as I rehabbed from the left hip, working the still-torn right hip in rehab, that I could be in a better place for the second surgery. And it worked. Now, the second surgery is 9 days post and I am walking normally, no limp no sh*t!!! Yeah, I still have some post-surgical pain and am banned from real biking for the next month at least. But I got my walk back. I am so stunningly happy with the outcome. This surgeon, his whole career is dedicated to hips, he must have amazing job satisfaction. Labral tears and their treatment is a fairly new in medicine. The smart guys think the tears were always there in patients who had hip pain and couldn't walk. But before, they couldn't see them and didn't even know they were there. If cortisone injections didn't help next potential step was hip replacement. Now the specialist goes in laproscopically and cleans up the place. Wow.

So cheers! Spring is around the corner. Rise and stretch, the time for movement and big things is almost here. And I'll be ready.

Wet suits?

Opinions vary. I hear Moulton Avery was wearing two wetsuits layered over each other just a few weekends ago. He prolly knows better than me, eh? I am probably the least willing to paddle in the cold of all the organizers one could ask this question of. But I also pay attention in class and read a lot. I have no lack of equipment. I just don't paddle in the cold much. I prefer cold weather biking myself.

Question via email: Hi Lorax's Wife,
Where would I go to buy a wetsuit in the Northern VA area? Any suggestions? Thanks. Peggy

Answer:
Hi Peggy,

I am CERTAIN that a drysuit would be most appropriate for paddling with the Wash Kayak "Cold Water Crew." It's a good and timely question. But if you are just making sure you are equipped for the spring paddling that will arrive oh-so-soon then I think my advice below is sound.

Check out the different "splash tops" and "dry tops," when looking into wetsuits. I prefer the wetsuit and splash top combo, but some people will prefer the dry top.

Of course REI, at Bailey Crossroads or the one near Fair Lakes will have them. And I love REI, so you can't go wrong there.

However, having done this a few times, here's my advice, since you asked:

You'll need AT LEAST a 3 mil farmer jane and a splash top. You will also need some really good booties and gloves. And the neoprene hoodie/balaclava/noose. You must wear a skirt and be comfortable wet-exiting in it. MUST, there is no valid argument against the skirt UNLESS you aren't comfortable wet-exiting, in which case wait until it's warm and you don't need all this gear to be safe on the water.

Go to REI and try on different suits and combos. Also Potomac Paddlesports in Rockville has a nice selection. Other paddlers will weigh in on their favorite stores and websites.

Because my bottom and my top aren't the same standard size I have found a farmer jane really doesn't work for me. I have one and hate it. Instead, I ordered 3 mil (man) bottoms from Outdoor Play ( http://www.outdoorpla... ) and bought a 4.5 mil jacket when it went on deep discount at REI. This works, and fits me better than the farmer jane. With this, I still wear a splash top over the jacket. Also several years ago I bought a Quick Silver "paddle board" jacket that is neoprene bonded to fleece on the body and thick Lycra material on the arms. This is my go-to jacket in May and June. I pair it with Hydroskin pants. It's a winning late spring/early fall combo. Lastly I have a pair of 3 mil shorts that go all the way to my knees that I can wear with the Hydroskin when water temps are "in between."

Neoprene gives me an itchy reaction on my bare skin. I solve this by always wearing a layer of exercise top/tights between me and the wetsuit.

NRS has their own website as well ( www.nrsweb.com/ ) but Outdoor Play is often cheaper.

Outdoor Play has an awesome selection of booties. Don't forget to order some neoprene socks to go inside the booties. They really add to the warmth and comfort of the booties. My favorite booties are the NRS Caveman, but I can't find them now. However Outdoor Play has a lot of other styles. Whether you are wearing the neoprene socks or not, the booties should be pretty snug but stretchy. Baggy foot gear is wrong on so many levels, but especially bad if you are trying to get out of your boat when you are hanging upside down.

Get some insulated gloves if you are going out now. If you are just gearing up for spring I like the Warmer gloves and wear glove liners with them when it is cooler, and without when it warms up a bit.

Bet you didn't expect a dissertation, did you? :-D



Lorax's Wife