A Sunday in Annapolis

We both slept fitfully that Saturday night. I personally think it was the couple of drinks that kept me awake. I get insomnia very easily and booze does not help. Also, hotels are really well lit. I understand why, but at night there are so many light sources that it makes the insomnia-prone more so.

All taken into account, it was a lovely little get-away with romantic highlights. And some paddling, that is- kayaking.

The next morning we packed up after, again, eating the delightful breakfast included with our room package. We arrived at Truxton Park, from which we have never launched, around 10:30. Lo-and-behold who do we see coming up from the water's edge but Tom B and Madeline. Howdy strangers! We had not actually run into Tom in at least a year or two. Every now and then we hear tell he has been spotted, but not by us until just then.

Madeline asks "why are you launching so late?" and we both cough, um, "lingered over breakfast," cough, nudge...Truly we also had to pack to leave the hotel, choosing to drive home on Sunday, missing the horrible traffic that Labor Day Monday always brings.

This day the sun sparkled off every surface. It seemed like a magical place, at least some of the time. Mainly in between the uncomfortable interludes of passing next to much larger vessels. I get nervous, antsy, when surrounded by much larger craft under motor power. This is partly because it seems we paddlers are some times "slow moving targets" for the motor boat crowd. But rather than give a reader a bad impression of Annapolis, I have to say the boat operators there have many, many smaller craft to avoid and it is really a wonder a paddle boarder or kayaker is not run under almost any busy day there. All the vessels, large and small, seemed to be operated by mostly kind happy people.

"hey you!"

real estate envy tour on Spa Creek

we passed many many large expensive vessels

the Naval Academy from the water

inside "ego alley"

                                        break on the dock at ACK

heading back to Truxton on Spa Creek from ACK

 Leaving town we ate lunch at Sammy's Italian Restaurant by default. I was too sun-stricken to walk far. But it turned out to be fine as the ravioli special was so fresh and wonderful, and James liked the antipasto salad. Weird, we were at the shore, and we ate pasta and salad.

Calusa Blueway Trip Report Part 2

This next day James and I really learned the truest usefulness of the Buff. We both burn like crazy and there really isn't enough sunscreen to stop this process. So the Buff became our secondary defense against our lovely star's visible radiation. There are already a handful of photos floating around social media of my husband channeling his inner bank robber, and so here are a couple more.

I haven't been so freckled since I was a child. It's a look I rather like. And my husband took on a mystery man air. One of my pals said "he looks like an adorable alien, with the blue lenses and tube face!"

We left Cayo Costa State Park and paddled south along its Gulf side. We had lunch. Yeah, they really know how to feed people, no doubts! We then made the crossing through a channel into Pine Island Sound and on to Captiva Island.

Along the way we picked up a begging double crested cormorant. He really was the cutest little guy, darting around and under James and my boats, giving us quizzical looks. He finally took off as we approached the entrance to the landing spot.

We stayed the night in at Captiva Island Inn , in a quiet, quaint, and upscale little village. Easily walk-able, and effortlessly cheerful, it had a Caribbean flair, with colorful houses and and a nautical theme every where one looked.

Our little one bedroom cabin, complete with a secret garden on the shady side and a hammock just calling James's name!

Oh, and it just happened to be Super Bowl night! I suspect, on no factual basis, that Bill was behind this fortuitous turn of lodging. So this night we enjoyed AC, ice cream, hot showers, and the Super Bowl half-time show complete with the RHCP & Bruno Mars to thrill our middle-aged lady hearts! <3 <3 <3

Super Bowl night group dinner, awesome!

Next morning we saddled up bright and early. In the list of items to bring was a couple of grocery-style cloth bags to move stuff when not in one's boat. I chose *very wisely* to bring two blue Ikea bags and another plastic-tarp style bag that had a top with a zipper. They didn't absorb any water and served us very well. Added to my list of essential items for kayak camping. These bags meant that we didn't have to make more than one trip from our lodging to our cleverly secured and hidden boats.

James, cheerful in the morning

Grouped waiting for take off

Pretty boat, looked like a deck ornament rather than an actual seaworthy vessel

Look at that water!

Mary and Bill

We lunched near a bird preserve, getting quite a show from the residents. Then we paddle on to "Picnic Island" which is apparently nameless but as it is in Picnic Flats the Burnhams use this apparently sensible name.

Unfortunately for me, my arrival on Picnic Island coincided with an exhausted feeling, a cough, and fever. I did not get out of my tent to listen to the "mandatory" camp bathroom lesson. I didn't come out to eat either. I *never* let a little illness stop me from eating. But I was really sick and didn't even get up to search out this "camp can" until the next morning. I had caught the flu James had battled for a week before our trip. I couldn't breathe and coughed horribly through the night.

Some how, not entirely clear, I managed to make it through the next two days of paddling. However, I noticed when editing my photos just how few I took the last two days. Too sick to do more than paddle and pull my share of the load, apparently.

We settled in for our last night of the trip at an RV park. Although the "camp ground" isn't quite set up for tents they had a large flushie bathroom, a water hose to wash at and an outdoor bar and fire pit which we happily used. The owners had us set up in the common area next to their own RV and it worked out great. Grateful to be bedding down I went to bed much earlier than everyone else. In the morning I had lost my voice, and was gently teased for being so quiet.

The last morning dawned cool and cloudy, much like our first day. We made the boat ramp at Bokeelia at about noon, just as the clouds started to burn off.

White Pelican roost, apparently a rare sight

Follow the black dots to follow our tracks. I am sure James will come up with a high-tech version of this but for now this simple laminated chart and dots added by Bill will be perfectly adequate. I think Lisa took this photo and I cropped it to remove the ads along the sides.

Total distance was either 73.5 or maybe 75 total if you like to round up, and most of us do. We averaged 12- 15 miles each day. I have a callus on my right thumb where my paddle rests, like never before. Yes, I would do that again, minus the flu next time, please!

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