Florida: Ozello with Aardvark's Florida Kayak Company

    When we decided to drive north to Crystal River, my first thought was, this time we're going to have a real adventure, this time we'll call ahead to Aardvark's Florida Kayak Company to arrange a tour.

  What I like about Aardvark's Florida Kayak Company are the quality of boats they offer and the respect they have for wildlife.  Check out their policy on manatees.  What makes things hard is they are closed Mondays and Tuesdays.

  So, it was Wednesday morning when we met with Matt to drive to Ozello.  Ozello is an unincorporated town on the gulf coast.  We'd be exploring a shallow bay and various mangrove islands.  Much of the land, and many of the islands are a part of the Crystal River State Park Preserve.

   The road to Ozello is a small and twisty offering occasional glimpses of water.  Single ornaments were hung on various trees along the route, as if a seasonal Hansel and Gretel had marked the trail to safely return home.  More impressive, if less seasonal, was the presence of Roseate Spoonbills in one of the marshes. 

   Aardvark's Florida Kayak Company has a variety of kayaks for rent, we  requested touring boats.  I had an Eddyline Fathom, Matt the Eddyline Raven and Mark the Eddyline Nighthawk.  Paddles were a choice of Bending Branches or H2O's.  Mark used his Northern Light Paddle.

  We were exploring in the last hour of an ebbing tide, and I was worried that might mean we'd be slogging through shallow water.  And if we were there on our own,  we'd have grounded out a lot.  But Matt knows those waters and was easily able to pick out the deeper channels.  He likes going out at low tide because it concentrates the larger animals to the deep channels and makes sightings more likely.  It also gives us a better shot of seeing turtles, seastars and other undersea life.
  Unfortunately the skies were gray so undersea viewing was limited.  On the plus side, skies were gray and the day was cool, making it ideal for paddling a swift kayak.

   We had just a spot of sunlight, which allowed me to see this orange sponge amidst the Sargasso seaweed, but not to get a great shot.

   We were hanging around Bird Key when Matt spotted a distant flash he identified as dolphin.  A half mile later we came upon a dolphin fishing in the shallows.  Dolphins use various techniques to fish, the methods change by region.  Matt was planning a trip to see where dolphins threw themselves on land to catch fish.  In the Crystal River area dolphins often herd fish into dead ends or use tail strikes to stun fish.  Initially he thought that's what this dolphin was doing, but on closer observation, and spotting the pectoral fins, he thought perhaps the dolphin was just swimming sideways and using its tail to drive it into the seagrass to catch fish hiding there.

Dolphin with blowhole surfacing

   We observed the dolphin for awhile, at one point the dolphin surfaced and eyed the kayaks, before moving a short distance away to continue eating.

I like the juxtaposition of the dolphin against the distant power plant

   From the dolphin we moved just a short distance before spotting dark lumps on the surface.  At first we thought it was a manatee.  Turns out it is was several, all hanging out together.  This would have been a great time for the sun to magically appear, but apparently that's beyond Matt's powers.  And I see now, that after taking hundreds of pictures of one dolphin, we apparently took none of a herd of manatees.  But they were there and their moist exhalings are etched in my memory.

Dolphin again, this time the pectoral fin

  Matt has lived in Florida for most of his life.  When he first came to Ozello, the islands were grass covered.  Over time red, then black, mangroves have overgrown the islands.  As with much of Florida, the islands were originally slated for development, fortunately the State of Florida was able to acquire them.  Now, Matt is seeing the water level in the bay rise and pointed out Palm Trees which were dying as a result.  Because Matt has been in the area decades, there's a special depth that comes through all his talk, and that was clearly evident that morning.  For more about Matt and Susan Clemons, co-owners of Aardvark's Florida Kayak Company check here. 

Matt talking about an island

   I enjoyed the Fathom, I found it fast and comfortable to sit in for a couple hours.  I can't say I really tested it though.  (I think partially because I am still in winter kayaking mode, where I don't lean or edge very much.)  Mark, on the other hand leaned the Nighthawk quite a bit.  he was pleased with the stability and ride, but wishes he also took a try with one of the other kayaks.  We meant to do that, but as we got out paddling, just forgot and had fun.

A tiny seastar

  Other wildlife sightings were lots of white and brown pelicans, terns, cormorants and other birds.  The coolest thing we saw was a red-tailed hawk attacking a royal tern.  The tern was casually flying along when the hawk sped out of a nearby island to strike it, just a few feet in front of us.  A second or two later the hawk realized it had over-estimated its skills; the tern fell to the water and took off, complaining bitterly, but seemingly unharmed. 

Just a few pelicans

  All in all it was an awesome tour.  We may not have gotten the best pictures on this tour, but we did have our best sightings and memories. We look forward to getting out with Matt or Susan again.

We launched from the white spot, the area is a maze of islands.

Florida: Paddling Adventure at Weeki Wachee

Two kayaks run into a bar....

   First thing to know about Paddling Adventures at Weeki Wachee; though they list their hours as 8 AM to 3 PM, you should look further down the webpage.  Below those first hours is a note: if you are renting their boats OR plan to use their shuttle you need to launch by 11:30AM.

  Unfortunately we learned this the hard way, Sunday at 1 PM.  On the plus side we got to see all sorts of kayaks being unloaded from their shuttle service.  Lots of fine looking kayaks take the Weeki Wachee express on the weekends.

  The Weeki Wachee River would be a fun place to bring beginning paddlers.  The water moves swiftly and easily carries the boats along.  Summer is their busiest season, when all 120 boats in their rental fleet will be in the stream.  There is no swimming in the first half mile after the launch.  I get the impression that after that first half mile many people use their kayaks as float toys for a four mile ride.  For the last mile, or so, depending on the tide, they may actually need to paddle. 

Which leads to tip two:  you might want to call ahead for reservations.

Midway, showing the current better

  Paddling Adventures offers canoes, sit on tops and sit insides.  We were given Old Town Vapors which were comfortable enough.  The front deck was a bit high, and my boat had a slow leak (the keel line showed many patches), but for a glide on a river, they were fine.

Sponging out the kayak

The Weeki Wachee river has the beautiful clear blue water Florida springs are known for.  The water was partially shaded by tall trees, though there were also sections of marsh grass.  It also has a plant which looked like a water lettuce growing off to the side.  I saw this particularly near the start, where the water was quite fast-moving. I assumed I'd see more of it later, when the water was slower and the pictures would therefore be in focus.  In fact, I thought I'd see manatees chowing down on this water lettuce and get amazing shots.

Blue heron

  Turns out I didn't see the plant further down.  Also, manatees eat mostly sea grass, though they will eat random plants in their environment and even small invertebrates.  (I swear - at the Homosassas Spring State Wildlife Park the manatees are fed lettuce)  Finally, if it was water lettuce, Florida considers it an invasive weed plant.

Manatees hanging out in a pool

  We did see a couple of manatee hanging out further down stream, lounging off to the side.  By then, the forest lined stream had given way to houses and cottages. 

A cool house below Rogers Park

   We launched at 9:30AM.  It's five and a half miles to the pick up point, and wasn't quite warm enough for swimming. So we arrived at the end point, Rogers Park, well before the first return shuttle was scheduled (noon). Wanting to explore more so we continued on through the development until we happened on coastal marsh.  We were still a mile or so from the gulf, but making it to the grass and palm tree eco-system felt like a good accomplishment.

Coming into the marsh area

   Along our trip we met a few other paddles, all heading up from Rogers Park, four paddlers in wood strip canoes and one paddler in an nckayak.  We'd seen the nckayaker early on, charging up the Weeki Wachee.  And shortly after we returned to Rogers Park to await our shuttle, he paddled in. He'd paddled 11 miles that morning.  Mark helped him load his sparkling green kayak onto his car and they compared break-apart Greenland paddles.  Rogers Park is a very bland park; a dusty lot with a small swimming area, boat launch and restrooms.  However, paddling up the Weeki Wachee River and gliding back down seems like a great way to start any day.

A canoe heading up stream

Kind of a chart with two happy paddlers in front

Sanibel: "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge

 We arrived in Sanibel an hour before their annual Luminary Festival, for which Periwinkle Way is lined with luminaries and light displays.

   We settled into a efficiency room at Shalimar Cottages and Motel.  Our room had a small kitchen, a huge bed and a screened porch on which we could watch the sunset on the beach.  This is not our normal accommodations, but at off season rates, we could pretend it was.

Porch view just after sunset

  An evening stroll along a shell strewn beach, a quick tour of some of the luminary displays, a late dinner all made for a grand introduction to Sanibel.

   In the morning we went to Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge and rented kayaks from Tarpon Bay Explorers.

   "You're the third person to show up with a Greenland paddle this morning." the outfitter told us, "There were two others here before you."

    "So are they out on the trail?" Mark asked.

   "Nah, they were headed out of the bay.  But you can't take the rental boats there, they have to stay in the bay or on the trail."

Ruddy turnstones waiting to take a boat out

   There were a lot of "don't"s - Don't take the boats out of Tarpon Bay, don't land on any islands, don't enter the mangrove maze at the far end if you don't have a GPS. ("We got tired of launching search and rescues.")  Mark packed a GPS, but it refused to work, so we crossed that area off our list.

On the bay

   Tarpon Bay Explorers offers single or double kayaks, but they are the same boats, just with one or two people inside.  Most of the kayaks were Acadias, but the Greenland Paddle, or perhaps our sizes, led him to pull two Loon 160's for Mark and I.  "These are the guide boats," he explained.  (Later we did see a guided group and the guide was in a Loon 160.)

The trail is well marked, note the wire used to keep birds off

   We followed the other paddlers in exploring the Commodore Trail through the mangroves.

Mangrove trees nicely reflected

  There we found very accommodating  calm birds to photograph, other explorers and an array of tiny (1") to mid-sized (4") sea stars.  The trail was wide and high, a pleasant shady place to paddle.

Yellow Capped Night Heron

Anhinga

  Afterwards,  we explored the bay for awhile.  The bay is where dolphins and manatees are frequently spotted.  We didn't see any though, and as the temperatures rose to the 80's, I was ready for a break from the sun.  I had hoped the Loons would handle like our Palmico, but they seemed wider and slower.  The front seat didn't fasten in place (maybe because it was a rental?) so as I used my legs while paddling the seat moved back little by little until I needed to scootch it forward again.

   We arrived back at the launch, and met the Greenland Paddlers, a couple from North Carolina, who summered in Maine.  We talked for quite awhile, comparing destinations, paddles and boats, before heading our separate ways.

Little Blue Heron on Wildlife Drive

  Later we explored Wildlife Drive, which I hear is a great place to launch.  Certainly it is a wonderful place for spotting wildlife.

View from a platform along the drive.  Ibis in flight, a barely visible rainbow

   We also checked out two other rental agencies, both on nearby Captiva.  Adventure Sea Kayak and Captiva Kayak and Wildside Adventures.  Both offered rentals of true sea kayaks, but both had a restricted rental paddling area; basically a bay and a trail through the mangrove island.  Adventure Sea Kayak had many Wilderness System ruddered models, Capitva Kayak Company had Current Design kayaks with skegs.  Both also had other boats, but I only remember the ones we were considering.

A royal tern on the beach in the morning.  Be sure to take morning strolls on the beach as well, so many birds then!

   We had a wonderful sunset dinner in our room, another stroll on the beach, but we were ready to go.  The heat and sun was too much, there were too few hours when I felt like moving.  When we'd planned our trip, we thought we'd stay in Sanibel; spend a day biking, try all the kayak rentals.  If we got bored,  we planned to go south to the Everglades, a place I'd never been.  But feeling a bit burned, we reversed course.  On Sunday we'd drive north four hours to Crystal River and King's Bay.  There, even if the day was hot, area springs would create a cooler climate over the bay.
 

Florida: Placida: Don Pedro Island and the Woolverton Trail

Don Pedro Island State Park claims to be where "Peace and Solitude Meet the Gulf."  A nice slogan, and by the time we arrived there we were ready for some of both.  Our rental car, from Alamo, had neither a fob nor an electronic button which locked all the doors.  We'd picked up the car at midnight, and didn't notice the problem until we'd arrived at the hotel.  The next morning, certain we were missing something, we went back to the Alamo office, where the lot attendant verified we hadn't missed any buttons and the other person at the front desk explained that that was Alamo's standard practice: in small and mid-sized cars automatic doors or windows were not guaranteed.  Alamo really did mean for us to be reminded each time we stopped the car that we had selected the wrong car rental company.

   Our drive south had been crowded with traffic which eased only as we pulled onto Placida Road.  Don Pedro State Park has two pieces, a section by the road with parking and restrooms and a section on the gulf, accessible only by boat.  In keeping with that theme, the dock was accessible only by water, or by working your way carefully over a few scattered boards designed to test for winter weight gain.

Testing boards at Don Pedro

     It wasn't far to the launch, which had many mini crabs and lots of fish to view.  At Don Pedro we met a pleasant kayaker coming in from his morning on the water.   He had an early version of sit-on-top Kestrel by Current Designs.   Those weren't made any more, he told us, "too unstable."
   Sleek, slim and white, it seemed a good fit for the trim man.  He'd just finished a wonderful paddle.  He'd traveled between two tiny islands and landed on the outer section of Don Pedro Park.  He'd crossed the island to a beach on the Gulf.  Sightings of dolphin and rays were common, though he hadn't seen any this morning..  Now that he was back on the mainland, he could rinse his boat off by the parking lot.

    "Don Pedro," he stated with confidence "has the best launch facilities on the coast."  Then after a short pause he repeated, "and the beach is on the Gulf.  The Gulf."

   And because he was so positive about Don Pedro, I've included it here, though we did not paddle there. It was as if he spoke with enough emphasis, we'd pull out the origami kayaks we'd hidden in the trunk and launch them.  But, alas, we had no kayaks, only a few addresses for rentals.  One of which was just down the street.

    Grande Tours Inc offers kayaks and Paddle Boards.  Their location has an access to Coral Creek and is just a short trip to the Intracoastal Waterway and the Woolverton Trail.

Launch at Grande Tours

   From their launch it's about a mile to the start of the Woolverton Trail.    We were given several visual cues to guide us.  Will, who'd come in just to pick up a check and stayed to help us (since a shipment of boats was also arriving), even warned us that the main entrance canal to the Woolverton System had a bogus sign cautioning that it was private.
    In no time we were outfitted with a pair of Wilderness System Pungos (13 and 12) and an Aquabound aluminum paddle for me.  Mark used his own carbon Northern Light Aleut Paddle.

    Along the first mile the most impressive sight was of men casting nets to catch mullet.  They gathered the nets in their arms and somehow flung them out to form perfect 20 foot wide circles on the sea before pulling them in again and repeating the process.

   The entrance to the canal was indeed marked private.  It's about a quarter mile down to the entrance to the trails.   Starting from mosquito control ditches through the mangroves, Ed Woolverton carved out, and most importantly, carefully marked several miles of trails.  Now in his 90's, Ed Woolverton still lives in the area and an interesting carved paddle he made graces the showroom at Grande Tours.  The paddle is pictured above.

   The trails are indeed an accomplishment, but I found them a bit claustraphobic and abandoned them at the first turnoff, choosing instead to paddle across the shallow waters of the bay and into a few inlets.

Mark lazes in a cove

    Jumping mullet were out in force, as were boats filled with fishermen cursing about their inability to be where the fish were.  Other wildlife spotted were Osprey, bald eagles, green herons, white and brown pelicans, and vultures.   A small pod of dolphin made their way down the deeper boat canal, just in front of us.

      The Pungos were good little boats with sturdy foot pegs.  With a long straight keel line they were steady trackers, but not great turners.  The Aquabound paddle was pretty good.  It was a four mile paddle, a refreshing break in our drive south

Willets?? on an oyster bar with some Condos behind

LINKS
    Ed Woolverton receives an award for promoting tourism  http://www.charlotteharbortravel.com/cms/index.php?id=188
    Blueway Trail discussion of the Woolverton Trails  http://www.charlotteharbortravel.com/cms/index.php?id=394
     Grande Tours offers several tours and other services

Florida

 While others are dreaming of a white Christmas, Mark and I have been dreaming of a land of sunshine and warmth.  A place where you can walk without ice crawlers and paddle without a drysuit.  A place where tinsel flamingos look like they belong, and a big old Sanatee fits right in.

Florida is just three hours from Bangor by plane.  When we left Bangor it was 27 degrees, when we landed the digits had reversed, 72.  Amazing!  By contrast, three hours of driving will bring us to the Maine/New Hampshire border, where the temperature was 28 degrees. 

Florida is filled with tourist attractions and activities that are open, even in the winter!  Best of all, the regions low cost airline, Allegiant, has been sending Mark emails promising low cost flights, from just $70 (each way luggage not included.)  So we packed up our paddle gear and suncream, left our cats in the house-sitter's care, and took off for a week.

And we had an amazing time.  But how could we not?  A winter trip to Florida can never disappoint; since we aren't looking for great water, just water free of large ice sheets. 

Thursday: Back of Beyond on Bainbridge Island, WA

If it’s hard to find decent kayaks to rent, it is nearly impossible to find swan boats.  Despite knowing that a swan boat would be painfully slow and tedious, I wanted to have the experience of using it, at least for a half hour.  It was a race against the clock, but by 5:30PM we found ourselves on Back of Beyond Exploration's barge in Eagle Harbor on Bainbridge Island(Just off shore of Seattle).  The swan boat was there, but without any propulsion device.  There was also an array of boats that you dream of rental services having; canoes, tandem kayaks, fiberglass kayaks, racks of plastic boats.  But the barge was not staffed; instead there was a phone number to the shop.

   I called the number, got a man with a slight accent on the other end and learned the swan boat was not available for rental anymore.  With that dream dashed, we took a quick picture of me by the boat, and headed to town.

  We wandered about, did some window shopping and came upon the Back of Beyond store, where we met one of the owners, Janet Nicholson, a petite woman. Like many Bainbridge Islanders, Janet had hair which looked like it was ready to be worn under a bicycle helmet or kayak hat.  In her case it was a long tidy braid.

   Janet told us the sad story of the swan rentals; how there were once two (Louis and Betsy according to this article) one had been sold and taken far away.  The other had an electric motor, making it perfect for a short putter about the harbor.  However a vandal had stomped the solar cell, so they'd replaced that with a pedal mechanism.  When a second vandal had seen fit to break the pedal mechanism, the swan was put on hiatus, though they still planned to someday install a motor.

Houses along Puget Sound on Bainbridge Island

   We admired some of the boats they had for sale, including a Maelstrom Vital, and noted that we had its sibling, a Vaag at home.  Janet mentioned that her husband, Udo, paddles a Vaag (and I suspect many, many other boats.) 

A houseboat in Blakely Harbor

   There was no paddle for us that night, but the next morning we were back, shortly after 10.  Back of Beyond opens at about 11 so it was shut tight.  But the rentals start earlier.  A tall, bespectacled man with a tidy beard, Udo Wald, came to the door and let us in.  In short order we had a fine set of boats to use.  I had a Current Designs Gulfstream (the fiberglass version of the Sirocco.)

Mark in an Isle

       Mark had a Current Designs Isle to test. The Isle has a large capacity, making it great for expeditions; however it was a bit stodgy for day trips.  Also the back was too high for the layback rolls.

Leading the ferry back to Eagle Harbor

  I had no trouble finding a purple sea star, probably they line the entire Puget Sound seabed.

Mark heading out of Blakely Harbor, Seattle in the distance

  And once again, I have a photo of Mark heading out of a harbor, leading me to wonder:  Are there medrona trees on every point?  Am I always that far behind?   Is there something about land to the left which makes a photo seem better to me?

Heading back to his boat shelter

   It was a relaxing paddle with some very nice boats.  Back of Beyond Explorations is the type of store and rental agency you wish every town had.  Udo and Janet are both fascinating people with strong opinions.  Udo told us he'd been trained by Ed Gillet, (the first person to paddle to Hawaii) and that he felt the disdain for rudders to be beyond ridiculous.  While we were down at his barge he pointed out some of the many canoes he has on hand, and his love of that sport shined through.

   The bits of information that he offered up made me wonder about the many adventures Udo and Janet must have had.  Unfortunately he did not have a biography for sale. A quick search online revealed that Udo and Janet have run Back of Beyond Explorations for ten years.   Before he was on Bainbridge Island Udo lived in San Diego, and he is originally from Germany.  He began paddling canoes, and Janet converted him to kayaks (or perhaps just added kayaks to his interests.)  He does amazing things for his town, hosting community paddles on Thursday, taking schoolchildren out to see petroglyphs.   I hope they have great success with their businesses and no more troubles with the rental swan or any other vandalism.  And maybe someday they'll record some of their adventures to share with others.

Odd growths on a float

Summary:  Paddle: 8 miles, around Eagle Harbor and through Blakely Harbor.  Rental Agency:  Back of Beyond Explorations.  Boats:  Current Designs- Gulfstream and Isle.  Wildlife spotted:  cormorants, heron, purple seastar, fuzzy barnacles??, limpet.