I got the loner out for another trip the other day. This time, I wanted to try my skills at some Florida deep water. I found Howard Park on the Gulf coast and planned to paddle north to the mouth of the river that runs to Tarpon Springs. It was about a 6 mile paddle round trip. Howard park is an awesome park with a lot of palms and ferns. The beach that I launched from was actually an island that was connected to land via a long bridge. It looked like it would get me out far enough and then the paddle north to the mouth was about 2 miles.
On the beach, looking north, the open water looked pretty intimidating. This was going to be the longest, open water cross that I have done so far in paddling. I dropped in and started into the wind across the bay. The ground never dropped out from underneath me. I could have WALKED to the other side of the bay. It was about 2 feet deep the whole way.
The scenery in this section was standard issue shoreline for the area. A lot of Mangrove trees and birds. It was very quite in this area too. The headwind made the paddle up to the mouth pretty difficult. I had to keep paddling, otherwise, I would start floating backwards. 2 miles of hard paddling into the wind was not the most enjoyable, but it paid off once I got behind the breaker islands. The water was still about 2 feet deep, but the wind was dead. I hung out in this section, just south of the mouth, and took in the scenery. I was also welcomed by a good size fish that jumped out of the water about 20 feet off my bow.
As I came around the back side of the last little island, I saw the channel leading into the river. I also saw the current. The water behind the islands was not moving at all, and the windy water that was in the channel......was moving good! Now THIS was getting intimidating. I am in a kayak that is on the fence of being out of it's elements. This is more of an inland waterway kayak, and I was out in some choppy water. Once I got into the channel, I was back to relaxing. That was until I was reminded what I was sharing the channel with.
The tour boats and fishing vessels that use this channel were huge compared to the lil boat I was in. I really got a good idea on how small I was out there. Although I had no idea how deep it was in this area, I could feel it. And just when I was about to bail into a smaller section of water.....3 dolphins came up for air right in front of the kayak. They were headed out as I was headed in, so I only saw them for that split second. It was well worth everything I went through on this trip.
I went down the channel for about a mile, then ducked around the backside of some islands and headed back out to the Gulf. The paddling on the backside of these islands was pretty nice and easy. There was some huge homes to look at and some nice little beaches.
There was one point as I exited back into the gulf that I got a little concerned on where I was. Everything looked different. I wasn't too worried, because I knew if I kept land on my left and water on my right.... I would find the car eventually.
On the beach, looking north, the open water looked pretty intimidating. This was going to be the longest, open water cross that I have done so far in paddling. I dropped in and started into the wind across the bay. The ground never dropped out from underneath me. I could have WALKED to the other side of the bay. It was about 2 feet deep the whole way. 
The scenery in this section was standard issue shoreline for the area. A lot of Mangrove trees and birds. It was very quite in this area too. The headwind made the paddle up to the mouth pretty difficult. I had to keep paddling, otherwise, I would start floating backwards. 2 miles of hard paddling into the wind was not the most enjoyable, but it paid off once I got behind the breaker islands. The water was still about 2 feet deep, but the wind was dead. I hung out in this section, just south of the mouth, and took in the scenery. I was also welcomed by a good size fish that jumped out of the water about 20 feet off my bow.
As I came around the back side of the last little island, I saw the channel leading into the river. I also saw the current. The water behind the islands was not moving at all, and the windy water that was in the channel......was moving good! Now THIS was getting intimidating. I am in a kayak that is on the fence of being out of it's elements. This is more of an inland waterway kayak, and I was out in some choppy water. Once I got into the channel, I was back to relaxing. That was until I was reminded what I was sharing the channel with.
The tour boats and fishing vessels that use this channel were huge compared to the lil boat I was in. I really got a good idea on how small I was out there. Although I had no idea how deep it was in this area, I could feel it. And just when I was about to bail into a smaller section of water.....3 dolphins came up for air right in front of the kayak. They were headed out as I was headed in, so I only saw them for that split second. It was well worth everything I went through on this trip.
I went down the channel for about a mile, then ducked around the backside of some islands and headed back out to the Gulf. The paddling on the backside of these islands was pretty nice and easy. There was some huge homes to look at and some nice little beaches.
There was one point as I exited back into the gulf that I got a little concerned on where I was. Everything looked different. I wasn't too worried, because I knew if I kept land on my left and water on my right.... I would find the car eventually.
No comments:
Post a Comment