Kayaker Philosophy: Turn over and smell the fishes.

BRA friends Dave, Esther, and I drove over to the Oak Hill area yesterday (just north of Titusville) to go paddling with the FLOAT meetup group. The plan was to paddle out 3 miles or so to an island campsite, pitch the tents, and then wake up early to view the night shuttle launch of the STS-130 night launch at 4:39 AM. It was a bit blustery of a paddle out, but the 35 members of the group seem to have made it without a problem. We all found plenty of space to spread out, cooked dinner, and sat around the fire chatting and drinking a bit before heading to bed. Everyone was up early anticipating the launch, however less than 10 minutes before it was to go up the official determination was made to scrub due to too low of a cloud ceiling.

Paddling pics: http://picasaweb.google.com/mblitch/KayakingCanaveral2010

Now that I've muddied the waters it's time to paddle off!

In taking a break from a research project, I decided to head out and d a paddle/kayak event with the Tampa Adventure Group to Shell Key Preserve. I got out there a little late, but still was able to arrange to meet up with one of the other member that needed to borrow a boat. We were fortunate to have the wind to ours backs as we made our way to the island around 5 o'clock. Although most expected it to be hot, the temperature was quite comfortable, even if a little chilly due to the wind coming from passing thunderstorms. Stan built a nice fire and most of us sat around and chatted throughout the evening. Funny how we'd be ready to go out on the town normally, but by 9:30-10 most were ready for bed after a day of paddling and sun. I had already set up my hammock tent in the wooded area and had a comfortable sleep even when there was some brief rain. Apparently those on the beach did get a bit wind blown during the evening. We all took off relatively early in the morning since it was obvious stronger winds would develop due to an approaching tropical depression in the Gulf. The wind was even stronger heading back and we had to face it directly pretty much the entire time. Two of the groups in canoes had to make for Ft. DeSoto park instead of toughing it out and heading for the boat ramp. I guess they didn't anticipate the changing weather conditions and packed way too much stuff they weighed them down, but in the end the rest of the group was able to make it in.

After packing up I headed over to Fort DeSoto itself to take a few pictures and walk around for a bit. I hadn't returned since my last incredible trip here over a year ago for a different kayaking trip. After getting a few shots that I will eventually geotag and throw onto my Panoramio account for inclusion into Google Earth, I headed to Oldsmar to meet with someone from whom I would purchase my newest lens, a Sigma 70-200mm f2.8 lens that will be considerably better in low light than my old 70-300m f5.6. Though it'll be less of a zoom, I think the pictures will turn out more crisp that will even allow 'zoom by crop' to be just as effective. It is a little too heavy to be a general walk-around lens, but I think I'll suffer the weight just for the opportunity for some good shots in Peru in December and on my upcoming trips.

A meteor is an example of a rock star.

After working today and meeting the last of the new tenants at the USF house and dealing with a squirrel problem (apparently one snuck into the house when the doors were open during the month and made a home for himself in an old mattress), I loaded up the kayak and headed to the Ruskin area. One of my kayaking acquaintances had set up a group paddle event on the Ruskin Beach near Little Harbor to hopefully paddle out and watch the Perseid meteor shower; supposedly the largest of meteor showers for 2009. Unfortunately, Florida weather found the skies to be somewhat obscured by clouds. In combination with the light pollution of St. Petersburg just 9 miles across the water I didn't get to see a single streak across the sky. I did, however have a really nice time simply paddling around and enjoying the quiet, cool breeze of a summer's eve. The water was fairly flat and it was nicely quiet and made for an enjoyable evening that at least kept me from the house.

Love many trust few & always paddle your own canoe!

After attending a home party last night, I got up way too early this morning when I had to do my weekend training run and then make it to Riverview Park in time to meet with some other kayakers. We loaded up all the boats in my trailer and piled in to head to the launch point at Alderman's Ford Park. I have done several different portions of the Alafia River in the past, but never in one sitting. Although not as swift as something like the Suwannee River it still makes for a good paddle. The water level was high enough that the shoals or rapids did not present any problems. We all had to get out only once in order to drag our boats around a downed tree that blocked the entire river since all the other obstacles could be ducked under to floated over. The paddle ended up being around 17.6 miles between the two points and took about 5 hours at a leisurely pace. It was a good day to do some paddling, but next time I'll probably look to get out at the Kingsway Boat Ramp since the rest of the paddle after that is pretty slow and filled with homes and boat traffic.

Flood: A river that's too big for its bridges

Before heading to a business networking function today, I took the kayaks out to the Hillsborough River near temple Terrace to get in a bit of exercise and to be a decent host to a couchsurfer from Ireland.

Be like a duck - keep calm and unruffled on the surface, but paddle like crazy underneath.

Since the boats were already loaded, I decided to head to the Caladesi Island kayaking trip that the Tampa Adventure Group was sponsoring. It was a lethargic morning and hard to get out of bed, but finally I mustered the energy to throw some of the food together and head out to Dunedin. I missed the group by about 90 minutes, but was able to catch up to them as they were about to land on the beach and took the opportunity to get some shots as everyone passed by. I've been to this area several times before, but never actually took the inland waterway, so explored the area a bit and even found the mangrove tunnels meandering about. With it being slightly overcast, the paddling was pretty comfortable with some nice views, especially of the storm passing off in the distance toward the end of the paddle. On the way home I even decided to make a quick stop at Pam Callahan Reserve on Memorial Hwy for a quick walk around and was pleasantly surprised to see hash trail marks along the pathway. Apparently the TBH3 hash had trail run through here just the day before. The water was too high with the tide and recent rains to get to walk the marsh trails, but it was still an enjoyable walk as long as pace was quick enough to avoid the bombarding mosquitoes.

Every sound ends in silence, but silence never dies.

The timing worked out for today in meeting the shuttle that picked me up for the sunrise kayaking trip today (even though it didn't meet until 8) in Milford Sound (though actually more of a fjord). Last night was New Zealand' Daylight Saving Time, so with the clocks being adjusted one hour back, I was able to get a bit more rest! Several of us rode down to the marina where we would change into our wet gear and bring the boats to the water. I had wanted to rent a single kayak for a solo trip, however they apparently were not available for general use, so eventually just signed into a tour, only to find that they only used tandems. Fortunately my kayak mate was ok with just going along for the ride, so as long as we were withing sight of the group, we were fine. The trip ended up being a bit more fun than I expected since i was able to do more of my own thing, so I did not end of being disappointed by having to stay with a slow group. We covered just about 10 miles, so definitely were able to see a lot even though the area was fairly thick with clouds and a bit drizzly while we were paddling. Milford Sound is very well known and is an astounding location. Mitre Peak literally rises more than a mile above sea level with the entire sound surrounded by huge walls. It was very difficult to determine any kind of distance due to the relative size of everything. What seemed to be a relatively sized waterfall only a couple of miles away was actually over four miles away and several hundred feet tall. When we were about to head in we cam across a large pod of dolphin swimming around with their young and were able to hang out quite a while and enjoy them. It was especially neat to just see them swimming so close to land in what was probably still dozens of meters of depth. We even saw several seals sunning themselves on the rocks. After a stop by Bowen Falls, we headed in.

Several folks were heading to Te Anau, so I was able to hitch a ride to the start of my next big hike, the Routeburn Track. On the way there we stopped by Homer Tunnel to wait for traffic (since it allowed only one-way access) to clear, so I was able to get a few pictures there and at another few stops along the way. Apparently every April 1st around 10 there is an annual nude run through the tunnel which I assume has to have seen a hasher once or twice. I told my guide, Horey, a bit about hashing during the trip and hope he'd check it out sometime. It wasn't long before we reached The Divide. I was back on my way long the trail soon after being dropped off. I wasn't really able to figure a way to get my bag to Queenstown, so this time I had to carry absolutely everything I had, including the iPod, extra food, roadmaps, etc. I was able to do one excellent side trail up to Key Summit before heading to the hut just before dark. It was a pretty exhausting day, but extremely satisfactory. How many other times in my life could I finish one of the world's top ten hike, go kayaking with dolphins surrounded by 1000+ meter high mountains and cliffs, and then start a hike that same day on another of the world's top ten tracks?