Kayaking the Suwanee River and Moving to Carrabelle, Florida…

Our last few days the weather has been absolutely fabulous as we have hit the 80 degree temperature mark and as a result we have spent some time on the water. We inflated our toy boat, errr kayak, and put it in the beautiful and very calm Suwanee River.
We planned to paddle a good ways up stream and then take a leisurely float back downstream to where we put in. I knew there was a fairly good current after having watched the river the last few days but it appeared as if we could stay close to the shore and make some nice upstream progress. Well once we got in it appeared as if my hopes were wrong as the current was quite a bit more powerful than I had wished.
None the less I paddled our little toy boat upstream until I couldn’t paddle any longer. This strategy worked out just fine as we were able to float down stream back to our starting point with very little effort on my part. There are a lot of limestone rocks along the banks that have eroded into nice, scenic features and have resulted in many caves being exposed along the shoreline. We also spotted several magnificent Red Shouldered Hawks perched in some of the snags and still leafless Bald Cypress trees.
We had hoped to spend more time on the river but this resort has a fantastic pool and hot tub so the rest of our time was spent on this much more placid and current free water… Man it had been a while since I was in a hot tub and I almost forgot how wonderful they can be!
Today we are leaving this nice park to heading toward the Forgotten Coast once again where we have two nights booked at the Ho Hum Park near Carabelle, Florida. The weather looks like it is taking yet another turn for the worse so I guess we won’t be getting any quality beach time like we had hoped.  I guess that’s okay as we will still find ways to enjoy the days somehow…

Rain and a Kayak down Pellicer Creek…

The last few days here at Pellicer Creek Campground near Palm Coast Florida have been mostly cloudy with occasional rain showers. The temperatures have been mostly in the upper 60’s and low to mid 70’s but the showers have been frequent enough to have kept us mostly indoors. This has been great for catching up with our reading as I have read a couple of thriller books and Sharon has read a few books herself.

The day that the rains were to begin there was a 3 to 4 hour window of opportunity for me to get in a paddle down Pellicer Creek. When we first got here we wanted to take our inflatable kayak down the creek to see what was there. Well I chose this time since the rains were still a good distance away and went out to inflate our kayak. You may remember we were thinking about buying a kayak when our son said he had one a friend had given him that he would probably never use. It is a really inexpensive one but free is free!

Once we got the kayak we realized we needed to buy a keel and a paddle. We tested it out while we were at a campground that had a small lake near it. It worked fine but we really haven’t had the opportunity to use it since. So I inflated it and made sure it was still sea worthy. We toted it down the hill to the kayak access on Pellicer Creek here in the campground. Sharon had decided it in her best interest to not join me on this foray as she suddenly got cold feet when she learned there were alligators in the creek. Something about being in an inflatable kayak in alligator infested waters made her a bit, well… SCARED!!!

 

I put the kayak in the water and slowly drifted away. The current was slowly going with me as the tide was still going out and low tide was still about 40 to 50 minutes away. So at worst I would still have a slight current to paddle against if I didn’t stay too long and at best I could coast back.

The creek starts out narrow with lots of Live Oaks, Magnolias and Palm trees lining the shoreline. Lots of ferns under them made this typical of what is called the Real Florida area. As I paddled under Interstate 95 the cars and trucks were whizzing overhead as I lumbered slowly down the creek. At that particular time  I imagine my day was so much different than those rushing by on the highway overhead.

The creek began to widen just past the I-95 bridge and as I got closer to the Princess Place Preserve the creek flowed into a larger body of water. I could continue on to the Mantazas River but since that is a shipping waterway so I decided to turn back before going too far. The tide was still going slowly out so there was a small current and some feisty winds I had to deal with. I had turned back earlier than I wanted as the winds gusted up suddenly alerting me of the impending rain not far behind.

I got back to the Pellicer Creek Campground and toted the kayak back to the RV. What a relaxing and enjoyable trip this was and as I told Sharon about it her first question was what…. Did you see any alligators…  Nope, not a one… I think she wished then that she had gone with me after all…