We had a good paddle today even though we were against some strong head winds most of the day and cool temps.
I’ll start out with some new pictures from yesterday morning. We met Meena at the Manatee Hammock campsite and she had gotten up early to see us off. She took some nice pictures of us so I’m posting so everyone can see them. 
All those shots Meena took do an excellent job of showing our normal morning routine.
So now on to today’s update. Last night got pretty windy and cold on our little island. I pulled out the sleeping bag for the first time in a long time. We were up at the normal 0500 time and I went out and got a great shot of the moon just before it set. It was really neat since it was so dark out. 
Hear are the normal morning colors. 
And of course, we need paddlers in the morning sun. 
A good start to the day. The water was a bit lumpy but the wind was light most of the way across Indian River to the Haul Over Canal that takes us into Mosquitoe Lagoon. Here’s the west entrance to the canal. 
Going thru the canal, we went into the little marina to check out the Manatee. It was pretty wild. There were probably more than twenty but we could not tell. The water was cloudy so we could only see noses snorting for air or hump backs and tails. Neat thing was that they were all around us. Here is one nose ?. Much better in person. 
After going thru the canal we went on the inside of the Spoil islands. Look at the Paddle Tracks and you will see we went in and out multiple times. On the outside it was pretty rough and very windy. On the inside, calm and some wind protection. Problem was, it was also very shallow and we kept running out of water. Here we are working our way back to the outside. 
We took a little rest break on one of the Spoil islands which was well deserved. ?
Our next stop was to find a restaurant that Gus knew of. On the way I met Ria as we paddled by a dock she was sitting on and I asked for directions which were easy as we were almost there. Ria took this shot of me and sent it over. 
She had also planned on giving us some warm bread when we paddled past the dock where she lives. After a great seafood dinner I went about a mile past our camp site but had to turn around so I could get back and set up the tent before dark. I’m sorry to have missed out on talking more with Ria and also some warm bread ?.
In my rush to get the camp set before dark I missed the sunset picture. ?
This will be the last night camping with Gus and Mike. It’s been great paddling with them again. They will land in New Smyrna and I’ll keep heading north.
That’s it for today.
Happy Paddling