Paddle Posts

If the weather continues like this, I must have made King Neptune happy. Mid eighties and just a slight breeze. I made it to Pensacola Beach just after noon and followed the channel on the west side of the bridge into a SUP launch site. 

I pulled the kayak up and went to Shaggy’s to get a burger. It was huge and left no room for the fries. Thanks to the great hostess Colleen who was still in the Halloween mood?

Heading east from the bridge I had the bay all to myself. Fantastic?

The solar panels are working great on the front deck. I charge the battery pack while paddling and the DeLorme and cell phone in camp. Other stuff in camp when needed as well. I set up camp at the Big Sabine primitive site and hiked over to the beach for a cold shower and then back to camp. The clothes I was wearing got a shower too and are hanging on bushes to dry. Good thing I have the place all too myself? I hope the dry quick as the bugs are starting to come out. ?

Just another fabulous day. 

I forgot to post the picture of “Signing the Log Book” so here it is. 

And my new friend Harry the Herron was a pest all night. I wish folks would not feed wild critters. 

Sunset was perfect

Pensacola lighthouse is flashing across the bay

Surf will sing me to sleep early. 

Too warm for a sleeping bag

Life is AWSOME

An absolutely fantastic day. Dave and Iain delivered me to the gulf in good shape and paddled out to the lunch stop. Great friends like that are hard to find. They did have to head back and drive back to North Georgia so the solo paddle ? has begun. As I’m putting this post together a new friend stopped by ?. 

Packing the kayak went well. It’s amazing how much can be stuffed in ?.

 

 

We did have to paddle west at the start to set foot in Alabama and pick up sand to prove it ?

Just a short warm up day today. 11 miles and I met a lot of very nice people on the east end of Perdido Key. I’ll spend the night here. The kayak is up above the high water mark and I’ll pitch the tent right here. 

That’s it for now. I have to set up the camp and make dinner. We’ll see how that goes. More to follow. By the way, my new friend is still here. About ten feet from me. I think he is waiting for hand outs. That makes two of us. 

We are just outside of Pensacola at the Holiday Inn. I set the alarm for 0530 and did my normal of waking up before the alarm to turn if off before it goes off. Only trouble, my head is still on eastern time. So, up an hour early, filling water bladders and waiting for breakfast. Then off to Big Lagoon State Park to get paddles wet. Should be a most excellent day. The plan is to have the kayak loaded and on the water around 0930 – Yahoo!

Just a short update as we are checking off last minute items on the list. Still in North Georgia but will be heading to the gulf this morning. Gear has been second checked and loaded into bins for the drive down. Kayak is ready and just needs to be loaded on the trailer. Yahoo – tomorrow is “Launch Day”

Just about all packed up and ready to head back to North Georgia. The symposium was a great time. We had a good bunch of folks attending and did some great paddling. The first day of surf paddling was really big. A solid four to five feet with a couple six footers thrown into the mix. I got bowled over several times but rolled back up and kept paddling. Never leave the boat if at all possible. ? Zoom in on the picture below to get a better visual of what we were paddling in.

I’ll post some pictures in the gallery as soon as I can get a WiFi connection.

Travel today then two days of last minute prep items and then off to the AL-GA border on the gulf coast to start the CT adventure. Yahoo! My sister Kim asked if it felt like I was an unemployed bum yet and to tell the truth, it just feels like a vacation. Iain and Dave are driving me down to the gulf and will paddle a little on day one to my first camp site. When they shove off and I’m on my own with close to two thousand miles in front of me I suspect it will start to sink in. The weather forecast for the first few days looks to be in the low 80s with light winds so it should be a great start. More to follow as we fly up on launch day.

Excellent day yesterday. I was able to say bye to many of the folks at Siemens but missed a few as well. The drive to Tybee was smooth and I got there early enough to get out on the water for a short evening paddle. Lots of cleanup and rebuilding going on around the island but everyone has a positive attitude after the hurricane. Day one of the symposium is today and for me it’s focusing on rolling. 

I’m sitting in the office, cleaning up files on the laptop, turning things in to HR and getting ready to head out to Tybee Island. The van is loaded with gear and Greenland kayaks and parked out back. I’ll finish turning stuff in and say “hey” to a few folks and then head out the door. Working for the team at Siemens has been a fantastic second career but it is time for new adventures. All the very best to the Siemens team!