Savage's Ditch to Conway Creek - Full Moon
Saturday, September 17, 2005 brint.adams@us.army.mil
A mixture of new and experienced paddlers totaling 14 boats, including two tandems met at the old Riverdocs parking lot at 5:45 PM. It was a hot, clear late afternoon with a southwesterly breeze and a mid-level pool, which was falling. While we assembled our boats at the launch, several in the group gazed out about 25 meters, to see my good gator buddy waiting to greet us with not only his head, but his arched back above water.
We took off at 5:57 PM, heading north into a pretty good chop, due to the convergence of the breeze coming in behind us, while we paddled into the falling tide. The group immediately spread out, as we had quite a mix of sea kayaks, canoes and short play-around sit on top kayaks. I had Bob Andrews/Juli Day watch the lead, while I hung back to make sure everyone was OK and willing to continue. All was well as we made our way around the point just west of the entrance to Conway Creek and turned northeast to the small opening into Savage's Ditch. The water level was still plenty high and with the Katrina storm surge having cleaned out all of the floating invasive weeds, the ditch was quite clear all the way through. Although alot of the plantlife was browned out due to the storm, it was definately resilient and coming back nicely to green. We noticed several spider lily blooms to reinforce our claim.
About the time we made it out of Savage's Ditch and turned right (south) down Conway Creek, the sun was setting and the moon came up. There is a patch of lotus here, which took a hard hit from Katrina, but was starting to green out as well. As we continued back out into Chacaloochee Bay, the sky darkened up nicely, but we had the moon, downtown lights, Causeway and Bayway lights ahead to guide us home.
Altogether, the loop trip was 5.7 miles, taking us about two hours to complete. All made it back safely and had a positive experience. The scheduled club full moon paddles still remain our most popular and as the temperature drops a little this fall, I expect them to continue to be well attended.
A mixture of new and experienced paddlers totaling 14 boats, including two tandems met at the old Riverdocs parking lot at 5:45 PM. It was a hot, clear late afternoon with a southwesterly breeze and a mid-level pool, which was falling. While we assembled our boats at the launch, several in the group gazed out about 25 meters, to see my good gator buddy waiting to greet us with not only his head, but his arched back above water.
We took off at 5:57 PM, heading north into a pretty good chop, due to the convergence of the breeze coming in behind us, while we paddled into the falling tide. The group immediately spread out, as we had quite a mix of sea kayaks, canoes and short play-around sit on top kayaks. I had Bob Andrews/Juli Day watch the lead, while I hung back to make sure everyone was OK and willing to continue. All was well as we made our way around the point just west of the entrance to Conway Creek and turned northeast to the small opening into Savage's Ditch. The water level was still plenty high and with the Katrina storm surge having cleaned out all of the floating invasive weeds, the ditch was quite clear all the way through. Although alot of the plantlife was browned out due to the storm, it was definately resilient and coming back nicely to green. We noticed several spider lily blooms to reinforce our claim.
About the time we made it out of Savage's Ditch and turned right (south) down Conway Creek, the sun was setting and the moon came up. There is a patch of lotus here, which took a hard hit from Katrina, but was starting to green out as well. As we continued back out into Chacaloochee Bay, the sky darkened up nicely, but we had the moon, downtown lights, Causeway and Bayway lights ahead to guide us home.
Altogether, the loop trip was 5.7 miles, taking us about two hours to complete. All made it back safely and had a positive experience. The scheduled club full moon paddles still remain our most popular and as the temperature drops a little this fall, I expect them to continue to be well attended.
posted by brint @ 10:00 PM
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