Apalachee River to Causeway 2005 LXXIII
Tuesday, October 11, 2005 brint.adams@us.army.mil
Tonight was a good time to stretch out the kinks after a successful, but long and hard weekend of kayak racing. I arrived at Riverdocs at 5:15 under partly cloudy skies, 82 degrees with a 10 mph north wind. The water level was extremely low, probably the lowest I have ever seen it.
There were several blue herons and white ibis feeding along the exposed low shorelines, while my good gator buddy was lounging in the shallow water and mud near the corner where I turn out of the launch area. I took off down Pass Picada and saw another paddler way off in the distance, across from Bluegill's. He was going slowly and I caught up to him when I made my turn at the Apalachee. I did not know him and he was not talkative, so I turned and got ready to start back west. My time at the turn was 7:03 and 15:09 as I passed the parking lot.
Fishermen must have thought the conditions were good as about ten people were out, most hanging around the culvert, as I passed by. The chop was not too bad, so I made pretty good time, reaching the bridge turnaround in 33:34. The sun was almost down, putting on a pretty good show above the downtown skyline. I felt good and paddled well on the return, hitting the finish line in an OK 50:40. It was a good "loosen-up the tight muscles" paddle and definately worth getting back out on the bay, as I will be up in Iowa over the weekend and unable to get in any good paddling for a whole week.
Tonight was a good time to stretch out the kinks after a successful, but long and hard weekend of kayak racing. I arrived at Riverdocs at 5:15 under partly cloudy skies, 82 degrees with a 10 mph north wind. The water level was extremely low, probably the lowest I have ever seen it.
There were several blue herons and white ibis feeding along the exposed low shorelines, while my good gator buddy was lounging in the shallow water and mud near the corner where I turn out of the launch area. I took off down Pass Picada and saw another paddler way off in the distance, across from Bluegill's. He was going slowly and I caught up to him when I made my turn at the Apalachee. I did not know him and he was not talkative, so I turned and got ready to start back west. My time at the turn was 7:03 and 15:09 as I passed the parking lot.
Fishermen must have thought the conditions were good as about ten people were out, most hanging around the culvert, as I passed by. The chop was not too bad, so I made pretty good time, reaching the bridge turnaround in 33:34. The sun was almost down, putting on a pretty good show above the downtown skyline. I felt good and paddled well on the return, hitting the finish line in an OK 50:40. It was a good "loosen-up the tight muscles" paddle and definately worth getting back out on the bay, as I will be up in Iowa over the weekend and unable to get in any good paddling for a whole week.
posted by brint @ 9:27 PM
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