Apalachee River to Causeway 2005 LXXVII
Tuesday, October 25, 2005 brint.adams@us.army.mil
After about a week of the north winds blowing all the water out of the bay and delta, low tide tonight was the lowest I have ever seen it along the Causeway. When I arrived at Riverdocs at 5:15 PM, the water level was down about 5'-6' below the parking lot and so low, I was not sure if I could even get out into Pass Picada. Otherwise, the weather conditions were pretty with a temperature of 65 degrees, no clouds and about a 10 knot northerly breeze.
I was below the concrete ramp and in the mud before reaching a puddle of water to put my kayak in. Once in, I basically slid along the mud in about 1"-2"of water out for about 20 meters before reaching the main east west channel (Pass Picada). There was alot of interesting stuff uncovered in the mud normally not visible.
Once out in Pass Picada, there was plenty of water down and back to Apalachee River, so I used the wind on the way down and the very start of the rising tide on the return to hit times of 7:35 and 15:15. It was strange to see so much open mud flat along the shoreline, which in looking at it from the perspective of the shore birds, gave them alot more area to walk around in search of dinner. As such, I did see a number of great blue heron and white ibis along the way. There also was a formation of about 15 cormorant moving slowly overhead, flapping for all they were worth.
The next section along the Causeway was OK as long as I stayed in the narrow channel. When I passed the culvert under the highway, the water was so low I could have paddled through to the other side. Normally, the water level completely covers the culverts, creating confused water conditions as the tide comes in and goes out faster than the culverts will let the water through.
the west side Chacaloochee Bay along the Interstate Bridges was the worst part of the paddle. It was hard to find any water deep enough to paddle through without hitting bottom, so I mucked my way along until I reached the bridges and back to deeper water. I made the second turn in 35:08, which was pretty slow.
On the return, with what I learned, I did a little better job of staying out of shallow water and rode the chop back a little faster, making it back to the parking lot in a total of 51:52 or 5.8 mph. I had the same problem getting back to the ramp, having to scoot over the mud to get back to shore.
After about a week of the north winds blowing all the water out of the bay and delta, low tide tonight was the lowest I have ever seen it along the Causeway. When I arrived at Riverdocs at 5:15 PM, the water level was down about 5'-6' below the parking lot and so low, I was not sure if I could even get out into Pass Picada. Otherwise, the weather conditions were pretty with a temperature of 65 degrees, no clouds and about a 10 knot northerly breeze.
I was below the concrete ramp and in the mud before reaching a puddle of water to put my kayak in. Once in, I basically slid along the mud in about 1"-2"of water out for about 20 meters before reaching the main east west channel (Pass Picada). There was alot of interesting stuff uncovered in the mud normally not visible.
Once out in Pass Picada, there was plenty of water down and back to Apalachee River, so I used the wind on the way down and the very start of the rising tide on the return to hit times of 7:35 and 15:15. It was strange to see so much open mud flat along the shoreline, which in looking at it from the perspective of the shore birds, gave them alot more area to walk around in search of dinner. As such, I did see a number of great blue heron and white ibis along the way. There also was a formation of about 15 cormorant moving slowly overhead, flapping for all they were worth.
The next section along the Causeway was OK as long as I stayed in the narrow channel. When I passed the culvert under the highway, the water was so low I could have paddled through to the other side. Normally, the water level completely covers the culverts, creating confused water conditions as the tide comes in and goes out faster than the culverts will let the water through.
the west side Chacaloochee Bay along the Interstate Bridges was the worst part of the paddle. It was hard to find any water deep enough to paddle through without hitting bottom, so I mucked my way along until I reached the bridges and back to deeper water. I made the second turn in 35:08, which was pretty slow.
On the return, with what I learned, I did a little better job of staying out of shallow water and rode the chop back a little faster, making it back to the parking lot in a total of 51:52 or 5.8 mph. I had the same problem getting back to the ramp, having to scoot over the mud to get back to shore.
posted by brint @ 8:34 PM
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