Last week, Nigel Foster, Scott Williams and I circumnavigated Cape Sable via Flamingo up to Shark Creek and then down through Whitewater Bay back to Flamingo. Scott and I joined Nigel during his research for his forthcoming guide book on sea kayaking in South Florida, to be published later this year by Globe Pequat Publishing. We began the trip last Tuesday putting in at Flamingo in the Everglades and paddled out and around Cape Sable up to our designated campsite at Middle Cape . A nice following sea with a 15-20 knot SE wind pushed us along quite rapidly and offered plenty of opportunity for catching some nice waves. Though the water in Florida Bay and along the coast was a bit cloudy, the wind kept us cool in camp and the bugs down to a minimum. Frankly though, "minimum" an elusive concept in the Everglades. The sunset was a great backdrop as I surprised Scott and Nigel with a stash of fine Stilton cheese, red caviar, crackers and an excellent bottle of Cabernet. It seemed like a shame to follow up such a nice treat with our freeze dried backpacking food! Regardless, we were rewarded with a gorgeous clear sky night and the view of a thousand galaxies above. We hit to water early Wednesday morning under the same clear blue sky and 15-20 knot winds at our backs. We stopped several times along the way to explore the long sandy beaches, stretch our legs and marvel over the huge sponges that had washed in with the tides. Though wildlife seemed to be sparse on this trip, we did see several huge tarpon jumping, some dolphin, a loggerhead sea turtle and unexpectedly a 8-10 ft gator swimming offshore. Our camp site this night would be Graveyard Creek; truly one of the best wilderness sites I've ever camped in here in Florida. The Graveyard Creek camp site is on a small point semi-shrouded by small trees and coconut palms bearing fruit. The 270 degree view is spectacular and the strong SE breeze helped with the bugs. What I didn't count on was lifting my cup and finding a scorpion underneath! Talk about clearing the table! Like Crocodile Dundee, Scott quickly stabbed the Scorpion with his trusty blade and tossed it in the campfire! A listen to the VHF/weather radio before we hit the sack confirmed what we had all been dreading; that the wind would continue out of the SE at 15-20 on Thursday. Yes, the same wind that was such a blessing the first two days would dog us on our last and longest leg of the trip....twenty-three miles directly SE across Whitewater Bay going into the wind and against the outgoing tide. Basically, we eddy-hopped where we could and tried to find the wind shadows created by the tiny mangrove islands. To say the day was an uphill paddle would be an understatement. In all it was a great three days and a real treat (and challenge) for me to paddle with Scott and Nigel. Their exceptional paddling skills are exceeded only by their humor and sense of adventure. Robert Starling -- Orlando, Fl Recommendation: Paddling the inside of Whitewater Bay (wind or not) was blasé at best. Our ongoing joke during the day was creatively describing the next mangrove clump as we rounded every corner...once you've seen one you've seen them all. We all agreed that a better trip would have been from Flamingo up to Everglades City or vice-versa paddling on the outside the entire trip. As I understand it, an outfitter in Everglades City will help with the lengthy shuttle.....for a princely sum do doubt. Boat info: Foster - Nigel Foster Legend (of course) Williams - VCP Norkapp HM customized Starling - NDK Romany Explorer ________________________________________________________ Robert Starling Member ASMP / APSG Robert Starling Photography, Inc. Orlando, Florida Phone 407 521-0041 Fax 407 521-0031 http://www.starling.com NetGuide Magazine Internet Site Of The Day *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************Received on Tue Apr 07 1998 - 11:42:25 PDT
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