Re: [Paddlewise] Sandy meets Albert

"Darn," I thought, "I forgot to tell him what kind of car I'm driving."  
Then...duuuuh, as PeterO will remember, the sight of a station wagon with two 
bright (orange and yellow) Hobie SOTs is quite distinctive.  

He said, "I'm the tall, Asian guy with the white cap."   Well, the Asian part 
was a dead giveaway, but a Paddlewise logo would REALLY have stood out.  His 
Night Herons (another paddling club) logo was very cute, but ya gotta be up 
close and personal to see it.

Off again to meet another roaming Paddlewiser.  I'm hoping Albert will write 
his version, so this will be fairly brief.

On Saturday afternoon we went for a short paddle on the Oleta River which 
dumped us into the Intracoastal Waterway and then back to the River via a 
canal.  The weather was overcast and rained was threatening, but we were OK.  
Albert commented on how warm the water was.

On the way home we stopped at the Super Asian Buffet restaurant and ate all 
kinds of sushi, seafood (shrimp, clams, mussels, oysters, various types of 
crab), veggies....and I went for the roast duck and rare roast beef as well.  
This is an all-you-can-eat buffet and weekend nights are the most expensive: 
$11.95!

I'm going to give Albert a chance to write about the Sunday paddle.  The plan 
was to drive to Everglades City on the West Coast of Florida, buy stone 
crabs, and then paddle to Indian Key for the feast.

On Saturday night our "leaders" Keith and Nancy Wellman said that despite the 
stormy weather predictions they have found that when they cancel the 
post-report is that the "worst" hadn't materialized.  So we would go anyway.

At 6:40 am they call and said something like  "Gee, maybe we'd better 
cancel."  BUT I'VE ALREADY LOADED THE CAR.  I'VE BEEN UP SINCE 5:30 AM!!

So it was decided that we would go and, if worst came to the worst, just buy 
the stone crabs and find a place to eat them.  When we got there the skies 
were overcast but the "bay" was pretty calm...there was some wind, though.

I got scared when I went upstairs (after the boats were loaded) to the 
visitor center at Everglades National Park: 100% chance of rain and 
thunderstorms, 3-5' inland waterways, small craft advisory.  When I went and 
related this to Keith he said, "I told you so."  I just wanted my houseguest 
to have a chance to paddle.

OK, Albert...you continue the 10,000 Islands trip report.

The Wellman's kindly lent Albert a boat, so I was "forced" to use my decked 
boat (deluxe glass Seda Gypsy) again after a scare I had about 3 years ago 
and an arthritic cramping (sciatic nerve again) attempt last year when I had 
to switch to a SOT after 20 minutes.

Thanks to Joan and my other friends who convinced me to take it off the 
market.  I will say that paddling a SOT is more fun, but I do need to have a 
faster boat for certain trips.  The Gypsy stays.

Now, let's see.. there's Ralph Diaz (NY), Peter Osman (Australia), Tina 
Scholnick (Oregon), Bob/Joan Volin and John Fereira (NY), and now  with 
Albert Wang from California there's another notch on my paddle!  

Dare I ask, "Who's next?"

sandy kramer
undisclosed location
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