Overnight paddle/camping trip 01/23/10.

Ahoy Matees,

   Just wanted to write a quick posting on our recent overnight trip to one of the spoil islands off Dunedin, Florida in St. Josephs Sound.  On Saturday, Jeff, Kayak Kev & Peggy, Tim & Debbie, and of course myself(Sean) decided to meet up and go for a paddle followed by an overnight campout! We all met at the Dunedin Marina launch site at around 1:00 p.m., after loading all our gear and getting everyone launched we began paddling over to the 2nd island south of the marina. We had 10 to 15 mph. winds coming at us from the port side with 1 ft. beam seas.  The paddle took us approximately 45 minutes to get over to the island and was pretty uneventful, with the exception of the occasional small wave breaking over the cockpit and spray skirt.

   When we arrived at “OUR” island we found a fairly nice sand and pebble beach to land on and exit our kayaks. We found a great campsite that was very nice and extremely large. Also provided alot of shelter from the high winds. The only problem that we found was the trash and broken glass left behind by previous boaters/campers!! My guess is “They” were more of a partying type of crowd. Sad, not everyone subscribes to the Leave No Trace ideaology! Anyway, we all got our tents/hammocks up and proceeded to get a fire going and dinner on. Kayak Kev, Peggy, and Tim went for another short paddle until they got rained on by a brief passing shower. By the way Forecast: NO CHANCE OF RAIN ALL WEEKEND! Thats what happens when you go paddling with the bad weather trio: Kevin, Peggy, Sean.

  Dinner was great and very filling! Thank You Shelly(Seans’ wife) for making the Homemade Fried Chicken and Hobo Beans. After dinner we watched a pair of Ospreys that kept flying around our camp as if to say “YOU ARE WELCOME HERE.” The rest of the night was spent talking and laughing around the campfire, and eating Jeffs’ Pistachios- those things are like CRACK!! Also Tim & Debbie: Thank You for the Rum & Coke, it hit the spot before bed!

  I awoke the next morning to the rest of the camp already up and moving about. We slowly broke camp and packed our things up. Peggy made eggs and we wrapped them in tortillas with Mexican Cheese blend, Tim provided some awesome Teriyaki Beef Jerky to finish it all off- OH YEAH and COFFEE!!!!! A BIG THANK YOU to Peggy for cooking & dishes.

  We then hopped in our yaks and headed into the wind for the first quarter of the paddle back- the winds had increased to about 17 mph. steady with 20 mph. gusts. When we got close enough to shore we then turned north and headed for the marina and our cars using the treeline and shore as a natural wind break. Also a pretty uneventful paddle back, with the exception of a few waves breaking over the bows of the kayaks. To all who went: Kevin, Peggy, Tim, Debbie & Jeff-  THANK YOU MY FRIENDS for a WICKED FUN little getaway this past weekend! We will have to do it again soon.

                                               -Sea Turtle Sean