Robinson Preserve

After stained glass class we headed to Bradenton to purchase tickets for a Pirates game. There weren't any decent seats left for the games we considered going to and the parking at the park is poor. We decided to skip Pirates games there. So we headed for Robinson Preserve and paddle. We launched and found the entrance to the preserve through a short mangrove tunnel.


There was an area with more mangrove tunnels but we didn't feel we had time to explore and the tide was a little low and we were not sure how far we could go.

We reached an area that was blocked off for the Eagle nest so we had to return on the same route.

We did see this Imm White Ibis.

All in all a neat area but you need to insure the tide is in.

More pictures here.

Nokomis Beach

On January 24 we were to meet Rich and Linda at Nokomis Beach. Since the Gulf was flat we decided to paddle to Venice Inlet and go out to the Gulf. We spend about 45 minutes paddling around before returning to the island just inside the inlet to eat our lunch.

Heading out Venice Inlet

Larry and Rich on the Gulf

Our lunch stop

After lunch we headed back to the launch area looking for the "kids". We met up with them and headed up the ICW to above the draw bridge and see if we could find "begger". "Begger" is a dolphin that is known to hang out above the bridge. We did catch several glimpses of him but he didn't approach our kayaks.

Life on the ICW

The weather was cold. I know it's realitive

Well for Florida we had a couple of cold weeks. But that really worked out pretty good since Suzette was taking Stained Glass class and I was taking a class in bowl turning.

Suzette completed her class project and then did a project on her own, the sailboat below. Once she decided on the pattern the glass had to be chosen. So off to Glass Crafters. So much glass to choose from.

The lighter bowl was the first bowl I did in the class with help form the instructor. The darker one was done more on my own. One thing I learned is that making a flat bottomed bowl is a lot more challenging than a rounded bottomed bowl.


On Friday the 16th Mati, Judy, Suzette and I went to the Tampa RV show. It is a large show and we spent a lot of time going thru the vendor area before looking at a lot of the high end rv's. It was interesting to see Spartan chassis as well as a RV with nothing inside but plywood floor. One could easily spend 2 days at the show.

Don Pedro Island and other things

Our next paddle was at Don Pedro Island SP. We put in at the land base which had about a 150 yd portage. We used a set of wheel's that were at the park and used our dolly for the last kayak.


It was a fairly short paddle to the island and we were directed where to put in by a tour operator. They have a kayak/canoe rack on shore.



There were not many folks on the beach since it is only reachable by private craft or a local ferry operator. We went to the beach and took a long walk looking for shells and sharks teeth. We found lots of both. We returned to the pavilion and had lunch and then went for another walk on the beach.



I just couldn't take it anymore. So into the chilly Gulf I went. It was a long way out to get to waist deep. I took a couple of strokes and walked back to shore to continue our walk looking for shells and teeth.



We took the long way back to the land base and realized that our paddle from a few days ago at Placida. More boats were on the ICW on the return trip.

There is a lot of thin water in these parts. Here I decide to just get out and pull the kayak to something a few inches deeper so I could paddle.


Rich and I double carried out kayak's back to the trucks and talked with another yaker for a while. See these pictures and more here.

Saturday we went to the Crowley museum and nature center for their festival and met up with some of the park dulcimer players there. Interesting place.



More here.

A paddling we be go'en

Other than dinner out for New Years, grocery shopping, laundry we have been doing a lot of paddling with Rich, Linda and friends.

After Lido we went to Gasparilla Island on the 28th and put in at the boat launch at Placida. Not bad but very busy. See the pictures here. We did see several dolphins, at least 4 eagles, Osprey and other birds. One of the other neat things was this starfish that Rich saw and I took a picture of with the water proof camera.

Star fish taken with Hero underwater camera

Star fish, we put it back.

After our paddle we went to the park to look at the Lighthouse and do a little shelling.


Our next outing was to meet Josh, Angie's husband, for lunch at the Coffee Carousel in downtown Sarasota. Following lunch we went to St. Armonds and walked around the circle and looked in shops. Then Rich drove us on several errands. We had a fun day with them.

New Years was a prime rib dinner Boon Docks, the in park restaurant. We had planed to go to the pool side bar for the evening music and New Years celebration but since that didn't start until 2100 we went back to the camper and just petered out. Part of the excitement was to watch the 2 dvd's on the new Nikon D60 camera we purchased for Christmas.

We had planed a New Years Day paddle but it was quite windy so we decided to postpone. Suzette and I decided to make it a beach day and went to Turtle Beach. We took the new camera and I took hundreds of pictures while Suzette hunted for shells. Since the picture files are 2.5 meg I only uploaded a few to Picasa Web and put a couple here.

A Great Blue Heron takes flight.

Fun in the Florida Sun and surf.

Our next paddle day was Jan 3 and since it was to be just the 2 of us we decided to return to Turtle Beach and paddle across the bay to see if we could find the entrance to the rivers on the east shore. We had just made it to the ICW when my cell rang. I fumbled it our of the dry bag but there was no message. A check of the missed revealed that Linda had called. I returned her call and she said she and Josh and Angie were coming to Turtle Beach and would be there about noon. Suzette and I decided we would just circle the preserve and that should put us in place to meet them near Midnight Pass. During our paddle we saw several rowing shells, dolphins, and a rookerey. We stoped at the pass for lunch and a look at the Gulf side. We decided to paddle back toward the launch site. Just as we were to round the corner there they were. So back to the beach, Midnight Pass, we went. We spent some time on the beach and then paddled on down the ICW for some distance.
See the pictures here.

We decided the next play day would be Sunday the 4th and that we would meet at Blackburn park. Suzette and I arrived about 45 minutes early so we checked out the area. This launch site is also used for the Sarasota Rowing Club and there were quite a number of folks out. All were returning from their mornings outing. We figured they wanted to be off the water before the zoonies arrived with their power boats. Some stink potters seem to think that the more wake the better a paddler will like it.

Linda arrived as we were getting our kayaks to the water. Rich wasn't feeling well so he didn't make it. We headed down the ICW looking for the creek that would take us to Oscar Scherer State Park. We found South Creek and proceeded on up. We were on a flood so it was easy going and we made it all the way to the little rock dam in the park near where we were camped last year. We met a few other kayakers and conoeres but didn't see much wild life. On the return trip we stoped at the launch area near the park's contact station and had lunch. Then it was back to the ICW and the mangrove islands along the western shore. Not much to rave about but we had a good paddle and spent hours on the water. What could be better than "...simply messing about in boats."




See all the pictures here.

Monday was stained glass class for Suzette so no paddling.

Tuesday was our next play day and we decided to return to Stump Pass SP since we liked the area and there was a chance we could make another paddle into the Gulf. What a day. We saw a lot of dolphins and had to deal with the wind and current but we had a good outing. We found a number of shark teeth. Rich and I paddled about a 1/3 mile out into the Gulf before we turned and rode the current back in.







All the pictures from our Stump Pass outing are here.