Stump Pass but no kayaking

We met Rich and Linda at Stump Pass but decided not to kayak because the wind was really blowing and the current was running hard. So what to do? Walk the beach, what there was of it, to the pass that gives access to the Gulf. What a nice walk. Not much for shells but we did find a lot of sharks teeth.

The waves were really breaking onto the shore and forming little rivers as they flow back to the Gulf. When we arrived at the Pass we saw about 8 dolphins "playing" in the channel. Nice marine show.

Once we returned to the parking lot we ate lunch and chatted. We decided to not kayak since we didn't have a lot of time to play.

Once we returned to the park we decided to get in some pool time so off we go. We visited with some of our neighbors while we bobbed around on noodles. Once we were sufficiently wrinkled we got out to dry off in the sun before returning to the camper. When we got back I looked at my cell and found we had missed a call. Ann S. said they were going out for Chinese and wondered if we wanted to go along. Well of course we did so it was dinner out.

After dinner we visited and had a couple of glasses of wine.

Another nice day in paradise.

Today's pictures are here.

Another full day

Today we spent a few hours at the glass studio where I was able to solder my project together. Suzette cut and ground glass for her project.

After lunch we went to the Reds VS Bo Sox game. Not much of a game. Many of the first line players were on the field for the first 7 innings. At the end of 7 it was Reds 1 Sox 0. By the end of the 1st half of the 9th the Sox had 2 runs. The Reds had nothing to offer in the bottom of the 9th. Go Sox.

Once we returned to the park and got ready for the volunteer thank you dinner. It was a very nice evening with an excellent food and drink and a very good comedian. We and the other 338 volunteers had a very nice time.

Tuesday

Today we spent the morning in the glass studio working on our projects. After lunch we defrosted the fridge since it has been running for over a year and there was considerable buildup in the freezer compartment. Since we had depleted most of the refrigerated items it was time to replenish so off to Wal-Mart and Winn Dixie.

Once everything was put away we fed and walked Logan and headed for the pool.

Then it was supper and back to the glass studio to continue work on our projects.

What have we been doing for the last month or so?

Well it has been somewhat of a routine. Kayak on the best days, go to the beach when we want to, do our weekly shopping. Clean the coach, walk the dog, wash the dog, wash clothes, go to the Stained glass shop and work on projects.

Yes Larry also took the beginner class and is working on his 2nd project, Suzette is working on her 6th project. Suzette has also made several pine needle baskets using shells for the center. Larry used the dremel tool and a diamond tool to make holes in the edge of the shells so they could be used in the baskets.

We have returned to several of the paddling venues to spend enjoyable days on the water. We have seen dolphins, eagles, and many other birds.

We have attended a shell show in Sarasota, a seafood festival in Placida, a street fair in Englewood.

James came for a short visit and we were able to kayak with him as well as a couple of good dinners out.

Look at our online photo album here .

Another paddle day

We decided to try a new launch site that is in the Sarasota County Blue way's trails book. We got there and it was a long walk to the canoe/kayak launch and then there was a large mud flat before we reached the water. Also the wind was blowing pretty good and it was still cool. So we found another launch site in the book. We ended up at the end of the road and in a private yard. No launch there. So we headed back to the main road and went to Aingler Park. This is a pay to park boat launch/park along the river. We put in and headed up river for a good distance. While we were paddling along my cell rang in my dry bag. Damn. Thinking it was son James to report on his surgery I fumbled for the phone and answered. It was Ann, they had arrived at Sanford Lane and she was just checking in. After we talked with her we decided to head back to the launch site and have lunch and then to head for the ICW, down river about half mile.

We had a nice paddle up the bay and another river/creek. The tide had turned and the current was pretty good going up stream. When we turned to head back we did get a good push in unexpected directions when we approached the bridge.

As we neared the launch the cell rang again. This time it was James reporting that his operation had went fine and he was doing well. Good news.

Pictures from today.

Pappa Rot Z

On Monday 2/2 I volunteered for a "job". Since we had decided to give ourselves a Christmas present of a new Nikon D60 Digital SLR. Man what a camera. So with the new camera I decided to become one of the park photog's. That does get me into events for free and the pictures I have taken have found there way to the park's cable TV channel. It's been fun. The main event I have covered has been the Blue's Brothers Review.

Suzette continued to work in the Glass Shop and started a class on making a lamp shade and I started the beginner class in Stained glass. While Suzette does her glass thing I have been out taking pictures around the park and turning them in to Gary, my park contact.

The only paddle we did in the last couple of weeks has been at Turtle Beach with Rich and Linda. The weather wasn't the best so we spent time shelling on the beach. Finally the weather cleared enough for us to paddle. So we did our usual down to where Midnight Pass was and did some more shelling.

Suzette did get here lampshade finished and I have my beginner project ready to solder.


I'm sure I have left a few things out but take a look at our online picture albums for ones that I haven't posted here.

Stump Pass again

We really like paddling at Stump Pass. We frequently see dolphins and of course Osprey and we can get to the Gulf if the current and wind are in our favor. Also the shelling is quite good. On this trip, with Linda and Rich we had a pretty stiff breeze so we didn't go out the inlet. We did however find a lot of good shells and sharks teeth.

As we were getting ready to launch a car with VT tags pulled in. Suzette and I started calling "Wood Chuck". Linda asked if we knew them. I said I must know them they are from Vermont. So I went over to meet them. They are from Shelburne. And would you guess they worked at IBM. Oh yeah I knew them, Vic and Linda Brenner. What a small world.

No pictures just good times with good friends.

Time to ketchup again

Well not real ketchup but catchup, like bring this thing up to date. So I will make several posts today to catch the highlights of the last few weeks.

Following our paddle at Robinson we met Bill Crowe and Dwight and went to Myakka State Park to paddle on the Myakka river and visit the alligators. We had a nice paddle down the river to near where we would have had to portage so we paddled back to the launch. We saw a lot of alligators and other wildlife.

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.

Lido Key 2008

Christmas day we had decided on paddling the mangrove tunnels at Lido Key. We had agreed to meet at 10:30 but as usual Suzette and I were very early. We went to the parking lot at the end of the key and walked the beach looking for shells and just enjoying the weather.

We drove to the launch area, 4 on the map in the link above. There were at least 2 outfitters there getting ready to unload their kayaks. Must have been 30 kayaks between the 2 trailers. There were already about 15 kayaks on the ground.

Outfitter kayaks lined up and waiting

We found out that the tide was to low to kayak through the tunnels and the outfitters gave us several of options. We thought of going to another location but ditched that and figured if we paddled around for about an hour thing's would be right for the tunnels.

We launched, Josh, Angie, Joyce, Rich, Linda, Suzette and I, and headed across the bay to Bird Key. We paddled around the canals for a while and headed back to the tidal flat to do a little shell hunting and have lunch.

The gang paddling a canal on Bird Key

On the tidal flat for lunch

This Great Blue Heron joined us for lunch. He didn't seem the least bit concerned we were there.

As we were eating lunch it became obvious that the tide had risen significantly so we headed to the mangrove tunnels. It was fantastic. I will let the pictures that follow speak for themselves.

Hooded Night Heron

Rosate Spoonbill and Brown Pellican

Rich and Linda in the mangrove tunnels.

Merry Christmas

Rich and Linda came to the park to pick us up to go to Christmas dinner with them and their family. We had a short visit at the camper and exchanged gifts. As we were leaving the park to go to Josh and Angie's, their daughter and son in law's place, we gave them a driving tour of the park.

We got to Angie and Josh's and Scotty, their son, arrived with his girl friend and her mother. We had a very nice visit and good eats. The fudge Suzette made was a hit as was her green "stuff".

We also made plans to go paddling on Boxing day.

The weather is here ...

Is it really Christmas? It is currently 71 here at Sun-N-Fun in Sarasota FL and was up to 84 today. We watch the weather and are both glad and sad we are here. If we were in Portland OR with our son Mike and his wife we would be helping shovel snow. If we were in Vermont with our son James it looks like it would be just plain miserable. Rain on snow. In Virginia I don't think we would get in a motorcycle ride.

Yesterday we had called our friend Susie in Amissville and had a nice long phone visit. She told us about a deal they had found on a Nikon D60 Digital SLR. Since that is a camera we had seen advertised and looked at some months ago we decided to give ourselves a Christmas present. So off to the local Ritz Camera store. None in stock. I had even called before we went and was led to believe they had them in the store. Bummer. But we still needed a couple of items from JoAnn's Fabric.

Once back at the camper I went online to check the deal and order the camera. Boy I will not deal with Ritz online again. Well it will have to be a really good deal for me to return. The order confirmation process was a real nightmare. But the camera is on the way.

Today we played 2 rounds of what they call "Crazy Golf", really miniature golf. The wife beat me. Bummer.
We decided to spend the rest of the day at the pool so we had lunch and headed off. We stopped to talk to Steve and Sally from New York since they had kayaks on their car. We had a nice visit with them and may kayak with them after Christmas.

We met a couple from MD at the pool and talked with them a while. The area where that 66" water main broke is where he travels for work.

After the pool we came back and had some snacks, listened to Radio Margaritaville, napped and basically just chilled. After supper we watched "A Christmas Story" ... Ralphie you'll shoot your eye out.


Have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Paddle day 6 Dec 21

The winter solstice, what a great day. Winter is here. Yep it will get down to 50 tonight and only in the 60's tomorrow. Oh that's summer in Vermont.

Today we met Rich and Linda at Nokomis Beach about 10:30. We arrived about a half hour early so we drove down to North Jetty Park and walked out to the jetty. The link above will take you to a map of the area which will make it easier to follow the description of our journey.

A view of the North Jetty

While there we met two ladies who were launching their kayaks and talked with them for a while. They were heading up Donna Bay. They told us about a few areas they had kayaked. Since it was after 10 I gave Rich a call on and he old me they were at the launch site on Nokomis Beach so we drove up to meet them.

Once we launched we headed up Lyons Bay and under the Albee Rd. bridge an into the canals in the development there. There was not much to see so we headed back toward the inlet area. There is an island on the bay side the inlet with a nice sandy beach so we took a snack break there.

Snack break on the island

We went along the shore and into one of the marina areas, Higel Marine, before we decided to head to Roberts Bay and on up to Curry Creek. It was a long windy paddle across Roberts Bay and time for lunch. As we approached the US41 bridge we noticed a small beach area so we put in there and had lunch.

Lunch break

After lunch we decided to work our way up Curry Creek so off we went. The current was a little stiff but it was favorable for this leg. We went up the creek about 3/4 mile before deciding to make the turn and head back.

Up the creek, with paddles

A Great Blue Heron takes flight

The return trip was against the wind and current. It was a long paddle back to where we would make the turn to head pack to the launch point. Now both the wind and current were in our favor. While we were loading the kayaks the girls went to the beach to do a little shell hunting. Not much for shells but we did see a Gopher Tortoise.



A most excellent day. When we returned to Sun-N-Fun we fed and walked Logan before heading off to the hot tub's.