Friday, April 30, 2010
other kayakers
Apr 30, 2010 8:01:36 PM
In ocean isles beach. Found another waterfront campground which is great. Its no captain andys campground but it will do. Captain andy told me today that i would make a great charterboat captain. That is the best compliment i have gotten so far on the trip. We are going to hit holden beach tomorrow and make a day of it there. Resupply on some food and h2o. Erin we will definetly hit up the restraunt you reccomended. Camping on the water is by far the best. Less bugs most nights and you get to go to sleep with the sound of the waves. North Carolina has treated us real well the first two days we have been here. You notice you are paddling against the current but you make some speed instead of standing still. Not nearly as wild as Georiga but still some wildlife. Today we saw a fox Hillary wanted to make her kayaking companion. I think she really misses the dog. We saw lots of puppy drum in the shallows. A few herron and egerets were fishing in the shallows. We also saw lots of small turtles. Captain andy told us of an island full of wild goats but we didnt see any. I fished for the first time today. I should have been doing it earlier but we were paddling our hearts out all day every day until we got up to here. It feels nice to get in early and relax. Didnt catch anything yet but it still felt really good to fish. Hopefully north carolina keeps up the hospatility to us kayaking bums for the rest of our time here.
Nick
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Calabash, NC
Crossed into North Carolina this afternoon. We have learned some very valuable lessons in the last two days. The most important is dont get off the water. The minute you move the boats from the water life becomes difficult. In the process of moving the boats we learned we might actually have more time than we thought. If it works out and we feel like continuing on we might get to do the chesapeake! We are at captain andys campground tonight which is my favorite campground so far. It doesnt have a moon bounce like the myrtle beach KOA but it does have a boatramp @ 20 ft from our tent. So the kayaks are off the water and safe. Captain andy spent a decent ammount of time in the ellicot city area and has fished the conowingo dam as well. He is a great guy and has treated us well. We might get an early lunch at the Calabash seafood house and catch the late tide to end up near holden beach.
Nick
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Apr 28, 2010 9:06:12 PM
In myrtle beach at the KOA. It has been a nice day all in all. Hectic trying to figure out everything while driving and trying to replace broken gear along the way. We purchased a new cell phone for hillary, a new vhf radio, new dry bags and a new chart case with charts. We are really putting our gear to the test and finding out what really is waterproof. We are getting back on the intracoastal tomorrow or the next day. It is going to depend on how long it takes to repair my boat. I found a crack in my boat when the rudder fell off so with a little marine epoxy and some screws we should be back on the water.
Nick
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Apr 27, 2010 6:57:17 PM
We are in beaufort, sc tonight. Sorry about no post last night when we got into hilton head. We collapsed after battling the wind and current. We stayed in a hotel though which was nice. Ate at the applebees in the parking lot and fell asleep before the caps game was over. We had another rough day today. We kayaked past paris island while a storm kicked up. Not much rain, just lots of wind. My rudder fell off as we were passing the port royal point. We made it into Beaufort though with all pieces still attached to our boats. We have made a big decision regarding the trip. We are going to skip the majority of south carolina and get to myrtle beach tomorrow. We rented a truck and are going to drive the boats up there tomorrow. We have run out of time and really want to get to north carolina. I guess we started a lot later than we originally anticipated and didnt want to miss out on georiga so we though we could make up the miles somewhere along the way. Also we have been paddling from sun up to sun down for two weeks and being able to pace ourselves a little better would be nice. Anyway if all works out we should probably make it to norfolk by our stop day. We are talking of doing the norfolk to lewes stretch after we are done work in the summer. More info to come. Nick
Monday, April 26, 2010
Pics
This is a pic of Hillary's hair, the big waves at the tybee island pier and Hillary climbing a live oak
Apr 26, 2010 12:46:34 PM
Look where we are! We are not blogging from the middle of the ocean this is a location on a sandbar that came up during our trip from tybee. Crazy water they have down here.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Apr 25, 2010 10:18:47 PM
Second night on tybee. We have had a blast on the self described red neck riveria. If you are ever down this way check out Huck a Poo's it is great. For all you familiar with southern maryland it is the green door of tybee island. Yesterday we came to the campground in a taxi. If that wasnt odd enough we came in a limo because the cab companys cab was broken down and they also rented limos. Only my second time in a limo and it was to a campground. While doing our laundry we went to the campground pavillion to get away from the bugs and rain. They had a "wellness" seminar going on for quasar lazer products. It was some pitch about light energy curing your ailments. Well after kayaking 200 miles i had plenty of pains and they tried to cure them with light therapy. It is a small electronic device that is supposed to moivate cell rejuvination or something like that. It's just modern day snake oil though. I sat there for ten minutes with the thing turned off before someone pointed out i couldnt be feeling better because it wasnt on. But there were no bugs or rain and we got to charge our electronics throughout the presentation. We explored the island on bikes today while the wind whaled. On tybee island you are allowed to bike or walk with an alcoholic beverave as long as it is in a cup. We enjoyed or bike tour just a little more with this perk.
Nick
Wow! The georgia coast is amazing, beautiful, and remote. We are excited for our paddle into south carolina tomorrow, but we are also sad to leave this amazing and unique state. The wildlife viewing was great. Everyday we saw 10-20 dolfins - some feet and even inches from our boats! Two days in a row we saw hundreds of rays in the shallows around us. A big highlight was spotting two lager head turtles; one was about 3 feet long! In addition, we also saw huge conchs, eagles, wood storks, aligators, wild horses, a weisel, way to many racoons, maybe we heard a wild boar, and had 3 too many shark encounters.
Today we were at a kayak shop and met a guy who is kayaking around the eastern half of the US. It was great talking with him and meeting a fellow long distance paddler.
Our stop in tybee has recharged us for the adventures ahead!
- Hill
PS - GO CAPS!
- Hill
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Apr 24, 2010 7:51:11 PM
At tybee island campground. It is a nice piece of dry land to be on right now. We paddled through the rain all day on the ocean side of wassaw and tybee island. They were not as nice as ossabaw but still nice. We are going to wait out the weather here. The plan is to get on the water again on monday because they have a tornado watch out for savanntah. Tybee is a neat little island. Very different from Jekyll or St simon. We got a ride from the kayak ramp to the marina today from the manager of the marina and they fixed us coffee and burgers all for free. Of course this means i got two burgers and hillary got some dried fruit from the food bag. She got half of my coffee though. If you are ever in tybee on a boat you should stop by and stay at the marina. I know you will cause it is the only marina on the island. We are dry for the first time in four days. Hillary had a shark make some agressive manuvers towards her today coming in the inlet. Luckily all is well and we are walking into town for dinner. I will post some more pics later today or tomorrow and tell you about the quazar lazer therapy session we attended.
Nick
Apr 23 makeup
So we got done 25 miles this day. We came up the back side of st cathrines island and went out into the ocean and kayaked the front side of ossabaw island. Ossabaw is georgeous. Live oak and palms on the beach with no developent. We havent seen anyting more than a dock since we left st simon. No houses except this retreat on st cathrines. If you look on the west side of st cathrines and find walburg creek that is where we saw our first gator laying on the shore. We saw two more right up from him. The water was salty as could be i dont understand it. We saw more rays and skates breeding today that is a cool sight when you paddle over and watch 10 or so scatter. We had a rough night of camping though raccoons all over the place and something that growled at us.
Apr 22 makeup
Sorry for no postings lately but Georiga is an unforgiving mistress with little cell phone coverage. These are approximate camp locations. We had the best night of camping yet here. We pulled in at 4 instead of dark and got to read books, cook a warm meal, reorganize the boats and let things dry. This was a sandy beach camp site. It was gorgeous when we woke up in the morning we saw the sunrise over the ocean. We could see the ocean from our tent. A slight breeze kept the bugs at bay and we were in heaven. The next morning was interesting though. We had to carry the heavy boats all the way down to the water. The tide went out and i estimated it exposed 150 ft of sand that we had to carry the boats down. Tides are nuts in Georiga. The camp site also was isolated by the marsh so we didnt get any visitors to the site. Best night of camping so far.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
Apr 21, 2010 8:25:38 PM
Left st. Simon's today and paddled up to queens island. We saw our first gator today. We only saw the head but he was about 6 foot long. He ducked under the water as soon as he saw us.
The bugs are really bad again tonight. Our head nets are becoming standard evening attire : ) Todays paddle was beautiful - hopefully better luck at tomorrow's campsite with the no-see-ums.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Apr 20, 2010 9:19:38 PM
On st simon island for the night. We are well prepared now for the rest of Georiga thanks to the great folks at Southeast Adventure Outfitters. They gave us great advice as to where to camp through Georiga. They also got us all the gear we needed that we either broke or forgot to get at the start. And as if that wasnt enough they gave us a ride to the grocery store near our hotel. What a great bunch of folks and we hope they follow along with our blog. If you are ever in st simon look them up. We hit the water tomorrow to start into the great Georgia wilderness. On the ride over today we saw a sea turtle surface and dive. They are huge when you see one up close. We also saw a diamondback terrapin, and rays in the water. I have now figured out how to post some pics to the blog and will try to get more up soon. Hopefully we will put some posts up in Georiga but we will see how the batteries hold up. We will get you an update in Hilton Head or Beaufort for sure.
Nick
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Apr 18, 2010 11:06:31 PM
We are really enjoying sleeping in beds and eating at restraunts. Jekyll Island has been fun. We rented an electric golf cart car for the day and ran errands with it. After talking to people in town we have a bit of a new found confidence to get through Georgia. A stop in st simon island is going to be necessary too because we need to pick up a few kayaking supplies. Hopefully they can give us some more insight into getting through Georgia. Everyone here has been friendly but I'm worried we are getting too used to comforts. Luckily the rest of Georiga should toughen us up. Sorry for no pics yet i am trying to figure out how to post them from the phone. I will post all of them when i get the chance.
Nick
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Apr 17, 2010 8:05:41 PM
Pretty far inland? We are at a campground on jekyll island Georiga. We will be on Jekyll Island for the next two nights. More info tomorrow phone is dying Nick
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Apr 15, 2010 9:51:38 PM
Great night sleep at little talbot. We had a slow start but definetly needed some time to sort things out, do laundry, take showers,etc. Our procastination leaving the campground turned out to be a good thing. We ended up paddling perfectly insync with the tides. We had strong winds today, around 25 mph, so we wouldn't have made any progress if we had to go against both tides and wind. I know nick has mentioned it before, but the tides here are just so strong. Today NOT PADDLING with the tides and wind at our back we were going 2 mph.
Our paddle today was beautiful. We snaked in and out of small tidal creeks on our way back to the icw. Then we kayaked out along the western shore of an inlet opening. It was really choppy water but the change of scenery was fun. There were actual sandy beaches - not just mud flats and oyster bars.
We rejoined the icw right as the tide changed and started paddling to fernandina beach. I had a dolfin surface about 10 yards from my boat. I also saw a little shark. He was probably only a foot or so long and redish - maybe a dogfish head. We hit stong winds so progress was slowed. We ended up camping on an island just south of fernandina beach. Island looked nice but ends up is covered in the most anoying little bugs. Thanks Bev and Becky for my head net it has been absolutly esential!
- Hill
Ps. I have the worlds worst spelling and this phone app doesn't have spell check. Sorry for all the errors.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Apr 14, 2010 9:39:34 PM
Going to bed somewhat satisified. We are at a camp ground near the border. Maybe two days away from georiga though. We had our first crossing today and a ocean liner came around the corner as soon as we took off from shore. Dinner was not the greatest because we are both too tired. I had beef jerkey and rum with a bit of fanta soda orange to wash it down. Too much paddling and not enough down time. We are battling heavy north winds but people keep on telling me the spring is when the southerly winds prevail. We wheeled our kayaks into camp today and i encountered three types of people almost instantly. The people at the dock when we pulled up seemed interested in what we were doing enough to ask a few questions. A group a little farther down the road gave me a dirty look and then i heard them laugh a minute later. The last two guys i ran into were thrilled about the whole thing and wanted to tell me their stories of adventure. One guy told me a story about taking a cat and a dog in a jon boat down the swanee river. I think his name was charlie and he bet the other guys at his camp site that we would finish. I hope we can win you that bet man.
Nick
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Apr 13, 2010 7:58:46 PM
Hard day of paddling. Found a makeshift campsite. Exhausted and excited for tomorrow. Might make it to a real campground. Saw dolphins twice, bald eagles, and a rainbow.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Apr 12, 2010 8:29:23 PM
First night and we are exhausted. The weather didn't cooperate at all today. We went through some of the fastest tides ive ever seen. The wind was not much help either. Hopefully tomorrow will go a little better. Found a nice camp spot for the first night which helps. Saw a rosiette spoonbill and a sea turtle. Hopefully we make jacksonville beach tomorrow.
- Nick
No aligtor sightings today! Like nick mentioned we saw some really cool animals! The spoonbill looks like a pink flamingo but with a blue head. This place we found to camp is pretty idea, hopefully our luck finding camping spots continues.
It was a pretty wet day, but all and all a great start to the trip. I'm excited for tomorrow!
-hill
Sunday, April 11, 2010
St. Augustine
Made it to the starting line. I want to take this opportunityh to sincerely thank myh parents for driving us down here. It would have made the trip difficult to get down here in anything smaller than their Yukon. We are staying at the edgewater inn located directly on the bridge of lions. Unfortunately the prettiest bridge on the intracoastal waterway is under construction. We are headed into the historic downtown to get some dinner and perhaps some last minute supplies. More in the morning. Nick
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Almost There
Been in Virginia, Tennesee, North Carolina, and South Carolina today. We head for St Augustine in the morning. Thanks to my cousin Danny for putting me and Hillary up last night and thanks to Aunt Margaret, Amy, Jeff and Angie for coming to see us. We swung into Asheville for the day and also caught some of my cousin Alex's soccer game. Quite the eventful day. We are going to hit the water Monday if all goes well at the Bridge of Lions in St. Augustine. More posts to come with hopefully some pics.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Commenting
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Alls well in Bel Air
Organizing some gear at my parents after the colossal move. Charlottesville was a good time and should be a great experience for Hillary. Thanks again to David and Meredith for helping us out with storage. My grandafther has been feeling a bit under the weather lately and luckily it seems that all is good. I am at their house now and trying to explain to them how to check this blog and share it with their friends. Also sorry for all the extra postings and short noninformative posts. I am still working out this application on my cell phone. The app is called whereblogger for all who are interested and it works very well if you use it correctly which it appears i am doing now. Closing in on a week away and the excitement is building. I will be keeping everyone up to date with all the details of the next week and hopefully i will figure out how to post some videos and pics within the next week.