Smoke on the Water.


Penny didn’t feel well enough to kayak this morning so I went out by myself in my single kayak. It was more windy than usual this morning and I was having second thoughts before I loaded it on the CRV. I decided it would be worth going just to see how well it behaved with a good wind.

When I launched the kayak the wind was coming out of the northeast – which meant I would be paddling with a headwind to get up to the end of the bayou. I set off across the bayou to get to the other side, which was sheltered from the wind. We are seeing the effects of one of the Florida fires here. This is the first day we have it but it smells like wet smoke outside and the sun is just a red ball instead of its normal bright golden self. About halfway across 2 dolphin roll out of the water for a breath of smoky air. They are headed downwind and I follow trying to get a good picture. Each time the surface I’m paddling. When I get the camera up they stay down. I got a couple of pictures of fins and rippled water and ended up with another quarter mile to row upwind.

I found that paddling upwind wasn’t bad. It took a little longer but it is nothing like being in a canoe in a stiff wind. When I reached the end of the bayou I took advantage of the opportunity to explore up in the narrow tributaries feeding the bayou. Penny can’t go there because she doesn’t want to take any chance on seeing a snake. I found that I could get up about 100 ft into one side. Far enough in that the water was now a stream and had a noticeable flow. To my surprise there were several blackberry bushes hanging over the water with ripe fruit ready for picking. I could pick them right from the kayak and I did. After I got about ½ pint I noticed that there was another vine growing on the blackberry bush and that each branch ended with 3 leaves. (you know, leaves of 3 leave it be!) So I quit picking and backed away. I’ll be back later in the week with a fresh bag and be more wary of those 3 leaved plants. It’ almost 8PM as I’m writing this and I haven’t gotten itchy at all. Either it wasn’t poisoned ivy or I’m just lucky because I was moving those green leaves out of the way with my hands.

On the other side of the inlet I was able to go up about 500 ft. That gets close to the main road out there. That’s the road we drove to work on for over 30 years. Now the rush hour traffic noises we hear while kayaking are a reminder of the dues we paid to get here.


I took lots of pictures so Penny can see what is up in there. When I came back out on the bayou the wind was now blowing across my path back to the beach. I ended up spending about 2 ½ hours sitting in the boat and surprisingly nothing was sore.


This was a very relaxing morning. If I had a fishing rod there were several opportunities to try to catch something. I can see myself spending a lot of time playing around in the kayak.

I’m certainly glad that I’m not all itchy tonight.