The highlight of today was the slideshow I did for a group of folks that gathered at the Appomattox River Company kayak store. With very short notice an intimate group of local paddlers rallied at about 7:00 to hear some of the stories and see more of the pictures of the trip. With a growing bank of stories and pictures I love to share, the slide show is in need of some streamlining before I run the risk of talking all night long, which I almost did last night. Everyone was very supportive and excited about the trip and I had a great time sharing the adventure.
A great group gathered to hear about the trip.
Because it rained almost all day and I couldn‘t spread out my gear to get it cleaned up, the rest of the day was spent catching up on administrative duties and planning my route for the weeks ahead. As far as planning goes I’ve been faced with a decision regarding which route I could take to get to New Jersey. The most direct route up the “Eastern Shore” of Virginia would take me along a fractured shore line much like Georgia. An alternative route would be to paddle up the Chesapeake then across over to the Deleware via the Chesapeake and Delaware (C&D) canal and back down the Deleware to the coast. The inside route would have added four days of travel but would have allowed me to see more of the area.
The decision was made easy today when I was tipped off in an e-mail from Jim, whom I paddled with the other day. He had heard rumor that kayaks are not allowed in the fifteen mile long C&D canal. I dialed the phone number that he gave me for the canal operator and learned that Jim was indeed right. No non motorized boat is allowed to travel the canal. Even sail boats must have a motor to go across. The ironic thing is that I’m actually faster than a lot of sailboats that commonly have underpowered motors that aren’t really expected to do much more than push the sailboat from a dock to open water. For a moment I considered trying to coordinate a ride on the back of a motor boat or something like that but in the end decided it just wasn’t worth the trouble. The Chesapeake is just another area is being added to my ever growing list of places I intend to visit again in the future.
The decision was made easy today when I was tipped off in an e-mail from Jim, whom I paddled with the other day. He had heard rumor that kayaks are not allowed in the fifteen mile long C&D canal. I dialed the phone number that he gave me for the canal operator and learned that Jim was indeed right. No non motorized boat is allowed to travel the canal. Even sail boats must have a motor to go across. The ironic thing is that I’m actually faster than a lot of sailboats that commonly have underpowered motors that aren’t really expected to do much more than push the sailboat from a dock to open water. For a moment I considered trying to coordinate a ride on the back of a motor boat or something like that but in the end decided it just wasn’t worth the trouble. The Chesapeake is just another area is being added to my ever growing list of places I intend to visit again in the future.
Me with local kayaking legend 'Kayak Kevin'
For now my sights are set on the eastern shore of Virginia into coastal Maryland across the mouth of the Deleware into New Jersey and on into New York City. To help sort out some of the details of actual route selection and camp spots, I had the rare pleasure of talking, in person, to someone who has been there before. After the slide show Kayak Kevin, a local kayak fishing celebrity and accomplished kayak tripper sat down and poured over the maps of the area with me. Kevin has done several extended kayaking trips all the way around Florida up the Chesapeake and along the Eastern Shore.
Kevin's much slower pace (fishing all the way on a sit on top kayak) has given him an incredibly intimate knowledge of the places he has paddled through. Kevin is a literal warehouse of information for the waters he’s paddled and it was a treat to be able to get that kind of information first hand. As we talked it was funny to see how we both had developed the same selection criteria for what makes a good camp spot and how we’d shared many of the same experiences in our travels. Some of his experiences I’m happy to have not had such as a very real shark attack and when an alligator sounded it’s displeasure with his camp site selection in the middle of the night. It’s worth taking a look at Kevin’s web site he has had some amazing travels in his kayak.
Kevin's much slower pace (fishing all the way on a sit on top kayak) has given him an incredibly intimate knowledge of the places he has paddled through. Kevin is a literal warehouse of information for the waters he’s paddled and it was a treat to be able to get that kind of information first hand. As we talked it was funny to see how we both had developed the same selection criteria for what makes a good camp spot and how we’d shared many of the same experiences in our travels. Some of his experiences I’m happy to have not had such as a very real shark attack and when an alligator sounded it’s displeasure with his camp site selection in the middle of the night. It’s worth taking a look at Kevin’s web site he has had some amazing travels in his kayak.
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