Day 60

Start: 7:00 AM- Shell Mound Campground (5 miles north of Cedar Key FL)
Finish: 4:40 PM - Shell Island (At the mouth of Crystal River FL)
Time: 9:40
Daily dist: 37 miles
Total dist: 1755 miles
Companions: None
Weather: NE wind about 10 mph clear and nice. Wind was only an issue for a few hours
Notes: Very happy to be at the start of an interior route to get out of the wind for a day.

Finally what I call a day with normal winds. By normal I mean blowing but not so hard that it’s blowing up white capped waves and laying streaks of foam across the surface of the water. It was just enough wind to make it interesting but not so much as to make it a force to be reckoned with. Besides the wind, there is another issue that one needs to deal with around here and that is low tide over shallow water. There was another very beautiful sunrise this morning but I didn’t dare pause long enough to take a picture. The tide was going out fast and I was a mile inside of a twisty backwater that turns into a mud flat at low tide. I needed every second to paddle myself out of there before it dried up. Luck was with me and I made it out without even rubbing bottom. If I’d slept another half hour it would have been a very different story.

After escaping the shallows my next navigational chore was to pick up on the channel markers that would take me to and past Cedar Key. The channel is marked with the same red and green navigational beacons/signs that I described on the Mississippi river. Red is on your right on the way back in to a port and green is on your left. Around here, because it’s so shallow (even miles from shore) finding and staying within the marked channels can save a kayaker a lot of aggravation. You wouldn’t think it for a boat that drafts only a few inches, but I need about six feet of water under my kayak to get top performance. When it’s too shallow (even though I’m not touching bottom) there is bottom turbulence from the boat passing above that causes the boat to slow. I don’t know the finite details of how or why it works. I just know that when I’m in water that’s too shallow my kayak doesn’t behave like it should. It doesn’t seem to glide and often feels like I’m dragging something behind me. In addition, when I try to turn it’s a slow lumbering process. All due to the drag caused by the bottom.

Because shallow water slows me down I often find myself running miles from shore to be sure that I’m in deep water. When I see a point of land or island ahead of me I turn and head off shore very early to avoid running into the shallow water around those features. Part of what has made dealing with the wind such an adventure is that in order to run close enough to get out of the roughest water I’ve had to run across shallow water that slows me in its own way. It’s become a trade off between cruising in calmer (but shallow) water with a constant feeling like I’ve got an extra forty pounds in my rear hatch verses running further out in deeper water but where the waves are big enough to give me a constant beating. That’s why finding and following a marked channel can be such a pleasure. It takes all the guess work out of finding your way around the shallows and keeps the kayak moving efficiently.

Following the marked channels around Cedar Key today was exceptionally important because much of the surrounding area is not only shallow but shallow with oyster beds. There is no sound worse than the screeeeeeeccch of a fiberglass hull coming to a stop against a clump of razor sharp oyster shells. I’ve had a couple run ins already but thankfully the Ikkuma came out not too much worse for wear. It’s always tempting to try to cut corners when I’m following a channel but I know the risks to my hull are not worth the few minutes of time I might save.

my own little island

My goal for today was to try to get as close to the entrance to Crystal River as I could. There was one camp site on a dredge spoil island at about 30 miles from where I started which would be a normal day of paddling. Then there was this spot at 36 miles out which meant a long day if I was going to make it here. Thank goodness the weather cooperated and I was able to make it. What’s important about this spot is that it sits at the north end of over 20 miles of “interior” interlinked bays and rivers which means protection from the wind. The winds that are predicted for tomorrow aren’t bad but it’s Friday and Saturday I’m concerned about. I’m already planning Friday as a rest day, of which I’m over due, and Saturday looks like it may be a no go day as well. Getting to this spot puts another campground within a day’s paddle tomorrow which I hope will be a good place to stay for a couple days. After 11 consecutive days of hard paddling my body and mind need a rest.

civilization returns

Today also brought with it a sort of return to civilization. By the nature of the inaccessible coast line up here it has remained mostly undeveloped. Towns are small and far between and the shore line is mostly unbroken trees and marsh grass. It is quiet and remote with loads of waterfowl and other wildlife almost everywhere you look. When I rounded the point past Cedar Key my eyes detected the faint white shape on the horizon of the twin stacks of a nuclear power plant. While it was somewhat disappointing to be re-entering civilization again having a prominent feature on the horizon did make finding my location on the map much easier.

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