Portage to Portage Paddling Project
  • Home
  • About Me
  • Blog
  • Where to from here?
  • Equipment List
  • Who's Following Jake?
  • Trip Log and Location
  • Where I'm going
  • Calendar
  • Links
  • Photos
  • Extras
  • Best of the Blog

Day 152

5/6/2010

3 Comments

 
Daily stats
Start: 9:00 AM - Wrightsville Beach
Finish: 5:30 PM - Sneads Ferry
Time: 8:30
Daily dist: 34 miles
Total dist: 3000+ miles
Companions: None
Weather: Warm and mostly clear with SE 10-15 wind
Notes: This morning I discovered that my SPOT device wasn’t working.
Today started out at Robert’s house with a fantastic breakfast of Cheerios (anything but oatmeal is heaven now days). Then, before he had to hustle off to work, Robert dropped me off at the Wildlife Boat Landing in Wrightsville Beach. The weather promised tolerable winds so from the boat launch I ran about three miles north out the next cut to the open coast.

Picture
Robert bidding farewell from the boat launch. I hope we actually get a chance to paddle together some day.
I must admit that over time the open coast in the Southeast US starts to become a little, shall we say, predictable. As I paddle north the scenery on my left “varies” from developed beach houses and condos to undeveloped tree lined shores all fringed by sand beaches. On my right is… well… water. Don’t get me wrong it’s thrilling to feel the energy of the ocean via the swells pulsing under me and see all manner of marine life from dolphins and sea birds to sea turtles (of which I saw seven Loggerheads today).

However, after a full day of feeling the ocean’s energy it can start to wear you out. For this reason I often find running up the inside on the ICW to be more stimulating. While I don’t stand as much of a chance to see things like sea turtles, there is much more to see overall. The protected water of the ICW, which often mixes with fresh water rivers, seems to hold much more wildlife in a more compact area allowing for more up close encounters. On the inside I still see dolphin but also see, herons, gulls, pelicans, small turtles, occasional gators, and several other animals, not to mention PEOPLE! Many folks don’t care to bump elbows with other folks while they’re out enjoying the outdoors. I on the other hand, after being on the trail for five months, don’t mind at all. It’s fun for me to paddle past people’s docks and backyards and see them mowing their lawns or reading a book while swinging in a hammock. It was a goal for me to paddle around the US through people’s “backyards” and on the ICW I’m often doing exactly that.

All this being said, I have to say that today, while I paddled along over 20 miles of Topsail and North Topsail beaches watching a parade of nearly cookie cutter beach homes pass by, (dare I say) I got a little bored. Part of my problem was due to the fact that my head wasn’t really in the game because I was worried about the fact that my SPOT device decided to quit working this morning. I had a hunch that it wouldn’t be an easy thing to sort out and when I checked in with my sister-in-law Amy who was contacting SPOT to see what could be done things didn’t look good. Perhaps I was just more frustrated with that trouble than anything else.

Picture
The first of seven sea turtles that I saw today.
The day did have its highlights such as the seven sea turtles I saw along with several dolphin feeding on dozens of huge and dense bait balls (schools of minnows) that I could see in the clear cool water off the coast.

The end of the day brought me back inside to a sandy island just inside Chadwick Bay across from Camp Lejune Marine Corps Base where I was lulled to sleep by the low tone rumble of bombs exploding in practice maneuvers the marines were running somewhere in the distance. Ah yes… CIVILIZATION!

3 Comments
Lyn Stachovak
5/8/2010 09:01:57 am

It was so good talking to you today. I know how frustrating it can be when dealing with broken electronics. The very things that are supposed to make our lives easier turn out to be a royal pain when they don't work! Was it better in the "good old days"??? I don't know. Somehow everyone managed to end up in the same bar (I mean place) without the benefit of cell phones etc...

Now I have to deal with the aftermath of the heavy wet snow that fell yesterday. It broke tree branches and flattened plants that were just starting to look really nice. The yard was looking so good and I was looking forward to a summer full of plants and flowers. Oh well, maybe some of the stuff will puff back up and try to look good. We have such short summers so it's really hard to take a set-back like this.

I feel guilty crying about my flattened gardens when people across the country are dealing with the loss of everything due to a tornado, flooding and an oil spill. I guess this was a wake up call to us in the north that we weren't going to skate by without any problems while everyone else was suffering. We did have an easy short winter for a change so I'll just lick my wounds and count my blessings. Oh yes,and try to cover the entire yard to guard against the heavy frost that predicted for tonight!

So... I'm done with my tales of woe. Take tonight and tomorrow off, relax and get everything sorted out that needs to be sorted out. It'll give you the energy you're going to need for your push to Norfolk. Hope you can meet up with your friends there even with the delay in the action you're experiencing due to broken electronics.

Dad and I love you and really enjoy your phone calls. Above all, have fun.

Mom

Reply
Sean F.
5/8/2010 11:12:02 pm

SEA TURTLES ROCK!!
Jake, You know I love them!!

Reply
Tim Bradley
5/10/2010 01:22:08 pm

Cool turtle pic.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Best of the Blog
    Freezing temps, theives, pepper spray, manatees,  gators, & tornados.
    Get up to date by reading blog highlights from the trip so far.

    Picture
    Photo by Michael Franklin

    Author

    Jake Stachovak
    The Portage to Portage Paddling Project guy
    .

    SPONSORS

    Aqua Adventures
     
    Seda Kayak

    Kokatat

    Werner

    North Face

    Snap Dragon

    Nigel Foster Designs

    Seal Line

    MSR

    .

    Need help with the lingo?  Click here to go to the Portage to Portage blog vocabulary site.

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    May 2012
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010
    June 2010
    May 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009
    November 2009
    October 2009


Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.