August 13, 2014
I woke up at about 9:30 AM with no plans for what I was going to do today. Yes, you read that correctly. I did say "today." For a brief moment, I am caught up on blog posts. However, I believe this to be short lived, as will soon be explained.
So, as I sat in my room, I searched on my phone for places to go. Soon, I ruled out spearfishing, as I had originally planned. Due to tough regulations, I would have to hire a guide to get far enough offshore to be legal. That didn't appeal to me. So, I searched for places to fish out of a kayak in Florida. As it turns out, there is a paddle-only area on the East Coast of Florida that is also, arguably, the best place in the world to catch redfish. I made some calls and came up with a general idea of what I would do there. The region is known as Mosquito Lagoon and I would be targeting the Shipyard Island Paddle Trail, a known location for manatee sightings.
I ate breakfast at the next door Ihop. I had driven 10 minutes away before realizing I left my debit card at Ihop. So, I turned around and headed back to pick it up. By the time I arrived, rain was pouring. When I got back into my car with the card in hand, I was drenched.
I drove 5 hours to Titusville. I chuckled to myself as I realized that I embarked on the 5 hour drive as if it had only been a 1 hour trip. At this point, I have spent 71 hours driving on this trip. Maybe that's why a 5 hour drive doesn't affect me much right now. I did, however, break the 3,000 mile mark of this trip on today's journey.
Originally, I planned to rent a kayak that night. Even though I only made one stop, I didn't arrive in time. However, I did make it to the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and the Canaveral National Seashore. As opposed to the bland area of the Everglades I had previously driven through, this region was awesome. I skipped lunch for the second day in a row today, but just being here filled me with energy.
I stopped at the entrance booth to the southern part of the national seashore. After speaking with the ranger, I called the ranger at the northern part of the park, the part with the campgrounds. As I had read earlier, there were only 12 sites in the entire national park and they were all paddle-in spots, meaning you had to take a kayak or canoe to reach them. I was hooked. Talking to the ranger on the phone, I learned that no one was camping there this week until saturday. The whole gamut of sites were available to me. Being as the region is a marine environment, the area is comprised of many jungle-like islands, separated by water. Some areas of land didn't have a single plant greater than waist-high while others were dominated by tall palm and coniferous trees.
Next, I drove to a Publix grocery story to get some canned soup, summer sausage, crackers, and water. I plan to leave tomorrow and spend 3 nights in the wilderness at the primitive sites. If I enjoy it, I will extend my stay.
After a Burger King dinner, I drove to a nearby boat ramp. I walked around the docks as I talked to my friend Billy (the one I fished with in Alabama) on the phone. Still talking, I had just stepped off the dock and onto solid ground when I turned around and saw an enormous, flat tail come out of the water near the end of the dock I had just been on. Manatee! I ran to the end of the dock, thinking I had missed my one chance to see a manatee. Soon, I saw it and another manatee surface a little ways away, headed for another dock. I ran to the other dock and watched them pass by. One had a 2' by 3' scar on its back from a boat propeller.
I walked back to the original dock and quickly realized that the previous two manatees were not the only ones I would see. I was surrounded by manatees! I watched one swim into a canal and then I ran to the end of a dock and watched one swim two feet below me. It was incredible. Not to be outdone, a school of mullet spanning at least 60' by 40' exploded on the surface of the water. I was jittery with excitement to get on the water tomorrow.
I parked my truck in a different location where I thought I could get away with sleeping in my truck. Then, I proceeded to dump everything I might take on the boat with me into my truck bed. It was after I had completely covered my truck bed with junk that I realized how dark it was and how close the nearby thunderstorm was to all of my gear and food. In less than an hour, I literally ran around, deciding what to bring and not to bring. I got my gear and food limited to a big clear box, my backpack, and my fishing gear.
I drove into town with the windows down to flush the mosquitoes out of my car. Parked outside of the Publix grocery store, I decided it would be better to get a good night of rest in a motel than save money and sleep terribly in a hot and humid car. I have at least 3 nights of poor sleeping ahead of me anyway.
So, here I am in my Best Western room that I got with the Hotwire app for 40% off. It's 2:25 AM on the morning of August 14th and I am finally caught up on this blog. Unfortunately, I don't think I will be able to post any blogs over the next couple days. Hence the comment in the first paragraph.
Odometer - 3100 mi
Massive school of mullet
No comments:
Post a Comment