Weather conditions:
High: 79
Low: 60
Skies: sunshine and clouds mixed
Winds: WSW 10-15 mph
Today’s mileage: 12 miles
Total mileage: 12 miles
Where we traveled: Kingfisher Landing to Maul Hammock platform
Alligator sightings today: 4
Total for the trip: 4
Ate:
Dinner: taco mac and cheese and wine
Dessert: banana nut bread
6:35 a.m.
Up at 5:30. We are meeting to leave for breakfast around 6:30. I love that Gary and Linda live by a more relaxed schedule.
The plan is to eat breakfast at The Brickhouse Restaurant, then drive to the launch site and do the shuttle dance.
The Okefenokee “rules” require us to be on the water by 10:00.
7:19 p.m.
We barely had a chance to clean up supper when the sun started setting and the mosquitos arrived, so we are in our tents.
This morning we were almost finished loading the canoes when some boy scouts arrived. They are paddling to another platform for the night. It was obvious this was the first time some of the boys had stepped foot in a canoe. One was confused as to where to sit—with another boy in the back or by himself in the front. It took the leader and two other boys several tries to make him understand he needed to turn around.
Another boy dropped his paddle soon after launching. I’m glad I’m not with them!
It was an uneventful day. If every day is like this, it will be difficult for us to fill a 45-minute presentation on Saturday at Quiet Adventures Symposium.
Funny story. John loaded the food buckets first—In the back of the canoe. They usually ride behind my seat.
“John, ummm…. Aren’t the buckets supposed to be behind MY seat?”
“They ARE behind your seat.”
“Ummmm…. I don’t think so.”
Puzzled look. Aha look. Buckets moved to the front of the boat.
Everything loaded, John and Gary did the shuttle dance. Gary’s car will be waiting for us at the end of our paddle. Gary and John drove our car back to the launch site.
We were on the water by 10:50—a little past the 10:00 requirement.
Paddling in a different environment means seeing plants you don’t see at home. The most interesting plant today was the hooded pitcher plant. It stands tall with a top bent over like a cobra ready to strike. It is carnivorous and catches its food similar to a Venus fly trap.
John said, “Even the plants will eat you here.”
We saw the first of four alligators about 10 minutes after we launched. It was sunning itself and ignored us. Linda saw one slither away. We all saw another eight foot one sunning itself. Gary and Linda got some good pictures of that one. Great presentation material. The last one, John and I saw at the end of our day. We saw it jump in, splash about, and swim away. We back paddled for a while to give it time to leave the area.
A Little Blue Heron led us down the path.
After about a mile I said, “What should we name him?”
“Doug”
As soon as we named him, he flew away.
“But I was going to make espresso.”
During our floating lunch break, John and I paddled back upstream so he could pee in his pee bottle (an old Jiff jar). You have to realize we hadn’t seen anyone since the boy scouts at the Kingfisher Landing. John was pulling up his pants when we heard a whir.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!”
Motorboats are allowed only so far into the swamp. We were at the fork in the road where they had to veer off the path we were on. Had we been just a hundred yards farther upstream, he would have been safe.
John can move fast when he has to. They said hi and turned off down the other path.
At the end of our lunch, it was Gary’s turn to pee. We paddled ahead. He was in the middle of pulling up his pants when the same boat returned. They certainly didn’t stay long wherever they went.
John said, “If we ever need rescued, all we have to do is pee. A boat will be just around the corner.”
We pulled up to Maul Hammock platform—home for the night—at 4:20.
Our home is in a lagoon dotted with lily pads. This is luxurious camping. The platform is complete with a composting outhouse. Even though the wind spins the squeaky roof vent, and you need to lift the door to open and close it, toilet paper and hand sanitizer are provided. What more can you ask for?
We moved the two benches to the side to allow space to pitch our tents under the roof. With no tera firma to pound stakes into, we had to be creative to secure our tents. The wind didn’t help any in our efforts to prepare a place to sleep. While I held the tent in place, John used our dry bags and buckets to secure it. (Remember, we are in the middle of a lagoon. With the wind and a careless move, our shelters could have ended up wet.) Gary attached their tent to the posts using ratchet straps. Of course, he did…
Tents in place, we prepared our dinner on the pub-height table and sat on the benches with a back, which created a seating corner around the table. Dinner wouldn’t be complete without some wine. We are roughing it…
How many alligators will we see tomorrow?
Good night.