03/09/00 Paddling Gullivan Bay:
This morning I put in from the canal, just up a little bit on the mainland side of the Marco Island bridge on SR 92 in Naples. SR 92 is flanked by mangrove lined canals on both sides leading to the bridge. These would be very pretty paddles if you brought ear plugs along to block out the street noise.
The ebb tide still had another 1.5 hours to go and I still almost got stuck near the end of the channel. Fortunately I was able to find a tiny little channel and followed it to deeper water. The only objective I really had today was to get to the Gulf of Mexico. This would be another first for me.
Paddling out through Goodland Bay I could see tons of oysters clinging to the lower roots and branches of the mangroves while barnacles laid claim to the branches a little higher from the water. 10 (really) brown pelicans roosted on some mangroves. These did not have yellow on their heads like those on the east coast, nor did I see any with yellow all day. Osprey nested on top of almost every day marker in the channel leading to open water.
1.5 hours of easy paddling brought me out onto the Gulf Of Mexico. Whoppee! The water temperature felt to be around 65 degrees or so. The mangroves gave way to live oak and some tall pine trees. I could see several white sandy beaches in Gullivan Bay. With nothing much else to do I started across Gullivan Bay towards Gullivan Key, 5 miles or so away.
I had the luxury of 1.5 foot waves coming at me with only a 5 knot wind accompanying them. Another 1.5 hours of splashing and crashing through the waves brought me near a long island with a long white sandy beach. 6 tents were set up on the beach. With a couple of experiences with naked people in Florida I steered clear of them.
I had lunch on a nice beach and started to doze off. With the tide coming in I didn't want the boat swept away so I dragged my poor weary bones back into the boat. I had found a couple of nice shells on my beach. When I saw another beach nearby I went over and checked it out too. I got several small conch type shells but they were so thin. I'm surprised they hadn't been crushed.
The wind and waves shifted around quite a bit on the way back. However, it steadied from the west and for one of the few times in my paddling career I had both the wind and the tide with me the last couple of miles.
03/12/00 Paddling Marco Island:
Today started out hot and promised to get hotter. I put in again near the SR 92 bridge. Passing down the short canal I turned right at the bridge. With no better objective, I thought I'd circumnavigate Marco Island. My guess it's about 4-5 miles long and somewhere around a mile wide.
I followed the day markers up a wide channel flanked by the ever present mangroves. A 5-10 knot wind made things a little slower and it was 1.5 hours before I got to the SR 951 bridge and Marco Island. A couple of herons and egrets flew overhead and a couple of brown pelicans were crash diving for fish right next to me. These pelicans seemed to be a lighter shade of gray with white heads. Later in the day I finally saw some brown pelicans with yellow heads. I don't know who's related to who now. A half dozen Ibises took flight too.
One side of the channel opened up to the heavily populated island. Upscale houses, condominiums and hotels lined that shore. Soon the other shore gave way to more development. Boat traffic picked up too. Some monster power boats, 30+ feet long passed by. These were power boats, not cruisers, not fishing boats, but power boats, no cabin, just a big cockpit and huge engines.
I got up to the other end of Marco Island at 11:30am, just as some big, black, ugly looking clouds started moving in from the west. A small craft advisory must have been issued because many, many boats were coming in as I was going out.
I stopped for lunch while I decided what to do. It seemed 6 of one and half a dozen of the other as to if I would return via the inside route I had taken out or go back on the exposed outside. While I was thinking it over (actually I was concentrating on a peanut butter & jelly sandwich) the wind picked up some and I got rained on a little. While I was bouncing around the paddle slid off the deck into the water. I wasn't far from shore but that is a pretty scary feeling. I had to paddle like mad with both hands and the sandwich stuck in my mouth to catch up with the paddle.
I could see the skies lightening up in the distance so without further thought started down the outside of the island. The going was pretty lumpy most of the way. Waves, up to 2.5 feet and some of them pretty steep were constant. I got myself caught on a sand bar with small 1 foot waves, but very steep, crashing into me and pushing me around.
A couple hundred yards off in the distance 2-4 dolphins could be seen surfacing. I found myself about a half mile off shore and could see a couple other dolphins closer to shore.
I had been hoping for a undeveloped outer shore but the entire length of the island was nothing but 10-20 story condos and hotels. The water was a very pretty green in the shallower areas, though. All in all I enjoyed the paddle. I like bouncing around in waves if I don't have to strain myself with too much effort. Whatever wind there was, was coming from behind me.
I had some trouble trying to find my way back through the mangrove islands. I finally gave up and paddled back out to open water and found my entrance from there.