I'm at Lake Manatee State Recreation Area Campgrounds. Don't ask me the difference between a state recreation area and a state park. I dunno. They look the same and are run by the same people. Recreation areas are cheaper and they don't accept reservation while the parks accept reservations and walk ins have difficulty getting sites for the weekend. Weekdays are usually open. Off season you can stay up to 4 months at the recreation areas.
Last night was pretty cool, in the lower 50's. It was the first time I hadn't put the rain fly up and I got to look at lots of stars before drifting off to sleep. There's an 80 percent chance of rain tomorrow so I put it on for tonight.
I aimed the truck at Little Manatee State Park, 20 miles away. I made a wrong turn on SR 301. When I got straightened out I launched right under the 301 bridge over the Little Manatee River. A small dirt road took me down to a sandy access point directly under the bridge.
After going just a short difference I remembered the GPS was still on the roof of the truck. That and the wrong turn earlier might have been little warning signals.
The river was pretty with trees overhanging the 30 foot wide river. A 1+ knot current rushed everything downstream. The depth was measured in inches. I was trying to make up my mind if this was a tidal river or not. None of the little bit of stuff I had read indicated such a thing. All I really knew was it's one of Florida's official canoe trips.
The sandy bottom soon bunched up forming sand bars that I was just skimming over. I got stuck a couple of times and started paying more attention to the channels.
I came across a 12 inch (small mouth?) bass that seemed stranded on a sand bar. I helped it off with the paddle blade a couple of times but it just swam back in. I finally pushed it into a deeper channel and it seemed to get its bearings and I didn't see it again.
A got a brief glimpse of a river otter. It surfaced about 30 feet in front of me but dove right back under the water again. I hung around for a few minutes. They're supposed to be intensely curious creatures but he must have seen his share of paddlers because he didn't come back again.
The shoreline changed from a couple of types of trees I don't know to palms, maples and live oaks. Turtles had climbed up on logs to sun themselves. On one log were a pie plate sized guy, one the size of a dinner plate and a platter sized guy. Lots more appeared on other logs as I continued downstream.
Still not being sure if the Little Manatee was tidal or not I pushed things along whenever I could. I really got stuck on a couple of sand bars. After getting out to pull the boat to deeper water a couple of times, I finally noticed the PFD was missing. I had placed it under the bungies on the aft deck. I had gone through a couple of tree branches and I guess it got snagged on one of them. This was my Lotus Rio Grande WW PFD that I really liked. It had my River Shorty attached as well as a hand compass and a whistle and a custom aid ear plug.
So I had no option but to turn around and go back upstream looking for it. I passed 3 rental canoes coming down, none of whom had seen it. The rental canoes and the fact the water seemed to still be at the same level indicated to me this was its normal level and it was not tidal.
I didn't find the PFD. I pulled the boat out and spent the rest of the day looking for another one. I finally picked up a cheap Stearns something at a Sports Authority. It looks so flimsy but was about the best I could find on short notice. At least I have something for now and will look for something better before doing any big water.
The Little Manatee River was pretty but I think I'll wait until there's more water before doing that section again. I had kinda planned on heading East from the SR 301 bridge but I'll cancel that thought too. I wonder what the Upper Manatee River will look like. It's about 10-15 miles away.