02/01/07 Paddling Little Manatee River:
Wind was blowing hard yesterday so I just explored the area looking for boat launch sites, etc. Wanted to paddle Terra Ceia Bay today for roseate spoonbills and reddish egrets but wind blowing hard again.
Little Manatee River is only about 15 miles from here so off I went. It's a Florida State Designated Canoe Trail from US 301 bridge to Little Manatee State Park. I put in at the bridge and went the other way. I started downriver to the state park but there was a 1mph current pushing me along. I turned around to make sure I knew what it would feel like coming back and kept on going.
This section was pretty nice. Mostly small live oaks forming a canopy over the 30 foot wide river (creek). The current remained about 1mph the whole way with just one short section where it might have been 2.5. Not a great deal of water, 1-2 feet most of the time. You had to pay attention to sandbars but I didn't have to get out of the boat.
This section has been cleared from past storms but just barely. A few tight places and one mild bit of excitement. A tree was down and just enough room to squeeze under two thick branches right next to each other. While I was try to contort these old bones to fit under them I lost my paddle and it drifted downstream a short ways. So here I was one the upstream side of these two branches and my paddle on the downstream side. I tried for a couple of minutes to get that 17 foot kayak turned around against the current without a paddle and finally gave up. I had to back down under the branches, grab the paddle and then go back up under them again.
Not much in the way of critters. 1 sow and 2 little piggies, 1 hawk and a couple of turtles.