10/20/00 Paddling Little Tybee Island:
I had great hopes of paddling for a week or so in the ACE Basin National Estuarine Research Reserve in southeastern South Carolina. The only camping in the area is the Edisto Beach State Park and they wanted a ridiculous $22 a night. Thhhup on that! South Carolina doesn't seem to be very tourist friendly. The cheapest state park I've found is $18.
So here I am at the Skidaway Island State Park in Savannah, Georgia. Pretty park and it now ranks 3rd or 4th of the best state parks I've been in on the east coast. Lots of live oak trees with Spanish moss hanging down, palms and palmettos.
As I pulled up to the launch site on Tybee Island, a guide was escorting two ladies along on their first sea kayak adventure. Two other guys launched at the same time with me a few minutes behind them.
Temperatures remained in the lower-mid 70's all day with a 10 knot wind blowing pretty steadily, first from the east and then from the north. Clouds covered half the sky but the other half was mostly blue. The tide seemed to be mostly out but I didn't know if it was coming or going.
I was aiming at Little Tybee Island, across a short stretch of water (Jones Inlet, I think). Almost immediately I caught a glimpse of a dorsal fin while a few pelicans flew about overhead. A couple of minutes later I saw a couple more dolphins. These two worked together, splashing and circling around a school of fish. Herding them together would make it easier for them to slurp them up. Kinda like gathering peas on your plate in a pile and scooping them up so you don't have to stab those little suckers one at a time.
Paddling along near the mouth of the river things started getting a little choppy. One foot waves became steep and some were breaking. My paddle blade hit bottom before I realized I was over a sand bar. Duh! I had heard 4-5 foot jumbled waves appeared at the mouth of the river at high tide. I can believe that now and I could see a sand bar out there with a bunch of sea gulls resting on it.
Heading down the outside coast of Little Tybee, waves increased to 2.0 feet. They were wider but came with less frequency than on the sand bar but were still coming from all directions.
I met up with the two guys that had launched right before me. One turned out to own a kayak shop in Swansboro, North Carolina and had snuck away for four days of paddling. We chatted a little and then I paddled on ahead.
The waves built up to three feet and were cresting all over the place. On shore I could see a nice wide beach with waves breaking pretty much continuously for a couple of hundreds yards out. Soon, one crested right over me before I had a chance to turn into it. I was caught by surprise and struggled a little to remain upright.
I got myself turned into the next few. They were just starting to crest and I couldn't get over them and punched through them about a foot or so from the top. Then one broke right in my face. It was a four footer, a little over my head, and broke down on my face. If I hadn't had my Croakies on I would have lost my glasses for sure. As it was, I couldn't see squat for a few seconds. I finally started leaning back in the seat as I'd ride up the wave. This allowed the bow to rise another couple of inches and helped avoid some of the dampness.
I thought that was a good time to take a break and regroup so I started paddling in. When a wave broke behind me I'd catch the surge and surf in a bit with it until it passed under me. After a couple of these I finally got turned sideways and had to hit the top of the wave with a high brace and lean into the wave. That makes for an interesting ride but you stay upright.
The 12 foot plastic Perception Acadia is wide like a barge and didn't complain or wobble much at all as we got pounded time after time by the waves. Being shorter than touring kayaks, it turns much more easily and with much less effort. However, being short, it doesn't track as well as a longer boat. This is fine for me under normal circumstances and I have no problems with it. Surfing is another story. The surge turned it much quicker than I was used to and I'd over compensate and get turned the other way. That will take some getting used to. In the mean time I guess I'll get plenty of practice bracing on the waves.
The first thing I did when I got on the beach was fix my spray skirt. It has a Velcro waist band which was too loose and was riding down on my hips. This let pools of water settle on the skirt and leak into the cockpit. I couldn't find my sponge (it was there) so spent the rest of the day with water sloshing around.
Having paddled creeks and rivers and lakes in flat water all winter and summer, I had taken to carrying the camera and the GPS attached to bungees on the foredeck. I wanted to get them off of there right away. I had just bought a larger Rubber Maid container I use instead of a dry bag and they both fit in there quite well. I changed into a fleece sweater and was back in business. Of course I was soaking wet by the time I got back out past the breakers but at least the wind wasn't bothering me anymore.
I would like to have done some more surfing. However, the camera and GPS were in a box lying on the cockpit floor to say nothing of my money, credit cards, documentation, etc. I could just imagine the box floating away and slowly filling with water and then sinking out of sight. The temptation was there but I let it pass. Great sign of maturity and wisdom.
I didn't know how much more the waves would build up as the tide came in and didn't want to get too far from the put in later on. I paddled on a little farther (the other two guys had already headed back) and then I turned back too. Paddling into the wind at a leisurely pace brought me back to the mouth of the river much sooner than I expected.
Waves here were crashing into each other as they banged against a large sand bar, spewing water 2-3 feet into the air. Believe me, there was much more white water in that area than green. I think this is where the 4-5 footers build up at high tide. I had lunch there, letting the wind and two foot waves push me where ever they wanted. It was much too early to go in so I turned back to the big sandy beach and all those waves.
Pretty soon I was back in the three footers again. I hung out in them for 15-20 minutes and then had a great idea. Why not take a picture of one of those waves as it was ready to crash into me? Undo the spray skirt in those kind of conditions? No problem, I can handle that. Get the camera wet for real? Not to worry, it's a Pentax Zoom-90-WR, the WR meaning water resistant (not water proof) as long as the zoom is not extended. In fact I've dropped it in the water a couple of time already with no ill effect.
So I pop the spray skirt, open the box, get the camera out and around my neck. At this point I'm more concerned about getting the lid back on the box than I am in getting the spray skirt reattached. I rode up one big wave putting the lid on. I rode up a second one as I attached the spray skirt and punched through a third one just as I picked the paddle up again.
That's the way these waves seemed to be working. One would get my attention, the next would try to set me up and the third would try to clobber me. It took a couple of minutes but I finally got a picture of one breaking at eye level about 10 feet in front of me. I hope it turns out. I thought about trying to get another picture sitting on top of a wave looking down at others but didn't think the depth perception would be very good.
Admittedly popping a spray skirt with waves crashing all around is not the brightest thing I've ever done. I had been sitting out there riding the waves for quite some time and 'had a feel' for how the waves were behaving. Besides, I had done anything exciting or stupid in several months. I was due. And hey, I was even using a paddle leash. I hadn't used it for so long the Velcro is a little suspect though.
After getting the camera safely back in the box and the spray skirt back on I headed back to the river again. A dolphin swam along with me for a few seconds and I got a quick look at another.
Back at the mouth of the river I saw a lot of wave action at the point of Tybee Island and went to investigate. Here was some really crazy action. 2-3 foot waves crashing into each other from all directions and forming new waves. Some of the waves looked like pyramids they were that sharp and pointed. It turns out a small jetty protrudes out into the Atlantic and the ocean was trying to beat the crap out of it. I sat in the middle of that mess for a while and then called it a day. And a thoroughly enjoyable day it was too.
10/21/00 Paddling Little Tybee Island:
OK, I'll admit it, yesterday I was hoping to circumnavigate Little Tybee Island but got distracted by all the waves. Today's intention was to maybe, possibly, go around the island, unless something more interesting came along. With that in mind I skipped my morning exercise routine, grabbed a couple of raison bagels for breakfast and ate them on the way to the Tybee Island put in.
In preparation for this Herculean attempt, I stopped at a kayak shop on Tybee Island yesterday after the paddle. They only had a couple of 220cm paddles, one a Werner and the other a Lightning. Since the spare paddle I had been paddling with recently was only 220cm and I wanted a lighter paddle for this trip I went with the 220cm Werner.
At 8:30am, the sun was still coming up. Clouds covered half the sky, the temperature was in the 70's and a 10 knot wind was blowing out of the north. I was an hour earlier and the tide was an hour later than yesterday so there should be some difference in all that wave action.
The water certainly seemed flatter on the river than yesterday. Actually the tide seemed lower than yesterday with more beach showing and more sand bars. A couple of osprey could be seen snatching breakfast out of the shallows as I paddled out of the mouth of the river.
Marsh grass poked out from the shores of the river. This gave way to sandy beaches on the exposed shore of Little Tybee Island. Many uprooted dead live oaks were scattered here and there with a few palms and clumps of pines in the background.
The area with all the waves yesterday was now a big long sand bar sticking 100+ yards out from the beach with more sand bars farther out. I could see Williamson Island way down at the other end of Little Tybee and expected fairly easy paddling along the way.
Things turned out pretty much that way. I ignored the 2-3 foot swells that rocked the boat from side to side as they passed underneath. The shorter Acadia turns much easier than a longer boat so I spent more time keeping the boat on course. I have a rudder but the only time I've used it was to test it when I first bought the kayak. I consider it more of a safety feature than anything. If I'm really fatigued and conditions warrant, I would use it without hesitation. Of course I'd have to figure out to get the bungee holding it in place off first. I'll have to start doing that when I launch or find myself in a predicament at the wrong time.
An occasional swell would catch me just right. I would find myself being lifted up, the bow would come out of the water and I'd be surfing down the face of the swell for a few feet. Lots of pelicans flew past single file, skimming the wave tops, probably searching for tidbits to supplement their breakfast. Or, I wonder if they might not be flying low to let the waves break some of the wind? Other pelicans just bobbed around out there beyond the waves while a few did their Kamikaze act, plunging from 50 feet into the water after a poor, defenseless, little fish.
By 10am I was nearing the end of Little Tybee Island with Williamson Island dead ahead. Another sand bar jutted out from the beach with lots of sea gulls on it. Before I knew it I was in the middle of a lot of cresting 2-3 foot waves and got a little wet (like a little pregnant?). Waves banged into me one after another with some of them splashing along the foredeck and up onto my chest.
Green day marker # 3 sits just off the tip of Little Tybee Island. I got there in two hours or so. The GPS said the put in was 5.97 miles away. That would be pretty close to true miles since there were no turns to speak of in between. Now I had to decide which way to go. I don't use charts and rely on the GPS, when needed, to get me back where I started. I had meant to check the DeLorme Georgia Atlas (I never go anywhere without one of these) before launching but forgot.
So, I could rely on (faulty) memory and continue the circumnavigation and risk taking a wrong turn and getting mired in the swamps of the island or I could battle the wind and waves that surely had built up by now and go back the way I came.
As I turned up Bull River I spotted a couple of dorsal fins not 5 feet from the end of the island. That must be a pretty steep drop off for dolphins to be swimming there. It didn't take long for me to realize the wind was still blowing. It took me about 1.5 hours to get to Lazeratta Creek four miles away. I was paddling with the tide but against a 10 knot wind. I saw no other creeks or channels before Lazeratta.
The put in was now 4.2 GPS miles (more like 6-7 real miles with all the twists and turns in the river) from that point. That took me over 3 hours with the wind and the tide both against me. The last half hour was pretty brutal and forward progress was under 1 knot. I finally found a use for marsh grass. When you're feeling angry about not making any headway, get over by the grass. You can watch the stalks go by, one by one, and know you're moving forward.
After coming around one bend in the river I was surprised to see the bridges to Tybee Island in the distance. I also found more channels over here, some quite wide. When launching I had noticed a house with a red roof off in the distance. Coming around another bend I spotted it a couple of miles up ahead and it served as a beacon. The only doubtful part of the whole trip was whether to follow a wide channel towards the red roof or go the way several fishing boats had gone. I followed the fishing boats and could then see the channel didn't go all the way through.
A young guy in his late-teens/early 20's was unloading a new 18 foot plastic boat as I landed. He was dragging it down the paved road so I gave him a hand. He asked how deep it was out there. What? He wanted to know if he could standup if he tipped over. I told him if he had his PFD on he wouldn't have to worry about standing up. That seemed like a new idea to him.
Then he said he had been out yesterday but couldn't get out past the waves because the kayak kept filling up with water. What? I asked if he was wearing his spray skirt. We got distracted before he answered. Down at the river's edge he was getting ready and I asked where his spray skirt was. He said he had just bought the kayak and they didn't give him one, just a paddle and a PFD. It sounds like he didn't listen or they didn't tell him about any safety issues. Makes you wonder.
I had wanted to do the Bone Yard on Wassaw Island the next day. However, when I wasn't making a progress against the wind and tide on this trip I ripped something in my shoulder (because of the shorter paddle?). Mature and thoughtful person that I am, I thought I'd give it a rest for a few days. It doesn't hurt (much), just a bunch of weird snapping, crackling, popping noises (kinda like Rice Krispies) when I extend it.