06/09/2010 - Nauset Harbor, Cape Cod, MA

Vacation Paddle Trip
Launch: I wanted to paddle to Martha's Vineyard from the Falmouth area but never did find a kayak rental place in Falmouth. Drove back to where I kayaked before and this time rented a kayak from Goose Hummock in Orleans, on Cape Cod, MA.
Destination: Explore the area around Nauset Harbor/Bay, again.
Weather: Sunny eventually giving way to clouds. 70s. Nice paddling weather.
To see or download the track of this trip, Click Here.

1) The kayak launching dock at Goose Hummock. Nice low dock and if you notice, there is an individual leaning over holding the kayak while the person gets situated in it. Look at that smooth water!

2) Lots of blue sky and warmer temperatures made this a nice kayaking day.

3) This dock extending into the water was a rare thing to see. The majority of waterfront homes had no dock. Another interesting thing is there were no jet skis to be seen in this area.

4) A green heron. 

5) Current going through the cut to the Atlantic Ocean.

6) As the tide went down, where the water was ripping through earlier was now just sand. Much more tide up here than in Mobile. Gotta be careful.

7) Water is very clear and trash free. There wasn't a junked boat to be seen much less any beer cans or floating plastic bottles.

8) An oyster catcher and a gull eating a meal.

9) My paddle wouldn't reach the bottom here even though the bottom was still visible. That says how clear the water was.

10) Horseshoe crabs are not crabs and they can live a year without eating. These two horseshoe crabs appear to be in love.

06/02/2010 - Nauset Harbor, Cape Cod, MA

Vacation Paddle Trip
Launch: Rented a kayak from a place in North Cape Cod (can't remember the name) and they transported the kayak to the put in at Hemenway Road Public Launch north of Orleans, Cape Cod, MA
Destination: Explore the area around Nauset Harbor/Bay.
Weather: Was suppose to be sunny and 70 degrees so I wore a t-shirt. It stayed foggy and cloudy and the temperature never rose above 57 degrees. Brrrr.
To see or download the track of this trip, Click Here.

1) It is always a concern when kayaking in a new area, especially with low visibility. I did take a GPS, map and compass.

2) Standard shore birds - gulls.

3) A big white swan paddling at 4 mph.

4) Geese paddling much slower.

5) A lobster boat. Boats are anchored in the harbor, not at docks.

6) Lobster trap markers.

7) Rental kayak. I stayed on the inland side opting to play it safe rather than deal with unknown currents at the opening to the Atlantic.

8) Was surprised to see about a half dozen seals closely monitoring my activity from a distance.

9) Snails dotting the bottom of the harbor.

10) Met two kayakers that had been kayaking out in Atlantic and I tagged along with them on the way back to the launch site.

A brief note about renting kayaks in New England. Kayak rental places do not provide paddle floats, pumps, or spray skirts. If you plan on doing any serious kayaking while traveling, take your own gear - even if you plan on renting a kayak.

05/29/2010 - Wickford RI

Vacation Paddle Trip
Launch: The Kayak Centre in downtown Wickford, RI
Destination: Explore the area around Wickford and North Kingstown southwest of Providence, Rhode Island.
Weather: Sunny to Partly Cloudy, wonderful temperature.
To see or download the track of this trip, Click Here.

1) While on vacation in New England I did manage to get in a few kayaking trips. Rented a kayak from The Kayak Centre in Wickford, RI.

2) They were busy.

3) Lots of kayakers on the waters.

4) Lobster traps on a boat.

5) Water was very clear compared to the Mobile-Tensaw River Delta waters. Touching a clam in this photo.

6) There were plenty of small and large rocks along the waters.

7) There nice homes along the shorelines.

8) Wow, check this nice home out.

9) Sadly, a sign of the times - pollution is everywhere!

10) End of the trip - could not go any further up this creek.

05/23/2010 - Mobile Bay Double Crosser

Launch: McNally Park
Destination: Across Mobile Bay to Fairhope and back.
Weather: Ideal conditions.
To see or download the track of this trip, Click Here.
Caution: I would not advise undertaking this trip unless you have plenty of open water experience and are capable of 20+ mile kayak trips. It is 10.4 miles crossing (one way) from McNally Park to Fairhope Pier.

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1) Water temperatures are good, tides were good, forecast was good and I felt like burning some calories while listening to Sunday morning Jazz.

2) On the water at sunrise. Nice!

3) Had to slow down for a barge in the ship channel on the way over to Fairhope. Interesting name for the tugboat.

4) Got to see another ship on the way back as it was heading up the ship channel toward Mobile (the city skyline barely visible on the horizon).

5) The slick waters on the bay made for a wonderful mesmerizing trip over to Fairhope as the clouds were flowingly distorted on the water's surface.

6) On the way back across the bay the winds were 0 mph. Open water kayaking conditions just do not get any better than this.

7) Cute little family of geese by the Fairhope Pier. Oil booms can be seen in the background. There were no booms near the Fairhope beach.

8) A seagull up close.

9) The trip conditions were so nice that I decided to drop down on the return crossing and loop around Gaillard Island. It meant more mileage, but when you are in kayaking nirvana, life is better than good. Birds galore as usual around Gaillard Island.

10) Brown and white pelicans, terns, herons, ibis, ruddy turnstones, egrets, gulls, and more can be seen around Gaillard Island. It is a birder's paradise.

11) On the south side of Gaillard Island crews were putting out oil booms. Someone on this lead boat hollered at me so I headed over. He said the boom was solid all the way to the southwest corner with no way to get around it because it was tied off to the shore.

12) I asked if I could just paddle over it and he no problem, so to the right I went. It was easy to paddle over the oil boom.

05/22/2010 - Dog Paddle Races

Launch: Dog River Park (Formerly Luscher Park)

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1) Taken on the way back to Dog River Park after setting out race buoys.

2) Around 20 racers participated in the Dog Paddle 4 mile race. It is sad to see so little participation in a local kayaking event on such a beautiful day. It would not surprise me at all if the organizers decided to quit putting this event together. (Update: The Dog Paddle organizers did decide to stop putting on the annual Dog Paddle Races.)

3) It didn't matter if you were a serious racers or a recreational kayaker, fun was had by all. Here were some kayakers getting ready for the 1/2 mile Fun race.

4) The boat and kayak launch area.

5) After the kayak races were over, a group of local black kids ransacked the pavilion area wasting at least a case of the event's good water bottles by throwing them at each other - FULL, and opening them up and slinging the water out at each other, too. 

6) I asked one of the hoodlums, "Y'all are going to clean up your mess, right?" The answer was, "Yes" as they proceeded to disappear. They must feel like a million bucks knowing they are free and can do whatever they want to piss off the white people.

There are a lot of people who have spent significant time and effort to make Dog River Park a nicer and cleaner park and the park gets trashed before the event is even over? Can't blame this trash on a rain event. Dog River Park doesn't stand a chance against the uncaring people who trash it with pride. My deepest sympathy goes to the Parks department and City employees whose job it is to clean Pig Park. I think Pig Park aka Dog River Park aka Luscher Park aka Navco Park should be abandoned as a lost cause. Let the locals wallow in their sty. Precious city resources should be spent elsewhere. The alternative would be to fence it in, have armed on-site security personnel to keep the riffraff out and enforce the park rules, and lock it up at night.