Paddle Log #25: Lake Winnipesaukee

We're back in New Hampshire again for a family vacation.  In the 15 years I've been coming here with my wonderful wife, we've only missed coming here two summers - the summer we were in Hawaii (2008) and last summer due to our PCS to Kitsap and my work schedule.  It's good to be back.

Wednesday was what I consider a perfect day for paddling. Between it being a weekday and being overcast, there were few people out on the water.  The air temperature was just right - not hot, not cold.  No wind.  No waves.  Just peaceful, calm water on Lake Winnipesaukee.

Since we flew out here from Seattle, I don't have my kayak here with me, but our next door neighbor graciously allowed me to borrow his kayak.  It's a Wilderness Systems Pamlico 100.  It was a little small for me.  With the foot pedals moved all the way forward, I still couldn't quite squeeze my knees into the cockpit.  Even so, it was a glorious day on the water.

I paddled south along the western shore of Long Island and then counter-clockwise around Sandy Island.  I wasn't ready to go home yet then, so I paddled across to Ragged Island and counter-clockwise around Ragged Island.

Even though I've been coming to Lake Winnipesaukee for family vacations for 15 years now, this is only the second time that I've seen a loon.  It still surprises me how big they are.  I keep expecting them to be like the size of a duck, but they're more like the size of a goose.

I was really glad I paddled around Ragged Island.  In addition to the loon, I also saw several other birds and some peaceful coves with lily pads and beautiful water lily blossoms.

Seeing families walking around Ragged Island reminded me of the awesome geocache the boys and I did there a few summers ago.

When I finished paddling around Ragged Island, I was really enjoying myself and didn't want to go home yet.  I wanted to just keep paddling the long way home counter-clockwise around Long Island, but I didn't plan my timing well.  It was half past noon and I was hungry, and I hadn't brought any food with me, so I headed home for lunch. 

Stats for the paddle log:

• Date: Thursday, 26 July 2012
• Time In: 10:04 a.m.
  
• Time Out: 12:36 p.m.
• Elapsed:  2 hrs 32 min
• Moving Time (GPS): 2 hours 19 min
• Stopped Time (GPS):  14 min
• Mileage (GPS): 6.0 miles
  
• Sea State: 0
• Winds: < 5 kts NW
• Air Temp:  65F climbing to 69F
• Water Temp: 75F - Yep, the water was warmer than the air.
• Current:  None.
• Gauge Height:  503.63' (lake full = 504.32'  source)  The Lakes Region has had 6 inches less than average rainfall this year, so the lake level is a little low.
• Avg Speed (GPS):  2.6 mph
  
• Max Speed by (GPS):  4.8 mph
• Rapids?  None. 
• Hazards?  Not much.  Wake from an occasional passing boat.
  
• Kit: Wilderness Systems Pamlico 100 and Seaquel paddle borrowed from neighbor on lake.  Ballcap, NRS paddling gloves, short sleeve swim shirt, NRS paddling pants, neoprene booties.  I brought my orange rain coat in my small dry bag, but didn't need it.
• Configuration: The Pamlico 100 was a little small for me.  With the foot pedals moved all the way forward, I still had difficulty keeping my knees inside the cockpit.  Also, the owner had a fishing rod mount bolted to the starboard side of the hull.  I knocked the fingers of my right hand against the fishing rod mount about four times during the trip.  The built-in seat was pretty comfortable - no complaints at all from two and a half hours on the water.
• Route:  Put-in at Jonathan's Landing beach on the west side of Long Island.  Paddled south, counter-clockwise around Sandy Island, then east to Ragged Island and counter-clockwise around Ragged Island.  I was tempted to keep going counterclockwise around the rest of Long Island, but I was getting hungry and didn't bring any food with me, so I went back clockwise up the southern then western side of Long Island.  
• Other comments (such as wildlife spotted): 1 loon, 3 mergansers, many ducks, 1 robin, 1 maybe killdeer or semipalmated plover lots of dragonflies and waterbugs, water lilies.  I've been coming to Lake Winnipesaukee for 15 years now, and this is only the second time I've seen a loon.

Paddle Log #23: Hickam Beach

For my last weekend on the island, I made an effort to get out and enjoy Hawaii while it lasted.

View of Kaneohe coming out of the H-3 Tunnel

Saturday I took two of my shipmates on a drive around the northern end of the island.  We visited Tropical Farms and Waimea Valley.

As I've stated on previous visits to Tropical Farms, every time I got there I learn about some new fruit that I'd never heard of before.  This time around I got to learn about the Star Apple.  It looks more like a plumb on the outside, but when you slice it open you see the star pattern on the inside.

Star Apple

We stopped and had lunch at the famous Giovanni's Shrimp Truck as we drove around the northern end of the island.

Mmmm, Giovanni's :-9

I continue to be amazed by the quantity and variety of tropical flowers I see at Waimea Valley.  Every time I go, I notice some spectacular new flower that I hadn't previously seen there. As usual, I took a ton of pictures, but I'll just share three of them here:

 Not sure what this one was.

 Ruellia Chartacea

Finger of God

We got to Waimea around 4:30 and they supposedly close at 5 p.m., so we didn't bother taking our swimming suits in with us.  However, the staff didn't seem to be in any hurry to push people out the gate at 5 p.m.  I think they just close the entrance and don't let anyone new in at 5 p.m., but there were still plenty of people swimming under the waterfall when we left.

 Waimea Falls 

(standing in front of my eldest son's favorite rock)

Sunday I made a point to get out on the water one last time.  I wanted to try Kaneohe, but the forecast called for scattered showers all day on the windward side.  So I went to Hickam instead.

Hickam Beach

You aren't allowed to go very far from Hickam Beach.  You pretty much have to stay inside the box formed by the taxiway and the runway of Honolulu International Airport (see Garmin track below).  Even though it was a fairly short paddle, I'm glad I got one last trip out on the water to enjoy warm water and the peaceful lapping of the water against the kayak hull.

This is as far as you are allowed to paddle away from the beach.

It was cool to watch the jets taxi by to the runway. Actually, as I sit here finishing this blog post, I am in the San Francisco airport.  Just this morning, I was on a plane just like that, looking out the passenger windows toward Hickam Beach.

On item of note:  In hindsight, this is an excellent spot to take your kids and give kayaking a try.  It is a lot easier to get in and out here and not have the winds pushing you away from the marina like at Rainbow Marina on Pearl Harbor where I first tried kayaking with my eldest son. 



Stats for the paddle log:

• Date: 27 February 2011
• Time In: 3:20 p.m.
  
• Time Out: Approx 4:00 p.m.
  
• Elapsed:  40 min
• Moving Time (GPS): 34 min
• Stopped Time (GPS):  6 min (had difficulty getting watch to stop after getting out of the water.  Had to rinse with fresh water and dry off before it would accept the "stop" command.)
• Mileage (GPS): 1.8 miles
  
• Sea State: 1
• Winds: Very little
• Air Temp:  77F
• Water Temp: Not sure.  Warm.  Bathwater.
• Current:  None.
• Gauge Height:  N/A.
• Avg Speed (GPS):  3.2 mph
  
• Max Speed by (GPS):  4.5 mph
• Rapids?  None. 
• Hazards?  None.
  
• Kit: Rental kayak (Ocean Kayak Scrambler). No hat, NRS paddling gloves, short sleeve shirt, swim trunks, Keen sandals.
• Configuration: Solo.
• Route:  Put-in at Hickam Beach Kayak Rental hut, clockwise around the rectangular basin formed by the Honolulu Airport taxiway and runway, then counterclockwise back to Hickam Beach.
• Other comments (such as wildlife spotted): Many crabs on rocks, coral, sergeant fish.

Paddle Log #19: Newfound Lake and Cockermouth River

On the Wednesday of my week of vacation in NH, we went over to visit my wife's aunt and uncle who live at the north end of Newfound Lake.  Like last year, I took my kayak with me.  The boys opted not to go with me.  They were more interested in riding in the boat with Uncle D and riding on "The Rocket" (a sort of hot-dog shaped inflatable tube you ride on while being pulled by a boat).

Last year, I paddled clockwise around the northern end of Newfound Lake, and it was an enjoyable paddle.  This time, I did a little more research and planning where I wanted to go before we went over.  This time I paddled counterclockwise / south from Aunt L & Uncle D's house down past the Audubon Society's Paradise Point nature preserve past the Hebron Marsh Wildlife Sanctuary and up into the Cockermouth River.

It.

Was.

Awesome.

Possibly the best afternoon I've spent kayaking.  Peaceful.  Beautiful.  Calm.  Lots of birds and flowers to admire.  Not a single mosquito.  I will share a few pictures with you here, but the pictures don't do justice to how relaxing and uplifting this afternoon paddle was.

Getting underway from AL & UD's house.

Awesome water temp.

Heading south along Paradise Point.

If you look closely in the distance, you can see my family out on the boat with Uncle D.  I kept hoping they would drive over closer to me so I could get a better picture, but they were too busy and didn't notice me waving at them.

Paddling into the Hebron Marsh area and the entrance to the Cockermouth River.

Yellow Pond Lily

Cockermouth River

I spotted one majestic Great Blue Heron.

I saw several painted turtles. 

Flowers along the river bank.

I took a lot of pictures of painted turtles and flowers and more scenes like those above with glassy calm waters and perfect reflections of the trees and flowers above and below the waterline.

Stats for the paddle log:

• Date: 19 August 2010
• Time In: 3:30 p.m.
  
• Time Out: 5:30 p.m.
  
• Elapsed:  2 hours
• Moving Time (GPS):  1 hrs 32 minutes 
• Stopped Time (GPS):  28 minutes
• Mileage: 4.2 miles by GPS
  
• Sea State: 0
• Winds:  3-8 mph NNW (from Intelicast) - very light
• Air Temp: 78F (from Intelicast)
• Water Temp: 76F digital
• Current:  None.
• Gauge Height:  Lake level is about a foot or two below normal.  In the Cockermouth River, the water was typically only 1 or 2 feet deep.
• Avg Speed (GPS):  2.7 mph
  
• Max Speed by (GPS):  4.8 mph
• Rapids?  None. 
• Hazards?  Some strainers, but no current to make them a hazard.
  
• Kit: Ocean Kayak Malibu Two XL. Flop hat, NRS paddling gloves, short sleeve shirt, swim trunks, Keen sandals.
• Configuration: Both boys went out on the ski boat with Uncle D, so I paddled solo sitting in the middle seat.
• Route:  Put-in from Aunt L & Uncle D's house at northern end of Newfound Lake and paddled south and then west around Paradise Point and into the Cockermouth River.  Paddled up the river until I ran aground on a sand-bar, then turned around and paddled back out again.    

• Other comments (such as wildlife spotted): Painted turtles, Great Blue Heron, evidence of beavers, other birds that wouldn't stay still long enough for me to photograph or identify them.

Paddle Log #18: Lake Winnipesaukee around Long Island

Monday morning was dark with heavy cloud cover and a light drizzle outside.  Those of you who know me well know that I have an aversion to sunlight, so this was PERFECT weather for a long paddle around the island. 

It was an AWESOME morning on the water.

I used my Kokotat paddling jacket, NRS pants, and my scuba dive booties.  With air temp in the high 60s and water temp in the low 70s, I didn't need a lot of warmth.  These jacket and pants are just a shell to keep the water off - protection against wind and rain.  I just wore a pair of swim trunks and a t-shirt underneath.

My eldest son graciously allowed me to use his waterproof North Face flop hat, and it worked great.

The winds were 8 mph out of the south-southwest when I got underway and turned south.  The wind created a little bit of a swell, and it was fun watching my bow crash through the swells.

I loved how each of the hills in the distance was a different shade of silhouette, and I loved the wispy rain falling from the clouds in the distance.  I had some light sprinkle on my head during the trip, but no steady rain.

There were three distinct phases of this trip difficulty and speed-wise.  During this first southbound leg of the trip, my average speed was about 2.8 mph paddling into the wind.  After I rounded the southern tip of the island and started paddling northeast, I was surfing on the swells coming from behind me and made it to a max speed of 4.5 mph.  When I rounded the easternmost point of the island and started paddling NW, I was in the lee of the island and it was glassy calm.

Mergus merganser americanus

 

Over on the leeward side of the island, I happened upon two families of common mergansers.  I couldn't get close enough to get any really good pictures of them though.  I think they're beautiful birds, and I've never seen them anywhere but in New Hampshire.  I don't know why all the local tourist shops sell wood decorative decoys of mallard ducks and loons but no mergansers. 

Also on the leeward side of the island, I spotted a beautiful blue jay flying along the shore.  My shutter speed wasn't fast enough to get a crisp picture of him, but I was surprised I was fast enough to get this blur of him flying past.

Here's where I could use some help from any bird experts in the audience.  This bird was teasing me.  He kept twittering away at me from a tree and each time I got close to him, he flew on ahead a hundred yards or so.  I never got a real clear look at him.  I thought he had a black head and wings with white spots at the end of his wings, a gray body and white under-body.  I was surprised in looking at this photo close up to see a splotch of brown in there, too.  I never noticed the brown with my naked eye.  Any ideas what type of bird this was?

Even though the pictures didn't turn out so great, I really enjoyed the paddle around the island and admiring the birds along the way.

Now, I use my handy digital camera on a philosophy of "electrons are free."  I take LOTS of pictures and hope that a few will come out nice.  As I returned to base, who should be waiting for me at my landing spot but another family of mergansers.  I said to myself, "Self, you're FINALLY going to get close enough to try an get a good picture of a merganser."  Right after I took this picture, my camera informed me, "MEMORY CARD FULL." 

Ahhhhhhhhh!

I tried to quickly flip back through the older pictures and delete some to make some room for new pictures, but they swam RIGHT by me and I missed it. 

This is my exasperated self-portrait back on shore looking back out to where the mergansers swam off.

Trip Stats from the 60CSx

Stats for the paddle log:

• Date: 16 August 2010
• Time In: 9:12 a.m.
  
• Time Out: 11:30 a.m.
  
• Elapsed: 2 hr 18 min
• Moving Time (GPS):  2 hrs 4 minutes 
• Stopped Time (GPS):  14 minutes
• Mileage: 6.55 miles by GPS
  
• Sea State: 1
• Winds: 5-8 mph SSW (from Intelicast)
• Air Temp: 66F climbing to 70F (from Intelicast)
• Water Temp: 73.8F digital / 72.3F IR
• Current:  None.
• Gauge Height:  ~503 feet (above sea level, not depth of water).  The lake level is about a foot or so below "full" right now (normal "full" level is just above 504 feet).
• Avg Speed (GPS):  3.2 mph
  
• Max Speed by (GPS):  4.3 mph
• Rapids?  None. 
• Hazards?  None.
  
• Kit: Ocean Kayak Malibu Two XL. My son's North Face flop hat, Kokotat paddling jacket, NRS pants, NRS paddling gloves, short sleeve shirt, swim trunks, dive booties.
• Configuration: Both boys stayed home, so I paddled solo sitting in the middle seat.
• Route:  Put-in at Jonathon's Landing and paddled counter-clockwise around Long Island.    
• 
  
• Other comments (such as wildlife spotted): Mergansers, Blue Jay, Sea Gulls.

Paddle Log #17: Lake Winnipesaukee around Sandy Island

In order to get some exercise each morning here on vacation, I've been alternating jogging and kayaking. My goal has been to keep my heart rate elevated for an hour each morning.  Friday morning I jogged 5 miles around the neighborhood here by the lake shore.  Saturday morning I went kayaking down around Sandy Island and back.  Sunday morning I jogged 4.8 miles (up and down some hills inland instead of near the lake shore).  Monday I kayaked 6.7 miles around Long Island (that'll be paddle log #18).

Sandy Island shoreline

This paddle log entry is just for Saturday's trip down around Sandy Island and back. I was mainly focused on keeping a steady pace and keeping my heart rate up, but I do love the scenery on the lake.

Stats for the paddle log:

• Date: 14 August 2010
• Time In: 9:30 a.m.
  
• Time Out: 10:52 a.m.
  
• Elapsed: 1 hour 22 min
• Moving Time (GPS):  1 hr 18 minutes
  Stopped Time (GPS):  4 minutes
• Mileage: 4.32 miles by GPS
  
• Sea State: 0
• Winds: 0-5 knots - just an occasional light breeze
• Air Temp: 72 going up to 75 degrees.
• Water Temp: 75.7F digital / 73.5F IR
• Current:   None
• Gauge Height:   ~503 feet (above sea level, not depth of water).  

Level in the lake is a little low this summer.

• Avg Speed (GPS):   3.3 mph
  
• Max Speed by (GPS):   4.4 mph
• Rapids?  None. 
• Hazards?  Occasional high speed motor boats and jet skis.
  
• Kit: Ocean Kayak Malibu Two XL. Flop hat, sunglasses, NRS paddling gloves. Long sleeve shirt, swim trunks, Keen sandals.
• Configuration: Just me in the center seat of the kayak.  Both boys stayed home.
• Route:  Put-in at Jonathon's Landing on Long Island, paddled south around Sandy Island and back to Jonathon's Landing again.    
• 
  
• Other comments (such as wildlife spotted): None.

Paddle Log #12: Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge

On Friday of Spring Break, the boys and I got up at the crack of dawn and headed to the Florida space coast to go kayaking.

It was the first time I had seen the sunrise in seven days.
(Since the last time I went to work the previous Friday.)

Before we went to Florida, I googled kayak rentals and guided tours for Florida and came up with several listings. It's hard to tell if one is better than another, so I started searching other websites like BBB and Yelp for reviews.

I found that this group, A Day Away Kayak Tours, had one positive review on Yelp (not a lot of data, but it's better than nothing), a good rating on BBB, and a good website. I called them once for information and another time to reserve the trip, and both times I was very pleased with how friendly and informative it was speaking with them on the phone.

Their website is well laid out and very informative. I really like how they have basic stats for each trip they offer: length of time, comfort level, difficulty level, recommended gear to bring, etc. The photos of kids on the trip help reinforce that it's doable with small children, too.

My boys (8 and 6 years old) and I went on the Merritt Island Tour / Manatee Tour. Note there are two listings for those tours on their website, but it's the same tour. They just call it the Manatee Tour in the spring and summer when the Manatees are around, but both tours go to the same place in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge.

I seriously considered taking our kayak with us to Florida. I decided against it because:

• As a general rule, I don't want to go kayaking alone (just me and the boys) in a new place with which I am not familiar, so we planned to pay for a guided tour anyway.
• ADAKT said they had a couple of nice kayaks that would fit all three of us.
• It would've saved us a few bucks to have our own kayak instead of using theirs, but I think we would have made up for that in gas mileage from having the kayak on top of the car for the drive down.
• Since ADAKT had the kayaks that would fit the three of us, it was a lot less hassle this way. We just showed up and they already had the kayaks on the beach ready for us to hop in and go. Likewise, when we got back, it was easy for us to hop in the car and leave without having to load-up the kayak on our car.

Thumbs-up / Kudos to the ADAKT staff for their advice with regard to directions. They specifically warned me DO NOT FOLLOW YOUR GPS DIRECTIONS, follow the directions they send you in your reservation confirmation email. They were absolutely right. My GPS wanted me to go all sorts of bass-ackwards directions that would've taken me FAR FAR away from where I wanted to be. The directions they provide are simple and easy to follow and get you directly there.

The tour was scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m., and they recommended leaving at least an hour and a half early from Orlando to beat the traffic. Just to be safe, we left our resort near Sea World in Orlando at 7:30 a.m. We got to Titusville way early, but that's okay. I had just thrown the boys in the car in their PJs, so we stopped at McDs in Titusville to change into swim trunks and swim shirts and get some coffee. We also stopped at the Walgreens to burn some time, then got in the car to head on over.

We WOULD have been right on time...

Except there's a draw bridge...

And it was OPEN...

So we had to wait...

And we were a little late.


Even so, the tour guides weren't overly annoyed with us.


When we arrived, the kayaks were all on the beach ready to hop-in and go, and tour guide Elisabeth was giving some basic paddling instruction to the group. She didn't wait for us because she knew we owned our own kayak and this wasn't our first time paddling.


We rode in a nice RTM kayak with two hard plastic seats and a jumpseat-cushion for my youngest son in the middle. Back when we were shopping for our own kayak, I shied away from the kayaks with plastic seats like that thinking they would be hard and uncomfortable. On the contrary, they were very comfortable and we didn't have any problems in the two hours or so of paddling we did.

We had a great time. The boys loved it. We saw several dolphins, one alligator, lots of pelicans and other birds, and Florida striped tulip conch snails.

SQUIRREL?!?! DOLPHIN?!?!

It's a challenge to get a good photo of the dolphins because they pop up and go back down again so quickly, so you can't really zoom in and capture them in time. Even so, we thought it was really cool seeing so many dolphins so close by.

There were about 12 kayaks or so in our group, most with 2 people in the kayak except for ours with 3 and the three tour guides riding solo. The lead tour guide, Elisabeth, rode at the front. Tour guide Travis rode at the back making sure we didn't leave anyone behind. Tour guide Kristi rode in the middle and was very helpful in pointing things out to my boys.


We paddled in around a boat basin looking for manatees, but we didn't find any. Our tour guide said it had been an unusually cold winter and it was still early in the season for seeing manatees.

We DID see the eyes and snout of one gator close to shore. Our tour guide said there was nothing to worry about, the gator wouldn't come near us and the only time we would encounter an aggressive gator was during nesting season.

(Pregnant pause)

One of our fellow paddlers who also had never been in the same body of water in close proximity to a live alligator asked, "So when's nesting season?"

Our tour guide thought for a moment and answered, "Oh... right about now actually."

Cue Finding Nemo sound bite of Bruce the Shark:

SWIM-A-WAAAAAAY!
[back-paddle, back-paddle, back-paddle]

No, in all seriousness, I felt completely safe. We did see the gator move a little, so we knew it was alive, but it didn't move toward us at all. I didn't get a very good photo of it, but I wasn't planning on going any closer for a photo.


We paddled underneath that draw bridge that delayed our arrival and out to the end of the canal. Then we got out to stretch our legs and walk around a bit.

YB shuffling his feet to scare away stingrays.

This is becoming a tradition of sorts for our family vacations, except my wife stayed back at the resort to relax, so we're missing her feet in this picture. In case you didn't know, Crocs are great for kayaking. I'm still loving my Keen Newport sandals.

Wait, what's that?

Closer up underwater shot

We saw several of these Florida banded tulip conchs.

It's a type of sea snail. If you pick one of these little shells up, something similar to a cow-tongue comes out of the shell and with the strength of an Arnold Schwarzenegger bicep pushes itself out of your fingers so it falls back in the water. It looked about twice as large as the shell itself and I was amazed how strong it was. It doesn't take long to figure out just how to hold them so the snail can't reach you to push out of your fingers though.

YB didn't want to hold it.

Neither did ES.
(I love his facial expression here.)

I was very pleased with our experience with A Day Away Kayak Tours, and I would recommend them to friends. The boys both said they had a good time, too and even agreed to having their photo taken with me by the ADAKT sign.

Some stats for the paddle log:

• Date: 2 April 2010
• Time In: 10:00 a.m. (approx)
  
• Time Out: 12:00 p.m. (approx)
  
• Elapsed: 2 hours
• Mileage: 3.0 miles by Buckeye Outdoors route planner
  
• Sea State: 0
• Winds: 0
• Air Temp: ~85F
• Water Temp: Bathtub
• Current: None
• Kit: RTM rental kayak and simple rental paddle. Flop hat & sunglasses. Forgot gloves. Forgot to put sun screen on arms. Short sleeve swim shirt, swim trunks, Keen Newport water sandals.
• Configuration: I sat in the back seat, ES in the front, YB in the middle.
• Route: See Garmin Connect. I forgot to push "start" when we got in the water, but our entry point is the same place as where we got out at the "stop" icon.
  
• Other comments (such as wildlife spotted): Several dolphins, one alligator, lots of pelicans and other birds, Florida banded tulip conchs.
  

P.S. LUNCH

On our way back, we stopped at Dixie Crossroads in Titusville for lunch. That place is awesome!

2 Dozen Rock Shrimp & Corn Fritters covered in powdered sugar

I don't want to make this blog post any longer, but if you've got a moment, I recommend reading my Yelp review of Dixie Crossroads. It could be a blog post in and of itself. (I uploaded several photos there, too.)