Kayak Adventure

Sunday we decided to take the kayaks out for a spin. we decided to try the Davinci Canal, just five minutes from home. Gail was somewhat apprehensive since we had to hike through some slightly tall grass to get to the canal. She had a "snake stick" (think Parent Trap) to scare the critters away. Didn't see a single snake. I guess the stick worked. What a great paddle. We put in about eight miles in just under four hours.

Here's the Captain enjoying the start of the trip.
As you can see, she likes to lead the way (surprise)..
She even took a picture of me.....
We paddled down the canal until we came to the entrance of Lake Tecumsah. I think we found a great fishin' hole. Fish were jumping all over the place. We saw very few people on the entire trip, and only one was fishing. He said that this area was this best fishing he had found, and he had been coming back for ten years.

Lake Tecumsah (drop of water on the lens)
Standing Cypress trees on a great point....

We saw a Green Heron in the trees as we paddled through the Scopus Marsh and two Osprey nests in Lake Tecumsah.

Green Heron.....
Osprey nest # 1.........
Osprey nest # 2..............

All and all a great adventure. I will be searching for a launch point closer to Lake Tecumsah. From the launch on the Davinci canal, it is a forty five minute to one hour paddle to get there.

First Outing of the Year....

Yesterday we went to the Post Office to get our passport applications turned in. We were number three and four in line and it still took almost an hour to get done. The Post Office passport office is only open from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM on Saturday. At fifteen minutes per person, that means that 16 applications can be processed in four hours. There were at least twenty people waiting when we left, and they had already been open for an hour. Good Luck to those in line.

Went for a little kayak outing today at the Lesner Bridge. The tide was going out and the currents were pretty strong in a couple of places, especially at the entrance to Broad Bay. Hard paddling and very little progress. Lots of exposed sandbars.

The "Captain" heading out. Note the pretty blue paddle.

We can usually paddle across most of this.....

Parked on the sandbar after a long cross current paddle. We started at the white building, right side, directly behind Gail's kayak. Needed the rest......

Paddling through a little channel we found on our way into the Broad Bay channel.

Heading toward the Broad Bay channel.

Stayed out about two hours. The weather was great, but the water is still quite cold. We had to wade through some shallow areas. After a few minutes our feet were somewhat numb. Still, it was great to get out again.

Almost Forgot

Some time ago, we decided to try to do something special for Steph's --th birthday. We told her we wanted to take her to Disney World, since she had never been, and with this birthday she is no longer a youngster. In reality, we were secretly planning to see a space shuttle launch. Well, as we all know, Steph started checking out other things to do in Orlando and discovered that there was a launch scheduled for the time we would be there. So much for surprises !

I signed up for email notification for when tickets would go on sale. I got the email on Wednsday that said tickets would go on sale starting at 9:00 AM today, and usually sell out in minutes. Since I would be at work, I emailed the link to myself at my work address. I tried to book the tickets Wednesday night, but they were unavailable. While checking my email at work yesterday, around 10:00 AM, I decided to check the link to make sure it was working. Just for the hell of it, I tried to book the tickets again, even though it was about 24 hours before they were to be available. Much to my surprise, I was able to book three tickets. These are VIP tickets that include bus transportation from Orlando to Kennedy Space Flight Center, and viewing from the Causeway bridge, just six miles from the launch gantry. This is the closest that the "public" is allowed to the launch site. The only people that can get closer are NASA employees and dignitaries. How cool is that? STS-125 here we come. (May 12, 2009).

Just Couldn't Wait !!

As I had mentioned earlier, we got new paddles for Christmas and I have been dying to try mine. When I got home today it was about 75 degrees, but quite windy. I fired up the charcoal grill in preparation for two filets, and while waiting for the coals, decided to give it a go on the "pond". Here a couple of pics the Boss took.

Launched out the back gate......

Just cruised to the far end and back.....

New paddles are far better than the ones that came with the kayaks. More power per stroke. The weather is supposed to be nice this weekend. Maybe we will go for a paddle at the Lesner Bridge on Sunday. Of course, that depends on getting the lawn mowed on Saturday. That might be a problem since we have a lot to do Saturday. The most important is submitting our passport applications so we can go to Cabo in December. Will let you know if we decide to head out on Sunday.