Dance After Dark Photography

Alternate title: Daunting is the St Johns River

This afternoon I took out my Wilderness Systems Pamlico 145T for the first time. I worked until noon and then rushed home to haul the kayak out of the garage and explore. I had been looking forward to my inaugural trip since I bought the kayak on Wednesday, and I very happily carried the kayak to my car, muscled it up onto the roof, and strapped it down. I’ve never been great with knotwork, but I did well enough securing the kayak so it wouldn’t escape in transit. It took about 20 minutes this time, but I imagine that will go faster with practice.

Today I left from Monroe Wayside Park in Sanford. It’s on the south side of the St Johns, where Highway 17-92 and Interstate 4 cross the river. I wasn’t prepared for the multitudes of boat trailers. Every time I visited in the past to see the old swinging bridge that used to carry 17-92 over the river, the park was mostly deserted. There were usually one or two vehicles, but today the parking lot was full and there was a steady line of people in trucks still waiting to offload their boats. Fortunately, I didn’t have to wait to use the boat ramp. I tromped along through the mud, dragging my kayak behind me, and set off upriver. I passed the power plant, the Port of Sanford, and a few riverfront estates. I made it as far as the first big bend, about 2 miles, before the wake from all the passing boats and the very strong winds prompted me to turn back.

I underestimated the St Johns. I was comfortable enough with the kayak, but I had to fight the strong current and the strong wind to keep from drifting right into the main boat channel. With all of the traffic, that would have been disastrous. Staying close to shore was a battle, and even then I had to ride out the wake of a steady stream of boats. On the upside, I came very close to three osprey and saw several others diving for fish about 20 feet away. Today alone I saw more large birds than I’ve seen in all the time spent on the Wekiva.

We’ll assume 4 miles total. According to FitLinxx, which tracks my exercises at the YMCA and lets me manually log things like this, 4 miles of strong exertion equates to about 936 calories burned. And now I’m off to cook bratwurst and Himmel und Erde. It’s German for “Heaven and Earth,” a mashed potato recipe that calls for bacon, apples, and butter.

I considered my options, and I bought the kayak. I’ll always be a photographer, but lately I’ve burned out on model shoots. For nature photography, I’m set. I would like a wide-angle lens, but I don’t need it to function. Right now, the kayak means more to me.

Daniel suggested that I consider a used kayak instead of dropping so much cash on a new one. There was a 16′ tandem (the big brother of the model I chose) on Craigslist for $695, but it weighs 85 lbs and would be an absolute beast to take out solo. At $695, it was only a little less than the deal I got. All the other kayaks on Craigslist were solo and/or woefully lacking in information. “Orange” tells me absolutely nothing, other than the fact that the owner doesn’t know anything about kayaks. Either way, a $300 kayak might be good for going solo, but it wouldn’t have been steady enough for my needs.

I talked to Marcus at Travel Country Outdoors, and he made me the proverbial offer I couldn’t refuse. When I first spoke with him on Tuesday, we spent about 30 minutes discussing kayaks and then another hour talking about photography and people we both know. Maybe it was a friend-of-a-friend thing, or maybe it was just my dazzling smile and incredible charm. Whatever the reason, I got a great deal on a new kayak that was exactly what I wanted. If you’re in the market for anything outdoorsy, talk to Marcus.

Getting it home, however, was a whole different story. Marcus rigged it on my car, so the drive home was blessedly uneventful. I got back around 3:00 and debated going out paddling, but I knew I should go ahead and install the pulley system that lets me hang the kayak in the garage. I’m glad I resisted temptation. That sucker took me over 3 hours when it should’ve been a 20-minute job. The first half hour was just trying to find a space where it would fit without interfering with the garage door or the door into the house. The rest of the time, I was struggling with a stepstool that was about 6 inches too short and a monster of a kayak that manages to make 65 lbs a lot heavier than it should be.

To get it in & out conveniently, I’m going to have to do some rearranging in the garage. It’ll work for now, though. The hardest part is going to be muscling the kayak onto the top of my car, particularly after I’ve been out paddling for a while. I’m glad I went with the tandem because it’s steadier and lets me take someone along for the ride, but lifting that bugger had me wistfully thinking of the 10-foot, 40 lb solo variety that I could toss over my shoulder. I’m going to have to get some rubber-bottom carpeting to lay over the top of my car and over the trunk so I can slide the kayak up instead of doing a dead lift. Wish me luck!

I went kayaking today after a long and stressful round of playing chauffer. Mom & I had fun, but I was so exhausted by 2:00 that I thought I’d pack up my camera and just wander around the Wekiva Springs State Park for a while. I’ve been itching to get back into a kayak, so just in case I packed my camera in a plastic bag with a small towel. Sure enough, by the time I got to the park I’d convinced myself to go paddling again. I’m glad I did.

Coming downriver, I just relaxed and let the current do most of the work. I saw an anhinga sunning itself in a rare bright patch along the bank. For the most part, it was cloudy and a little chilly. No photo, though, because I was still a little unsteady in the single kayak. It was much smaller than any I’ve used before, and I nearly dunked myself just after getting in. A bit further downriver, I saw a red-shouldered hawk making several passes back & forth over the water. She decided against diving, either because the target eluded her or because I got too close. I paddled on to leave her in pace. Saw several turtles and another anhinga. Too cold for the alligators today, although I did see a baby right alongside the kayak as I drifted. He swam off as soon as I moved for the camera.

Considering my lack of photographic success, imagine my surprise when, as I was power-paddling back upstream with the sun mercilessly in my eyes, I passed beneath an upthrust branch of one of the downed trees and saw the same red-shouldered hawk - this time no more than three feet away. She just watched me as I passed beneath her. I paddled a little upstream to take a few pictures. They’re a little blurred because there wasn’t much light and I was in a very light kayak bobbing on the river. I might stick with double kayaks in the future just for the stability. Still, it was a treat getting to see her so close.

Even better is the knowledge that I covered about 4 miles in an hour and a half, including a good 40 minutes of heavy cardio as I fought my way back upstream at the best speed I could manage. I’m still feeling the workout. That was nice.

What does it look like to kayak down the Wekiva River? Well, if you’re the #2 man in the kayak, it looks like this:

Here we see the back of jeweldevil’s head as we paddle downstream. I took a minute to take a few pictures. Unfortunately, it was so blasted bright and hot that only two of the photos came out at all. I’ve got a few other shots of paddles, but this one and a shot of the sky were the only two that I liked.

We had fun, but I definitely prefer the downstream ride. We went downstream as far as we could go, and we fought against the river to get back. Daniel and I agreed that if we’d gone any further we might not have made it back at all. The original plan was to kayak peacefully downstream to Katie’s Landing and then get shuttled back to the state park. Alas, they don’t do that on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. That little fact wasn’t posted on the website. The good news is that it was a lot cheaper, totaling about $24 instead of $40. The bad news is that it took us 3.5 hours, and I still hurt. My muscles have recovered, but I forgot to put sunblock on my legs. They’re crispy.

The best part was just as we left the beach. The water was clear and deep, letting us see all the way to the underwater forest on the bottom. It was gorgeous. You should try it sometime.

More kayaking pictures

P.S. We discovered that you can’t do a damn thing from the front. I don’t remember canoes being so hard to steer.

I went kayaking through the canals leading to the intercoastal waterway in New Smyrna Beach. I have to say that the little crabs were the most amusing part of he trip. I wish I’d taken my camera, but I didn’t want to risk dunking it. Lining both banks of the canal were scores and scores of tiny crabs. Some were no bigger than the tip of my pinky, and the largest were about as big as my thumb. I think they’re fiddler crabs, but I could be wrong. And why were they amusing? Well, I’ll tell you.

As I was paddling along, I noticed a wave of motion along the shore. At first I couldn’t figure it out, but then I realized that all of the little crabs were running up the beach and away from the water. I stopped paddling so I could watch more easily, and they stopped running away. They watched me nervously, but they didn’t move. I raised the paddle, and they took one collective step backward. This means, of course, that I became drunk with power.

I started paddling from one side of the canal to the other, zig-zagging in a crooked path of crabby terror. I imagined myself as an omnipotent deity of crabby destruction. I swept along to my new battle cry, “Fear my crabby wrath! Flee for your chitinous lives!”

*contented sigh* Good times.

The sun was awfully bright today. Maybe I should have worn a hat.

(nearly lost my camera)

This is one of only two shots I took while kayaking on New Year’s Day. The current was very strong, and every time I’d stop to take a picture, I would very quickly drift backwards and off to the side. I had so much trouble trying to line up shots that I gave up. The fact that my camera almost went overboard once also played a part in the decision to pack it safely away.

I’m a little late, but Happy New Year to everyone.

New Year’s Day was supposed to be my big kayaking trip with Jennifer. Many of my fellow fogeys will remember Jennifer as the blond, curly-haired bartender from Barbarella when the stage was still out back. We hadn’t actually confirmed the time we’d be getting together, though at one point I suggested 8:00 or 9:00. I wanted to go early, which is why I didn’t go to any New Year’s Eve celebrations. I’d left a message for Jen the night before to call me when she woke up. At 10:00, I gave up and called her. As I expected, she’d gotten in late and was in dire need of sleep. No lasting grudge here, but if I had known I wouldn’t have waited around.

I went kayaking on my own. It was too late to try someplace new, so I went back to Wekiva Springs as Jen and I had planned. This time I rented a single sit-on-top kayak and took it up Rock Springs Run. Man, was that a mistake! It was good exercise, but paddling upstream in shallow water through a series of switchbacks is very, very hard.

Downstream wasn’t as much fun as I thought it would be. With the strong current I was definitely able to get some speed up, but with all of the twisting and turning I kept hitting trees. Cruising speed very quickly became ramming speed. Combine that with the multitude of sand bars, and it took me almost as much time to get back downstream as it had to struggle upstream. My arms & back were burning by the time I got back. At least I know it was a good workout.

I don’t think I like the sit-on-top kayaks. For a tandem, it’s not bad. For single, though, I’ll stick with the traditional sit-in. It wasn’t as stable side-to-side, but it felt more natural. I’ll just have to stick with higher shutter speeds to avoid blurry pictures, and maybe one of these days I’ll actually get sunlight when I’m out shooting. Yesterday was very overcast, and I got back to the canoe beach just as the rain started.