"Journeys, like artists, are born and not made. A thousand differing circumstances contribute to them, few of them willed or determined by the will --whatever we may think."
Lawrence Durrell

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

More Fun on the Water

Today, Dennis, one of the other guests at the Pirate Haus, asked me to go kayaking with him. I thought this sounded fun and he had two kayaks with him, so I decided to go. We headed to the put it and took off. It was a bit windy but the sun was shining and we figured it would warm up as we went. We decided to take off across Matanzas Bay and head to the inlet across the way. We kayaked over and then spent some time just watching the waves break into the bay. I then decided it would be neat to see a water view of the city and Castillo de San Marcos, so we headed that way. It was much easier paddling that way with the wind to our backs. We went over and had birds flying all around us. We sat and watched the city and talked a bit, then I decided I should call it a day, so we headed back to the put in. As we neared the cove we started to see dolphins. There were two groups of them and we paddled around and they would go by or come up to us as they willed. There was one time I was just sitting in my boat and Dennis was paddling around to get better views and a dolphin surfaced right next to my boat and actually tapped it just inches in front of the cockpit. It was amazing. Then we continued to watch them feed and surface all around us. After some time doing that we headed back to the Haus.

Upon coming back I took care of some last minute preparations for my departure tomorrow and started to pack up. I took it pretty easy this afternoon. I have been trying to find a route down to Miami without having to pay $15 for a map, but haven't had much luck. A few locals told me some of the basics on the A1A and a few blogs I have read have told me a bit, but for the most part I'm just going to wing it. I have a place to stay in Ft. Lauderdale on Saturday night, but don't know about the rest of the way down the coast. Hopefully I can find some things as I go. I also hope to see a few cyclists who can potentially let me know about local bike trails and/or the safest ways to head down the coast. I am planning on going mostly A1A and Hwy 1. Hopefully I arrive alive.

4 comments:

Hannah said...

I hope you arrive alive, too. Kayaking in the bay sounds amazing! Dolphins tapping your kayak? Really? Man, I want to go there. Glad to hear things are going well over all.

Anonymous said...

Josh, I live in Washington State and have been following your journey. May prayers are with you.

Beatrice Biker said...

Hope you enjoy Florida. You're covering a lot of ground and I wish you the best. Watch your back on the roads down there! God bless.

Dusty said...

hey josh,
glad you're continuing on, for my sake of reading about it ;) if you get stuck on where to stay, you should try couchsurfing.com. i bet there is someone along your way you could stay with. i'm looking forward to seeing those pictures soon!