On my 2nd and 3rd days in the Okefenokee
swamp of Georgia, I deployed my inflatable kayak to explore the swamp waterways. It had
rained hard during the first night and the forecast was for at least 3 hours of
rain the following day, but with temperatures in the 70s, how bad could it be?
This was my first time deploying my kayak since I mailed it from AK to Iowa, so it
took a while to get it assembled and inflated. I didn’t get on the water until
9:30. I hadn’t paddled very far when the skies opened and torrential downpour
ensued, along with strong gusts of wind. The scenery wasn’t very nice (a
narrow, straight canal and dead trees) and I doubted I’d be happy with 3 hours
of those conditions, but I decided to hang in there to see if it was just a
nasty squall. There was a strange beauty in it; the rain was hitting the water
so hard that each drop resulted in a small geyser erupting from the water’s
surface. In the background, a mist was rising because of the warm temperature.
I would have loved to try to capture the beauty with my phone’s camera, but
figured the risk to my phone wasn’t worth the photo.
Thankfully, I was right, the squall lasted a few minutes;
enough to thoroughly soak me and add several inches of water to my kayak (no
spray skirt). But after that, the rain was over for the day. The sun came out,
the humidity was considerably less than the previous evening's 94% humidity (the rain fall
wrung most of it out of the sky) and it was a really nice day for the rest of my 8-mile
paddle. About a mile out, I entered a wilderness area
and the scenery changed to huge cypress trees, draped with Spanish moss.
There were alligators everywhere; many of them bigger than
my inflatable kayak. During my first hour of paddling it was very disconcerting
to see these giant beasts slip into the water and submerge into the murky (shallow)
depths. I couldn’t help but be nervous, knowing that there was only canvas,
rubber, and air between me and those giant jaws, and my arms a mere 8-10” above
the water’s surface as I paddled. But after observing them for a while it was
clear that they are as well behaved as Alaska’s bears. They really want nothing
to do with humans. If they had a clear view of my passage and had access to a
water entry in front of them, they generally stayed on shore; even when the
wind pushed my kayak close to their shore as I was taking photos. When they
entered the water, they moved to water deep enough to let them submerge and
move unencumbered. I confess to attempting to keep my elbows higher over the
water as I paddled when a particularly large gator had moved closer to the path
my boat was on before it sunk below the surface, with no hint of where it went
after that.
A couple of times my paddle hit something below the surface and I
felt a rush of adrenaline as I wondered whether I had connected with a gator
that would raise up with jaws open to retaliate. But I likely just hit bottom
or a submerged log. Other than the occasional rush of adrenaline (all for
naught), after my first hour on the water while observing gator body language,
the next 5 hours of my paddle were very peaceful. The occasional motor boat,
loaded with tourists, passed by. Otherwise it was silent, but for the calls of
birds.
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Here's a better look at the kayak as I was paddling and in the background, on the cement boat ramp, you can see a gator. He's not as big as many I'd seen that day.   |
My bike ride, hike, and first day’s paddle were on the east
side of the park via the main entrance. I got off the water at 4pm and put my kayak on
top of my van (for the first time) and headed around the south end of the park
to the west entrance and a campground. The night before I’d just pulled off the
side of the road before it entered the park. I got to the west side campground
after dark and could already tell it was quite different habitat, with lots of
pine trees and many deer along the road on the way in. The next morning I hiked
the 2 miles of available trail with coffee in hand and then launched my kayak
at 10 am.
The paddling was quite different too. On the east side, as
far as I paddled, it was narrow canals; a fair bit of which had been hand dug long
ago, over an 18-month period, in a fruitless attempt to drain the swamp to
liberate the land to establish plantations. The west side was all natural, but
for the small access canal from the park road and boat launch to the swamp
waterways. In the morning I wasn’t seeing near as many gators as on the east
side but in the afternoon there many; including gators much bigger than I’d
seen the day before. I only had a few moments of mild concern when the really
big guys swam out, seemingly on a path to intercept my kayak, before they
submerged. But I am 99% sure they were seeking water deep enough so that they could
move in whatever direction they needed to, to keep as much distance between me
and them as possible. Besides gators there were a lot more birds (egrets, ibis,
king fishers, and blue and green herons) than on the east side and a special
treat – I encountered 2 different groups of river otters. They had a lot to say
(various vocalizations) as they checked me out. The first group was so curious
about me that they almost blundered into a very large alligators, hauled out on
a log. The otters and the gator were all startled and a great deal of splashing
ensued. But the otters didn’t get eaten and the gator hauled back out on its
log to continue soaking up the sunshine; so all was well. I was hoping I could upload a couple of videos here, but it looks like that's not going to work. Too bad! The otters were such fun to watch! And I have a good video of 2 giant gators, one slipping into the water and the other staying on shore. And a good video of a blue heron with feathers blowing in the wind. Oh well...
oo
of
of
I paddled down a
variety of narrow passages, lined with moss-draped cypress trees. I really
enjoyed the paddling; I’m now a swamp fan. It was so quiet, with only the
sounds of nature. I saw one woman paddling a canoe and 3 motor boats during my
5 hours of paddling. The rest of the time it was just me and the critters. I
have to admit; I’m disappointed with my photos. The full-frame close ups of the
gators looked great on my tiny phone but when I looked at them on my computer,
they weren’t sharply focused. I’ll either need to look into the snap-on
telephotos lenses I see advertised for phones, or get serious about figuring
out what sort of ‘real’ camera I want to get. Of course ordering anything
online is challenging when you live on the road with no mailing address… But I
can deal with these minor inconveniences as I continue to enjoy my transient
lifestyle in my rolling ‘Bitty Bago’ home.
After finally getting the last of the service needs taken
care of for my van this morning I did some grocery shopping and headed for a
campground on a northern Florida beach. It’s a beautiful place (Little Talbot
Island) with (short) hiking and biking trails, a salt marsh system to paddle in,
and 5 miles of undeveloped white-sand beach. I walked the beach, barefoot, for
several miles, wading in the water before I settled into my campsite. I chatted with a surf fisherman for a while and
watched him pull in a Pampano (fish). I could be happy staying here for several
days, but they could only promise me one night when I arrived.
I’ll find out
tomorrow if there are options to stay more nights. It could be that folks will
cancel their weekend plans due to inclement “cold” weather in the forecast. It’s
supposed to be a high of 54 tomorrow with lows in the 40s. The ranger I talked
to was delighted that he had inside duty tomorrow; he hates the cold. He gave
me the best campsite available for my one night. While most of the sites are
heavily shaded, under live oak and cypress trees (which I’m sure is a blessing
in the hot summer), I’ve got one of 2 sites that are on the periphery of the
salt marsh, in the open but for a few small trees that give privacy between camp
sites. I doubt I’ll be lucky enough to have the folks that reserved this
gorgeous camp site cancel so I can stay here. But time will tell…
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| My campsite |
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| Endless beach for walking. |
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| Salt marsh to paddle in. |
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