Ahoy,
The last run of all the west coast training areas- Sarasota, Siesta Key, Crystal River, Dunedin Causeway, Honeymoon Island, Anclote River- has now begun…I will soon start Atlantic Training next month…
It has been holidays and bad weather…finally a break…on Saturday, the last client left and I called Scotty at Siesta Key Bike and Kayak…he said the weather was beautiful and to come down…I needed workout time…I jumped in the pimp mobile and was off to Siesta Key…I love this area and cannot wait until my journey is over to return (maybe I can sneak in one more visit when no one’s looking)…We have made some wonderful friends here:)
On the drive there, I stopped and took time to think of the area I was going into and how beautiful it is…exit 205 on I75 South…make a right off the exit ramp and your life is soon to get better…it has been such a great place to train…people have been very friendly and supportive…it is clean and VERY GREEN (reduce, reuse, recycle- should be the county motto)…
I arrived at Siesta Key Bike and Kayak shop to find Lance loading my rental kayak on the truck…Scotty was donating the rental to me and told me to have fun…the entire staff of Siesta Key Bike and Kayak has been supportive of my goals…at Turtle Beach I ran across some lovely young ladies from Minnesota…we spoke of the paddle and the reason for it…Lance took our pictures.
Paddling out alone is different….you become more aware of every movement of the air, water and animals…I saw many people coming off the water and thought it was because of low tide…I look at the change of tide as a challenge…I paddled around the Neville Wildlife Reserve, 3 full times and then slowed to take video and pics….my average is up to about 5.4 MPH…I am happy with that and my endurance has been steadily building…I was sad not to have the Blue Horizon with me, but I really needed stroke practice…getting in and out of small/shallow areas, paddling forward/backward/sideways…with no rudder, it was all about the core workout…I saw a nest that an osprey was building…
Pelicans (brown and white) seemed to be everywhere…blue herons and egrets were darting about…I could touch the bottom and found a small empty queen conch shell…I saw a few mullet jumping up by mullet shoals…I know there are no longer sharks at the old shark lab, but my senses are always on high alert when I paddle that area…as I came back up the channel, I saw Lance…timing was everything…this Girly Pirate was happy…what a beautiful afternoon
On my way home, I started going over all the paddle information in my head…it was then I stopped to think about how blessed I am…many people have donated time, boating equipment, knowledge and much more helping put this together…it amazes me how many people have been inspired to volunteer help in their own areas…if you want the right to complain about something, first you must try to make things better…by the end of this month I should have all landing points confirmed- I will be posting meet ups that can happen on meetup.com…I do have a few areas where I will need help from local boaters…we have entered the home stretch people…
I spoke to the nice woman who owns Quilts on Plum Lane in Dade City…I asked her politely if she had time to help and explained to her I would need a flag for the road crew to hold on shore so I know where to land…it is a lot to ask of anyone, but she rose to the challenge…I am excited to see what she comes up with:)
It was nice to have a few sweets for the holidays, but I am now back on training menu…I am also starting to stock up food for the trip…I must encourage all parents to send your children to scouts, much of the preparation work for this trip was learned while in scouts…they are lessons that have served me well throughout life…how many knots can you tie? Well I must shove off…
Your Favorite Girly Pirate,
Captain D
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