A Short Kayak Trip

Sandra and Gary came over for a kayak trip. It was a beautiful day with temperature in the low 80's (Ho hum, what's new). We first checked out the upper part of the Little Manatee River but the water levels were a bit low since it hadn't rained in three weeks so we choose the lower part between Route 301 and the Sundance Marina. This was going to be a shorter trip which we guessed would take 2 hours. Below is the Google Earth shot of the river with our path as the red line.

So we started with high spirits getting into the river under the Rte 301 bridge.

The first part of the river was nice and shady with a light current pulling the kayaks along.

After an hour of rowing (figuring we were half way) we pull into the bank and had our lunch.

Back into our kayaks and we rowed for another hour. The river now was getting wider and the current wasn't pulling us along as much so we had to row a little more.

But it still was a scenic row with a lot of turtles watching our progress.

I guess they were out of the water to warm up in the sun but some of them climb up the logs to a good height - closer to the sun.

We paddle on for another hour. By now Polly is stating to panic and figures we are lost. Anyone she sees along the river she asks where we are and how far it is to the Sundance Marina. We finally stop at the 26th street landing (a favorite swimming spot for the locals) and do a potty break. Be careful if you walk behind that palm tree.

Gary and I leave the girls there and take off on our own to find the Sundance Marina, get the truck we left there and drive back to pick up the girls. Twenty minutes later we are at the Marina but Gary had left the keys for his truck back in the waterproof package with the girls. But it wasn't that far so we rowed back and told the girls it was only another 20 minutes and then they could rest. We all took off rowing again. I had my power stroke going and could have rowed for hours.

Polly had her swearing stroke going and wouldn't say a sentence without a curse in it.

So after 4 hours of rowing (almost 4.5 for the guys) we pull into the Sundance Marina. The Google Earth Map says we have only covered 6.2 miles (a little more than the 3 miles I had guessed at the beginning). Polly says she will never go kayaking with me again without a guide (I left out the swear words she used to punctuate the sentence with).