Sunday Paddle

Sunday December 23, 2012
Site 6 Oscar Scherer State Park
Osprey Florida
High 67  Low 38

 

Partly Cloudy is great for kayaking.

Today was party cloudy and seemed like a great day to get out on South Creek and go for a paddle.  When we were at Oscar Scherer last year, we had site 95 which was right on the creek and we could, with some maneuvering, put our kayaks right into the creek from the back of the site. 

Not so this year from site 6 so when we came in, we locked our boats at the official launch site as we did at Gamble Rogers.  This way we can go anytime we like without having to load and unload the kayaks.

 

 

David doesn’t want to go so Carrie and I set out after lunch. 

The canoe launch is much further down the creek from the campsites.  The creek is narrow and tree covered in its upper run but wider as it nears its mouth.   We set out and head west to see how far we can get.  To the gulf maybe??

 

 

 

 

 

We slip under the Tamiami Trail bridge.

  Carrie looks up and takes this shot of the sign marking the town of Osprey.  No cars at that moment is amazing.

 

 

 

Here’s a map so you can see where we are paddling.

We begin at the boat dock which is just east of the red marker on the creek.

We head West out of South Creek saving the trip further up the creek toward Winnona for our return. 

After paddling under the Tamiami Trail, Route 41, we keep heading west and ultimately find ourselves in Dryman Bay blocked from the gulf by Casey Key.  In order to reach the gulf we would have to paddle miles south to the inlet at Nokomis.

No time for that if we want to paddle back up the creek to the top and make it back by dinner time. 

So we head back, go as far up the creek as we can go which is indicated by the black triangle.  The creek runs right along one side of the campground loop which is the white loop on its right.  The lake shown and the creek do not connect. 

 

 

Is this a hijacking or a grove-napping?

Carrie finds this piece of mangrove innocently floating along on its way to creating a new island.  She hijacks it to use as her flag for a while and then set it adrift on its creative way.

 

 

 

Back in the creek, she’s taken up a new relaxing position.

I think she may be tired.  She doesn’t kayak except when she’s with us and this is a fairly long paddle.

 

 

After going up to the creek head where it gets narrower and narrower, we head back down to the boat launch.

 

And then home for dinner. 

Black Bean Salad with avocado lime dressing, broccoli and foccacia rolls.  I’ve never seen a foccacia bread that wasn’t flat.  But whatever this really is, it is delicious.

 

 

After dinner we head out to Siesta Key Beach so she can get those feet in that sugar fine sand.

 

 

 

We also head out to Siesta Key to catch the Drumming down of the sun.  We missed the Wednesday and Saturday drums at Nokomis Beach which is the closest to us.  But Siesta Key isn’t much further.

We run into Jeannie Sparks of Where’s Eldo and her daughter Kelly.
Carrie is walking all around photographing the sunset and doesn’t get back in time to meet them.  That’s too bad.  The girls actually live fairly near each other as Carrie is outside of Baltimore and Kelly outside of D.C.

This is a BIG beach so missing folks can easily happen especially at dusk.   Only Carrie had her camera so no pictures of the Sparks Girls unfortunately.

 

 

The party doesn’t disappoint here either.

The drumming is great and this belly dancer is a whirlwind.  Dancing on and on and on.  The only way you can get a picture of her is once when she stops to talk to someone.

 

 

This dancer’s outfit is spectacular and includes that brilliant green cape that she twirls around and over her head.  She sometimes dances with a sword on her head.  The area around her is quite vacant of other dancers at that time.

 

 

At dark, the lighted hoops come out.

They are so pretty and this gal can really work them. 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Carrie for these pictures.

Another beautiful sunset at the end of another wonderful day.