Mud Lake-Which Way Out?

Friday February 27, 2015
Collier-Seminole State Park
Naples, Florida

 

 

We had thought we would set out early for Mud Lake yesterday in order to arrive at high tide, 10:23AM.  But when we got up the weatherguessers were saying 100% chance of rain, specifically thunderstorms, beginning at 10am and lasting until mid afternoon.  So much for that.  Of course it never did rain although it was dark and dreary all day. 

Friday would work better since high tide was at 12.32PM even though there might be more people out.  Of course today when we get up the guessers have switched their rain and thunderstorm forecast to today.   Still dark and dreary.  We debate and decide to just go for it knowing they may well push it back to tomorrow.  So I get out my kayak skirt and we both put on our kayak boots and raincoats.  Having brought all this gear with us, we are pretty sure it will not rain today either.

All that debating means that we aren’t in the water until 11am but that’s ok.  We paddle straight down the canal without stopping,  passing markers 57, 54, 53, 51.   We’re on our way to 47.   Not a great day for paddling but any day on the water is a good one.

 

My favorite part of the river so far is between Markers 53 and 51 where it becomes a mangrove tunnel. The water is glassy and still. The world is reflected. I slow down looking into the mangrove roots. What a tangle they are.

 

\

 

 

The only wildlife I see is up in the sky when a flock of pelicans fly over.  It drizzles on and off.

 

 

 

 

 

The wind has picked up a little when we reach marker 47 and do not follow it to the left as the arrow instructs us.  There is no sign to Mud Lake.  You have to know where it is.  I suspect they don’t want people who don’t understand how shallow and subject to tides it is think they can go there without information.  We know where to go at this point and so we do.

 

 

 

 

It is about 2 miles to the Mud Lake turn from the boat basin and after looking at the much photocopied map David thought it was about 2 miles to Mud Lake beyond here.   It turns out to be less than a mile I think until we see the lake spread out before us.   It’s very big.  We had thought we might circumnavigate the shoreline as we often do in lakes but with the tide question and its size we think better of it.   Even my camera with its sometimes frustrating wide angle lens can’t get 1/4 of it in this picture.

 

 

In the picture below, I’m no where near the middle of the lake and David is over by the shore.  Can you even see him there in his orange kayak from this distance?  He’s smack dab in the middle.

 

 

 

 

 

The wind is picking up, I head for a mangrove island and once I’ve gone around it, I decide I’d better go back in the direction of the inlet so I don’t lose track of where it is.  Just as there is no marker for the turn into the lake, there is no marker for the turn back out of it.

 

 

On the way there, I think I see a flock of birds on a sandbar to my left.  The sky, the water, everything is gray and so are they so I’m not sure what I’m seeing.   I attempt to paddle closer and get stuck on the mud bottom at least twice so I give up and use my zoom.  Perhaps it is the totally gray day but that’s how they look, totally gray and I can’t figure out who they are.   They look like sanderlings but their bills look too long. Perhaps they are Dunlins in their winter plumage. They don’t look big enough or mottled enough for willets.   Help me out Judy. 

 

 

 

 

 

Ibis are working the shore line and I notice the water is beginning to rush through the lake.  High tide is over and the water level is beginning to drop.  I don’t see David.  Uncharacteristically I have brought my phone with me which is a thing I never do.  I don’t think I ever have brought it kayaking so I don’t know what made me put it in my pocket today.   Also amazingly, out here in the mangroves there is enough signal.  I call him and he says he’s heading back so I start up the inlet just floating along waiting for him to catch up. 

The wind picks up so I have to do some paddling and still he isn’t here.   I call him again.  He tells me he’s coming up what he thinks is the inlet but from his description, it isn’t.  I describe where he needs to be.  He says he’ll go there and call me back if it’s the wrong one.  Clearly he is all turned around and doesn’t know where he is so I head back to the mouth of the lake and call him again.  He turns around, comes back out into the lake and can see me.  Rescue accomplished.  Now he has to get from there to here against the tide and the wind.

 

In his defense, it is difficult to tell which one of these is the road out if you aren’t paying very careful attention.  The shore line looks a lot like this all the way around.   Next time I think I’ll bring some orange survey tape and put one on a mangrove branch at the right point.  The way out is on the right in the picture below.

 

 

 

As I was talking on the phone the last time just before I turned around, I came to a bend and there is a yellow crowned night heron.   I take a few pictures but I have to get back so David doesn’t get too lost.    Do you see the heron on the shore?

 

 

 

 

 

Amazingly AGAIN, when we paddle back together there he is again just a bit further on than from where I saw him before.  he’s just walking on the shore.  Isn’t he stunning in his breeding colors?   Because of the repeat performance, lucky David gets to see him too. 

 

 

 

 

 

He’s the highlight of the day although David says on one of his false exits he saw a flock of white pelicans numbering about a dozen.  Sorry I missed them. I wonder if they are the ones I saw flying over on our way to Mud Lake.

The paddle back to the boat basin is uneventful other than for one cute little solo pied billed grebe and the winds which pick up.  We had thought about following the river further out at MP 47 but the wind changed our minds.

 

 

I think we would both do this paddle again on a much nicer day and start out further ahead of high tide.  The tide charts here require adding 1 hour for high and low tides at Mud Lake and 2 hours for the boat basin although we actually went out at low tide into the boat basin and the river earlier in the week with no problem so I’m not sure how important a tide chart is unless you are going to Mud Lake.

 

THE END