I was told that some of y’all wanted to hear everything not just the great stuff. So here goes:

Lets start with the good stuff:

• Wildlife sightings I would never have seen:
  • Turtles
  • Dolphins
  • Bird Life
  • Manatees
• Finding your inner strength.
• Planning: (I like that sort of thing)
  • Food – to carry and cook
  • Food you can get at on shore areas
  • The trip itself in your mind and on paper
• Paddling is just fun.
• Working on an adventure and seeing it succeed.
• The weather (which can be great at times).

The Bad and Ugly:

• Salt water
  • Erodes everything including your skin
  • Is itchy and makes your cloths stiff
  • All my mechanical stuff is now stiff and in need of some repair.
• The weather:
  • Here in Florida the weather can change on a dime.
  • Because of that change it is hard to find a safe haven at a drop of the hat.
• Unexpected road blocks –
  • No marina’s here in Fl. will allow tent camping, which as I planned, my references stated that was possible. (the world has changed unfortunately)
  • There are few legal camping locations along the waterway that are close to the waterway. There are a few but they are normally within a mile of the waterway. Tough to carry a ladened kayak that far.
  • Without the availability to campgrounds or marina’s the difficulty dealing with cleanliness and laundry becomes nearly impossible.
  • To accommodate the need for showers, laundry and the like it becomes necessary to use hotels or the like. They unfortunately are:
    1. Expensive
    2. Don’t deal with kayaks very well.
  • In the heavier populated areas, all the shore lines have sea walls and I wouldn’t be able to get out. There are few beaches.
  • I now believe that without some sort of ground support this is not feasible.
  • At least with ground support, if there is a need to get off the water you have a safe haven close by.
• Safety:
  • Most everything stated above affects the safety of this adventure.
  • Most of my camp sites I have tried, I have not always felt safe and sometimes it’s not necessarily legal.