DAY 2-MIDDLE CAPE TO HARNEY RIVER CHICKEE

Awoke around 8 AM and made Asian noodles (freeze dried) for breakfast. Everything had sand on it so I spent some time wiping everything down. The weather was looking excellent for paddling. I snagged a cool looking shell off of the beach and strapped it onto the deck bag (deck bag courtesy of Brian). After breaking camp and stowing everything inside and on top of the kayak, I was on the water by 9:30 AM. Today was going to be a big mileage day.

First stop was Northwest Cape where I could stretch my legs. There are 3 major points on the southwestern Gulf: East Cape, Middle Cape, and Northwest Cape. They all stick out into the Gulf. Northwest Cape has a beach that’s a couple of miles long with nice white sand. East Cape used to be the site of a pineapple plantation and cattle farm during the early 1900’s. All the cattle ended up dying from the swarms of mosquitoes. I doubt the humans fared much better.

I was off again sticking close to the shoreline headed north. I passed miles and miles of forests. I stopped near a channel marker at the mouth to Little Shark River. I broke out the video camera and shot some footage of the wide mouth. I saw a sailboat moored off in the distance. This would be the last person I would see for 24 hours. YIKES!

Next was a crossing of Ponce de Leon Bay. This is without a doubt the largest bay that I would cross. It was 4 miles from south to north and land was out of reach. Luckily the weather was in my favor and I didn’t come across any difficulties in making the passage.

Another long stretch with miles of forests on my right. I was really experiencing all that the Everglades has to offer. Critical to this trip, was preparing beforehand with many hours of studying maps and plotting courses on my portable global positioning satellite. I had programmed critical entrances and exits to rivers and creeks, waterway markers, and campsites along the way. This would prove to be invaluable. Equally important, was a Top Spot nautical chart that I followed intently.

I was searching for the mouth of the North Harney River. This would be my path to the Harney River Chickee. After locating it, I traversed up the North Harney, and it was very peaceful. This was my first inside passage into the Everglades by kayak and it was a little intimidating. I was totally committed to the trip at this point.

I came upon a fork in the river that had not 2 forks but 4! Both the South and North fork, plus an unnamed creek, and my destination the Harney River joined at this point. I headed down one of the wrong forks, but quickly realized my mistake and backtracked. I finished the day’s trip on the Harney River to my destination--the Harney River Chickee.

This is a new site, replacing a single platform chickee that is about 100 yards across the river. Strong tides have battered the original chickee and it was necessary to build a new one (compliments of the National Park Service). The new one is inside a cove with minimal current.

I was really glad to see the chickee from the water. It had been an extremely long day paddling. The tide was high. I was able to negotiate my way out of the kayak by holding on to a ladder and carefully pulling myself up. Once on the platform, I pulled my kayak up onto the chickee where I could unload all my gear safely.

My routine was now set. Empty the kayak, set up the tent and hammock, lay out the mattress, sleeping bag, and books for reading, dry out the chart, program the route on the GPS for the next day, and prepare dinner. I cooked tortellini with tomato pesto. This meal tasted particularly fine!

I did some reading in the hammock, shot some more video, took some photos, and watched the sunset. Around 6:30 PM I was in my tent and zonked out.

At 3 AM, I woke to the noises of a feeding frenzy going on in the water below and around me. I got out of my tent to look around and found myself enshrouded in a thick fog. The fog + the noises + no other people around kind of creeped me out.

I got back into the tent and slept till sunrise at 6:30.