Thursday, April 29, 2010

Kayaking at Keaton Beach

We had wind gusts of 45 knots last night with sustained winds at 35 knots.  We got a pretty nice sunset and the winds calmed down.
P1010041
P1010043
P1010056
Our view from the MH front window, Miss Squeaky watching the sunset.
P1010051
We got a little rain, later in the evening.   I tried a new idea for the persistent leaks we have had on both slides.  No leaks last night, but it didn’t rain much, so I don’t know if our latest fix worked or not.  After the winds died down, the temperature dropped pretty quickly.  We were told it got down to 49 degrees.  Brrrr.
We got up early and took a short walk up the “strip.”  This is a one main street town. There is a marina/convenience store and one restaurant, that is supposed to have excellent seafood.
It started warming up nicely so we took a short kayak trip before lunch.  We put the boats in at the boat ramp then headed up the canal in front of a row of houses on stilts.
P1010084
P1010037
P1010086
We then  headed over towards the campground beach area to take the kayaks out. This is not the typical Florida beach most people think of. 
P1010065
This is a picture of our  “beach” with Al in the foreground and the motorhome in the background.
P1010089
This part of Florida is full of oyster beds, so there aren’t really any sandy beaches.  We pulled the kayaks up to the floating dock and then just hauled them up on the dock which is right in front of our RV.  When the tide is low, we can’t even launch our kayaks from the beach.  There are just too many oyster beds. The water stays very shallow for quite a while offshore, so we were having to worry about hitting oyster beds quite often. 
P1010100
P1010091
We didn’t do much except visit with a few of the other campers here at the campground.  Most are people in our age group who are either snowbirds or long term travelers.  It’s interesting to find out where they have been.
After we finished our paddle, we came back to the Motorhome and this is what Al saw right out of the front window.
P1010078
By the time I got there, it had flown away, so I never saw the Bald Eagle.  Hopefully, it will come back.
Al bought his fishing license, so he’ll try his luck tomorrow.
We really like this campground, but people that expect beautiful white sandy beaches would be disappointed.  The few available sites on the gulf are nice, but the rest of the CG is full of mostly week-enders and they are pretty close together.  We would not want to be at any of those sites. The town of Keaton Beach is very remote, as are all the neighboring towns, and there is nothing much to do except, fish, kayak and just relax.  The nearest grocery store would be in Perry, which is about 25 miles away.  There are 2 convenience stores where you can get the basics and a few frozen items, but basically Perry is it.  Steinhatchee Florida is just 17 miles from here and is a very popular place.  The Steinhatchee River flows right into the gulf and is supposed to be a very nice kayaking river.
The storm clouds that partially blocked the sunset, were gone tonight and we had a beautiful sunset up on the dock in front of our campsite.
P1010139
P1010133
P1010151
P1010153
More tomorrow.

4 comments:

  1. Your photos are just sooo inviting --- thanks for letting us know about this place. Seems nice and remote and far from the madding crowds.

    ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
    Karen and Steve
    (Our Blog) RVing: Small House... BIG Backyard
    http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  2. Those sunset pictures on the last 2 post are awesome girl!!!! Thanks for being patient and waiting till you could get it. The other wildlife pictures are so clear!! That bite you recieved..There is a problem you can get from cat bites and scratchs..it is called cat scratch fever...read up on it..and be aware of the symptoms. I pray you don't get it. It can be very painful.
    Okay when you flip over in the kayak..how do you get back in it?

    Cindy and Walker

    ReplyDelete
  3. Cindy,
    When Al tipped the kayak over, he was only in a foot or two of water so he just sat back down. When you are in deep water it is a little more complicated. Al can just climb back in, no problem, but I don't know if I could because I don't have good arm strength. It's something we need to work on. We are never far from shore and could swim or walk back if necessary.

    I am aware of cat scratch fever and thought about it at the time. I have pretty much healed now, so I think I am okay. Thanks for your concern!

    ReplyDelete

Please feel free to leave comments. We love to read them! To contact me directly you can send e-mail to rvtravels2@yahoo.com