Savannah

When: 2/24-26/06
Who: Arlo, Stacy, Wade, Ingrid
What: Kayaking
Where: Somewhere near Savannah

For months, Stacy, Wade and I have talked about doing a weekend kayak trip. Our last trip together was to Lake Jocassee in the fall, and we were thinking that next we'd head down to the Florida panhandle, check on our land, and do a river or a coastal paddle.

A bit about our boats ... Wade and I have Chesapeake 17s that he mostly built himself (I helped some). Above is a picture of my boat about a year ago, near Tybee Island, GA. Stacy has a lovely green 19-ft. Seaward, and a 17-ft yellow Cascade named Cake. Arlo, while he loves camping, has expressed very little interest in kayaking, and has rebuffed several invitations on past trips. However, as we were talking about this trip, he told us that he wanted to come along and that he's been telling us for a year that he wanted to go kayaking with us. Somehow we all missed his new-found enthusiasm for paddling.

Prep

We got together Thursday night to plan the trip, and at that point weather.com was showing thunderstorms in the Panhandle all day on Saturday. After some deliberation, we decided to head to Savannah. Wade and I have paddled there quite a bit before, and it was only looking like light rain on Saturday. Accumulation of .25-in. over the whole day - perfect paddling weather.

As with all trips, the first step was to ... invent the universe. With four boats, we could either take two cars, or figure something out. Stacy's car has been in the shop, so taking two cars would have involved outfitting Arlo's BMW with racks. Wade suggesting using the trailer that we bought for the sailboat. That meant installing a tow hitch on my car, and building a rack on which to secure the boats. Thursday night Wade spent under the Subaru, installing the tow hitch, which the directions assured him would take a half hour. Being the smart guy that he is, Wade budgeted two hours. Four hours later, we had a functioning tow hitch.

We agreed to get together Friday morning at 8 a.m., for a 9:30 departure. At 8:30, Wade started building the rack to carry the kayaks. While he did that, Stacy and I got out boats and gear and packed the car. At 1 p.m., we were on the road. The drive down started easily enough, but just past Macon, we stopped for gas and realized that part of the trailer structure had broken. Of course, Wade didn't tell me until we got back that it was not a structural member, so I spent much of the rest of the trip anxiously awaiting the loud crash as four kayaks spilled into the expressway.

On the way down, it seemed clear enough, so we decided to camp at Skidaway State Park and leave the next morning for a paddle to Wassaw Island, an uninhabited wildlife refuge with a long white beach and miles of trails. http://www.fws.gov/Wassaw/ Wade and I had done this paddle before. It takes you out of the mouth of the Wilmington River, so you get to experience river and ocean paddling, but no real surf. The paddle also takes you over the site where a nuclear bomb was lost in 1958. http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/09/13/lost.bomb/

The Trip

We got to Skidaway at about 7 p.m. after stops for lunch, a Wal-Mart run, and picking up a spray skirt. I love State Park camping. I love wilderness camping, but there is something about State Park camping that reminds me of camping with my family as a kid and teenager. And there's something really nice about camping when you can walk to an actual bathroom when nature calls. And when you have a nice big utility sink to clean your dishes, instead of a stream.

We cooked steaks over the campfire, had a nice bottle of wine, and hung around the fire (which Wade started with a magnesium stick and some A-plastics) before going to bed. Wade, Stacy and I slept in the three-person Sierra Designs tent, while Arlo slept outside on the ground, because he forgot tent poles. We could have all squeezed in, but it was a nice, clear night, and he wanted to sleep under the stars.

Throughout the night we heard two owls talking back and forth. One seemed to be right over our tent, and I dreamt that Arlo was carried off by one of them. As morning light filtered through the tent, we heard a cacophony of birds and squirrels, making it pretty much impossible to sleep late. As we finished packing up after breakfast, it began to rain lightly. We briefly considered leaving our camp set up, but decided that we would probably prefer a hotel after a day of paddling in the rain.

Speaking of rain, it was at about this point that Wade asks, "Hey, where's my rain jacket?"

Ingrid: I thought you had it on when we left.

Wade: No, I had it on from about 8 to 8:15, and then I stacked it on all the stuff you had in the living room ready to pack.

Ingrid: *silence*

Wade: So there's no rain jacket.

Ingrid: Guess not.

Crap. A day of paddling in the rain is one thing. A day paddling in the rain with no rain jacket is something else altogether. We decided to forgo the the trip to Wal-Mart for a poncho in the interest of speed, but by the time we got to the launch, it was drizzling but good.

The Launch

We launched from Priest's Landing at the site of the UGA Marine Extension Center. There is a dock, but it is private and usually locked, so we launched through the marsh alongside the dock. We were scrambling to make it out before the tide ebbed, and we were forced to paddle against water rushing into the river. We dragged the boats to the launch point, and in the time it took for Wade to park the car, the water had receded another 20 feet leaving a vast, muddy expanse mined with oyster shells.

And then there were the gnats. We were swarmed by hundreds of biting gnats, which bit every inch of exposed flesh. Everyone began coughing as we inhaled them. Stacy was launched first, and at this point, the gnats had made everyone crazy and careless, so we slogged through the mud, losing shoes, getting stuck, and probably scraping the crap out of the bottoms of our boats.

Wade launched last, and he looked terrible. His feet were hanging out of his boat, and they looked more like shapeless blobs of mud than feet. His arms were caked in blackness, and his face was streaked.

The Paddle

We paddled away from the gnats, rinsed off as best we could, and set off. We saw several dolphins playing right after the launch, and I thought, "Ahhhh, this is why we're here." We had left in a hurry and hadn't done stuff like put together the emergency radio, get our paddle floats and other self-rescue stuff in the cockpit, etc. So there were a few stops while we got situated. Arlo paddled way ahead, which was making me seriously uncomfortable, especially given that we're paddling in a major shipping channel.

Wade is very safety conscious. It is not like him to paddle off half cocked without making sure his charges are properly trained and equipped. Arlo is ... spiky when it comes to taking direction, especially from Wade. So we let him paddle along ahead of us without a clue about how to paddle, what to do when he gets turned over, etc. At one point, Stacy asks Arlo whether he knows what to do if he gets dumped. She tells him what to do (pull the cord at the front of your spray skirt and somersault out), and he says, "You're not supposed to roll back over?" Crap, I think. Crap and double crap.

We paddle on, with Arlo way in the lead. As Wassaw island comes into view, a boat that we had seen launch from the UGA Marine Extension pulls up alongside Arlo and asks if we want a ride back because of the storm. Storm? What storm? It's only supposed to be light rain! We politely refuse the ride and paddle on. As we approach the island and prepare to land, the bottom opens up, and we are drenched. Wade is wearing only an synthetic shirt and a ball cap. We land on the island, wander around for about two minutes, and then hop in our boats to start high-taling it back.

The wind has picked up significantly, and what was a light chop has become medium swells, which thankfully are pushing us in the general direction of Priest's Landing. On the way back, we stick close together. The heavy rain has made visibility poor, and we struggle to see the day markers leading us back to our destination. Fortunately, we were never far from shore, should anything bad happen. I kept the Coast Guard radio close and tuned to channel 16.

We arrived at the UGA dock cold and wet, and lift ourselves and our boats out. No one but Wade had been cold paddling, but as we got out of the warmth of our boats, we all started shivering. Wade's lips are blue, and he is shivering like he is majorly hypothermic, but refuses to get into the car until the boats are all tied up. Fortunately, this only takes about 15 minutes. We all try to change into dryer clothes before piling into the car.

This is the new Subaru's first road trip. It took the old Subaru about a year before it consistently smelled like wet dog. This one already smells like dirty wet socks, and I think wet dog smell is not far away.

Savannah

After stopping for lunch (and $1.75 beers) we headed toward Savannah. None of us were in much of a mood to do anything but curl up in a ball, but we needed to find a place to stay. We settled on the Best Western in the Historic District, where Wade and I had stayed a few times before. It's scangy, but really not too bad. As we checked in, we noticed a bunch of kids in tuxedos and ball gowns, and Wade wondered aloud if it were prom. We were told it was a fraternity function, and I got a bad feeling.

We brought most of our wet stuff in, showered and crashed until about 7 p.m. The rain had let up, so we got up and headed to dinner. After a beer at Moon Brothers Brewery, which we got to go (so strange), we headed to the Riverfront, and to Tubby's for seafood. We were in bed before midnight.

To bed, but not to sleep. There was much shouting, loud laughing and fighting just outside our door ... until the police showed up at about 3:30 a.m. But from 3:30-8:30 I got some great sleep! No kidding.

We awoke to a beautiful, chilly, sunny day, and I felt my excitement build ... until the weather report predicted 20-25 mph winds. That's just NO fun for paddling. We toyed with the idea of driving inland and finding a river, but then Arlo reminded us of a previously undisclosed nerve disorder in his arm that was causing him pain, and could cause him to be unable to paddle. I think Arlo would rather paddle around in circles forever than have Wade tow him if his arm did indeed give out.

So, we opted for a walking tour of Savannah instead. During the many trips Wade and I have made to Savannah, we've never done an actual tour. We bought two $3.95 walking tour books and spent the day walking around Savannah, stopping at pubs along the way to get beers to carry with us. We had lunch at a gas station. I'm not joking. There was a BP station with a spectacular Greek deli, where we had grape leaves, quiche, bread, cheese, sandwiches and baklava.

I think we took two pictures during the whole trip. One of the Subaru with the kayaks loaded, and one of Wade looking hypothermic.