Sunday morning, October 15, 2007, I kayaked the Haulover Canal. I woke up, arms very tired from the previous day's paddle on the Ichnetucknee and Santa Fe Rivers. Not to mention snorkleing 3 springs, a quarter mile of river, unloading and loading the yak 2x and 300 miles of driving. I briefly considered not going out, but decided I had to, for the following reasons.
1) I needed to find the leak that was causing trouble late Saturday, fix and test the yak, 2) Dave's Yak Tales has three spring feed river stories, it needs a saltwater paddle, and 3) There are no dolphins or manatee pictures on the site.
I found the likely leak, put Loc-Tite and duct tape on it, and drove to Haulover Canal, about 60 miles away, in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. The Canal links the Indian River on the west to the Mosqutio Lagoon on the east. It is a fish highway, and anglers fill the canal, near the banks, at both entrances, and up and down the one mile length on weekends- and that's just the dolphins. Plenty human anglers, and osprey, herons, egrets, and pelicans. Manatees also use the canal, both for travel and rest. There may have been one occassion that I failed to spot one in the Canal, regardless of season. Large numbers congregate in an area caled Bairs Cove, adjacent to a boat ramp.. Others are found off an observaton deck on the other side of the Canal.
I did not launch at the ramp, but kitty corner. A dirt road leads to waters edge. No long carry here. Just what my sore arms needed, I paddled out into the Indian River, towards Mullett Head Island. This is a bird santurary, Blue Goose Fish and WildLife signs instruct boaters to stay outside this nesting area. Not a lot of birds at this time of day-11:00 am, and it is just getting cold Up North, but I did see my first rosette spoonbill since June.
The Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge is a fascinating place. If not for NASA, I doubt this large expanse of wild area, including over 20 miles of undevolped beach, would have withstood the assault of devlopment. But rockets falling on condos would not be good publicity. Watching them blast off, from a kayak is not to be missed- I've viewed three launches from the water.
I circled Mullet Head, and paddled back to the Canal. I had violated one of my self-imposed rules. Never go out when NOAA has forecast a moderate chop. It was nice on the way out, riding the waves, coming back, the chop and wind made it a hard paddle. My yak is a substantial deck, but I took one series of waves at the wrong angle, straight on, and took on a good deal of water. On the other hand, it wasn't coming in thorough the bottom, my patch job was holding.
There is an alternate entrance to the Canal from the Indian River, just south of the main channel. Paddlers can avoid powerboats for a short time. This leads to a small cove, I call it Dolphin Cove, as more often that not, at least one is hunting here. I saw one on this trip. I then moved into Bairs Cove to see if any manatees were around. If any were, they stayed below.
I left the Cove, paddled towards the drawbridge at the halfway point, when a manatee surfaced just off the starboard bow. Moving in the opposite direction, it arched out of the water, raised its fluke, then dove down. The Manatee Observation Deck is just past the Bridge. Manatees were observed. I moved on, towards the Mosquito Lagoon. Having learned my lesson in the chop of the River I did not enter it. Instead I went into an area protected from the wind by a chain of spoil islands- the "spoils" of dredging the Intracostal Waterway.
To enter, I had to thread a needle between a family fishing on the bank, and a boat fishing at the entrance. I did not account for the manatee below, who decided to surface just as I was passing over. "That's why I wear a life jacket !" I said as the yak stopped rocking. I paddled about of a while, checking out spots where I have seen gators, none today. I reentered the Canal, and headed back towards Mosquito Lagoon, letting the east wind do most of the work. A manatee swam along side as we made our way towards the Manatee Observation Deck, where several of his buddys were gathered. I watched for a while, a dolphin as swam past, then moved on.
At the bridge, another manatee surfaced next to the yak. It then dove deep, came up again, and began to nuzzle the side.--Seeking spring water left over from Saturday ? It then began to push me, went under the yak, and came up on the other side. I was taking pictures, or so I thought-the camera must have been"on" and I turned it "off". But, as pre-blog readers know, I'll get a picture of a manatee next to the yak photo soon enough.
I stopped again at Bairs Cove, and this time, two manatees were present. They quickly submeged, as boats began to enter the Cove to use the ramp. I left, saw another dolphin in "Dolphin Cove", then paddled back to my launch point to head out. I was on the water a bit over 2 1/2 hours.
Stopped at a Beef 'O' Bradys in Titusville in time for the for the end of the of the first half and the remainder of the Pack's scalping the Redskins.
1) I needed to find the leak that was causing trouble late Saturday, fix and test the yak, 2) Dave's Yak Tales has three spring feed river stories, it needs a saltwater paddle, and 3) There are no dolphins or manatee pictures on the site.
I found the likely leak, put Loc-Tite and duct tape on it, and drove to Haulover Canal, about 60 miles away, in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. The Canal links the Indian River on the west to the Mosqutio Lagoon on the east. It is a fish highway, and anglers fill the canal, near the banks, at both entrances, and up and down the one mile length on weekends- and that's just the dolphins. Plenty human anglers, and osprey, herons, egrets, and pelicans. Manatees also use the canal, both for travel and rest. There may have been one occassion that I failed to spot one in the Canal, regardless of season. Large numbers congregate in an area caled Bairs Cove, adjacent to a boat ramp.. Others are found off an observaton deck on the other side of the Canal.
I did not launch at the ramp, but kitty corner. A dirt road leads to waters edge. No long carry here. Just what my sore arms needed, I paddled out into the Indian River, towards Mullett Head Island. This is a bird santurary, Blue Goose Fish and WildLife signs instruct boaters to stay outside this nesting area. Not a lot of birds at this time of day-11:00 am, and it is just getting cold Up North, but I did see my first rosette spoonbill since June.
The Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge is a fascinating place. If not for NASA, I doubt this large expanse of wild area, including over 20 miles of undevolped beach, would have withstood the assault of devlopment. But rockets falling on condos would not be good publicity. Watching them blast off, from a kayak is not to be missed- I've viewed three launches from the water.
I circled Mullet Head, and paddled back to the Canal. I had violated one of my self-imposed rules. Never go out when NOAA has forecast a moderate chop. It was nice on the way out, riding the waves, coming back, the chop and wind made it a hard paddle. My yak is a substantial deck, but I took one series of waves at the wrong angle, straight on, and took on a good deal of water. On the other hand, it wasn't coming in thorough the bottom, my patch job was holding.
There is an alternate entrance to the Canal from the Indian River, just south of the main channel. Paddlers can avoid powerboats for a short time. This leads to a small cove, I call it Dolphin Cove, as more often that not, at least one is hunting here. I saw one on this trip. I then moved into Bairs Cove to see if any manatees were around. If any were, they stayed below.
I left the Cove, paddled towards the drawbridge at the halfway point, when a manatee surfaced just off the starboard bow. Moving in the opposite direction, it arched out of the water, raised its fluke, then dove down. The Manatee Observation Deck is just past the Bridge. Manatees were observed. I moved on, towards the Mosquito Lagoon. Having learned my lesson in the chop of the River I did not enter it. Instead I went into an area protected from the wind by a chain of spoil islands- the "spoils" of dredging the Intracostal Waterway.
To enter, I had to thread a needle between a family fishing on the bank, and a boat fishing at the entrance. I did not account for the manatee below, who decided to surface just as I was passing over. "That's why I wear a life jacket !" I said as the yak stopped rocking. I paddled about of a while, checking out spots where I have seen gators, none today. I reentered the Canal, and headed back towards Mosquito Lagoon, letting the east wind do most of the work. A manatee swam along side as we made our way towards the Manatee Observation Deck, where several of his buddys were gathered. I watched for a while, a dolphin as swam past, then moved on.
At the bridge, another manatee surfaced next to the yak. It then dove deep, came up again, and began to nuzzle the side.--Seeking spring water left over from Saturday ? It then began to push me, went under the yak, and came up on the other side. I was taking pictures, or so I thought-the camera must have been"on" and I turned it "off". But, as pre-blog readers know, I'll get a picture of a manatee next to the yak photo soon enough.
I stopped again at Bairs Cove, and this time, two manatees were present. They quickly submeged, as boats began to enter the Cove to use the ramp. I left, saw another dolphin in "Dolphin Cove", then paddled back to my launch point to head out. I was on the water a bit over 2 1/2 hours.
Stopped at a Beef 'O' Bradys in Titusville in time for the for the end of the of the first half and the remainder of the Pack's scalping the Redskins.
http://www.paddling.net/places/showReport.html?1841 This is a link for a report I wrote on watching the Space Shuttle from my kayak
2 comments:
Hi there, I came across your blog searching for info about kayak sites to watch the upcoming shuttle launch. From what I've read Haulover Canal seems to be the place to put in but being from the left coast (Tampa) I'm not too familiar with the area over there and what restrictions are put in place for launch days. Do you have any advice you could offer? Thanks!
I have a report in paddling.net on watching shuttle launches.
http://www.paddling.net/places/showReport.html?1841
I have not figured out how to get linkd in the comment section, I'll try to add it to the main post.
Thanks for reading.
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