Margo Pellegrino - OnEarth Magazine, from NRDC

Healthy Oceans Paddle Day 39 - Paddle into New Orleans

I started out a little later than I had been on this trip to cross from Slidell, LA., to a beach on Lake Pontchartrain in New Orleans, but it was only a twenty mile jaunt, and the wind was blowing from the NE with predictions that it would be turning out of the south by the afternoon. It was bouncy on the giant lake, and I took shelter from the wind on the lee side of the railroad trestles, figuring I'd slip out under them when I hit the New Orleans side. I began to notice, though, that with the trestles so low, and the swells fairly sizeable, that timing to squeeze under there safely would be critical. I paddled along, thinking that perhaps this wasn't such a hot plan after all. Maybe I should have gone under the trestles at the designated channel. Hmm. The big swells seemed to come in fairly predictable sets of three, and you could see them coming a bit off, so it didn't seem like it was going to be that difficult, but once a decision was made to go forward, there could be no ...read full post

Comments (0) | May 24, 2009
Healthy Oceans Paddle Day 38 - Now onto New Orleans!

These last few days I've been paddling through Hurricane Katrina and Rita area. There's been much rebuilding, and still much rebuilding to do. Hugging the coast below Bay St. Louis is not a good idea because there are still many hidden pylons from ripped out docks and other debris.

The wind was once again at my back, or broadside. It was rough going around one point that seemed to last forever, but then I was able to pretty much surf in to Polecat Beach. There's a railroad that runs right along the Gulf there. It's actually the Mississippi Bay, but the barrier islands are so far off, and virtually non-existent anymore that it's really open Gulf. The Gulf seemed to lay down as I approached the entrance to the Rigolets, a huge wide river that drains from Lake Pontchartrain. Lucky for me, I had both wind and tide pushing me up to Slidell. It had been a bit of a rough ride, so I enjoyed the break.

Within two or three miles of my destination at ...read full post

Comments (1) | May 23, 2009
Healthy Oceans Paddle Day 37 - Truly a Group Effort

The wind pushed me along yesterday at a fairly good clip. The boat wasn't quite behaving in the swells coming from behind slightly from the ama (outrigger) side. I thought it was that I was getting tired and just not "on" from my late night before where my gin and tonic glass was not allowed to be empty. I crawled my way to the beach at the beautiful Bay-Waveland Yacht club where Bob David and his sister, Pat, were there to greet me. The problem with my poor Fuze was immediately obvious when I couldn't lift the stern to slide the bow on the sand. It was loaded with water. After unplugging the stern plug the water poured and poured out of it for a very long time.

With the help of Bob and Tate Davis, who also hosted me in their guest house/aka "Katrina trailer," and Rich Waldsmith and his wife Pat Davis (Bob's sister), as well as past commodore of the yacht club, Judy Reeves, we discovered where the leak was and Rich and Judy set about ...read full post

Comments (2) | May 22, 2009
Healthy Oceans Paddle Day 36 - Good Samaritans on the Water

It is never a good thing to snap a rudder cable three miles off shore in a heavy wind and chop. This happened after I crossed the bay from Dauphin Island. As I struggled to keep the bow pointed toward a far off clump of houses, a crabber and his crew came upon me. I flagged them down and Victor Zirlott of Zirlottseafood.com and his grandson, TJ Cornelius picked me up and hoisted my boat on board. In the chop and wind this was a challenge for sure. Apparently Victor had seen me struggling in the wind while he was setting traps and figured he'd check things out. Thank goodness he did! And thank goodness he was so willing to help!

He and TJ took me in to Steve Johnson's docks. Steve is a shrimper and he also, like most of the crabbers, shrimpers, and fishermen around here, does boat repair. He put down the work he was busy doing and set about doing what he could to help me. After going to a shop looking for a swagging tool and coming up empty, he and I drove to ...read full post

Comments (0) | May 22, 2009
Healthy Oceans Paddle Day 35 - Daulphin Island Sea Lab (DISL)

Today's early paddle got me safely through the Mobile Inlet and into the cozy harbor at Billy Goat Hole here on Dauphin Island, where I'm staying in the student housing at the Dauphin Island Sea Lab.

Lori Angelo, who is the outreach coordinator and editor of the DISL's publication, provided me with a wonderful tour of the "Estuarium" here. This is one incredibly busy place. Not only do they have graduate students here, but during the year they have about 11,000 k-12 graders come through here. The Estuarium further boosts their educational outreach. They are even working on "distance" learning so they can educate the kids that might not have an easy time accessing the resources here on the island.

The Estuarium was extremely interesting to me. Its entire focus is on wetlands and how their health directly impacts the health of our coastal waters and beyond. It brings home the land-sea connection, and our impact on this ...read full post

Comments (1) | May 19, 2009
Healthy Oceans Paddle Day 34 - Trail Magic

Joe Murphy, the Florida coordinator for the New Orleans based Gulf Restoration Network, told me about one of his buddies who had hiked the entire Appalachian Trail. According to his friend, there's thing called "trail magic," which basically is described as a serendipitous event that helps one along the way.

This has happened to me on all of my paddle journeys, and it is always the result of the kindness of strangers. That folks have been willing to host, feed, and support me, or simply store my boat on their property, is definitely part of the "trail magic." Yesterday I paddled a 50 mile stretch from Perdido Key to about five and a half miles of my intended destination across the Mobile Bay Inlet. The currents were ripping.

My support team at Gulf Restoration Network was scouting out options for escort boats - from the Coast Guard and the State Police. They weren't available because all of their assets were ...read full post

Comments (0) | May 19, 2009
Healthy Oceans Paddle Day 33 - Perdito Key, FL - Dinner Parties and Kingfishers

Yesterday's paddle was a bit tense due to the many thunder storms in the area. Today it seems as though the danger of storms is not as strong, but the wind will sure be.
Right now I'm preparing to leave the home of Susan, Clara, and Skipper Tonsmeire. They've got a wonderful spot here on Perdido Key, outside of Pensacola. Last night they hosted an amazing dinner, where we all gorged on Skipper's shrimp salad, tuna dip, asparagus and peas, and other goodies that I'm too stuffed to remember.
I finally met Fred Garth, one of my Facebook friends that I met through Joy (boy, does she have the network!), among many other fantastic friends of the Tonsmeire family. One lucky guest even went home with the Kingfisher that had been in Susan's freezer for the past two years. It was in pretty good shape- frost-free and perfectly preserved!!
So long Florida. Onto Alabama and Daulphin Island, across Mobile Bay.

Comments (1) | May 18, 2009
Healthy Oceans Paddle Day 32 - Navarre Beach, FL

With the wind at my back I made some pretty good time flying across the wide open Choctawhatchee Bay. I diddle dinked my way down the intracoastal, taking pictures of the Spectre Island memorial for our fallen heroes, and finally arrived at Linda Young's beach party where she had assembled a lively bunch of friends.
Linda Young, director of the Clean Water Network of Florida, had been fighting the "good fight" for decades. She speaks up in defense of those thy would like to keep Florida's water resources as plentiful and healthy as possible. It's an uphill battle, because greed on the part of those that would stick a condo on every block and a golf course every five miles beats common sense water resource management every time. And then there is the push to develop wetlands. How does Florida not get that wetlands play an important part in a healthy coastal eocosystem? If the wetlands disappear, the seafood disappears and inland protection is comporomised. ...read full post

Comments (0) | May 18, 2009
Healthy Oceans Paddle Day 30: Pretty Blue Water

Karl and Bridgett insist that I have to come back to see the water I've been missing by traveling on the inside. It's a beautiful blue and the sand is blindingly white. I think I will have to come back. Karl hosted an awesome cook out to which a good group of folks came out for. Lori, a reporter I had met, brought some kick-ass salsa dip. Another great recipe to collect.
I'm sitting here at the moment in Karl and Bridgette's guest room. A giagantic red "no swimming" flag that they slavaged from the water decorates one wall. In their collection of stuff by the bed they have the same funny little retro football bank that my Carl picked up at a garage sale.
Water quality issues seem to be hitting this part of the Gulf particularly hard. In Panama City, my host Roseanne drinks only bottled water because she doesn't own a TV and therefore has a hard time keeping up with the drinking water alerts. When I was in Port St. Joe, the lady at the hotel desk had me fill up ...read full post

Comments (2) | May 16, 2009
Healthy Oceans Paddle Day 27 - Time and Life

For the first time since hitting the Gulf, I paddled the entire day's stretch on the inside route. From Apalachicola to Faye Langley's backyard, it was a total inside run.

Gill from the Apalachicola Maritime Museum came out to see me off, and then he and his wife drove further upstream to wave and snap a few shots. Roxanne Weglinski, whom I met at the FSU marine lab, and who will be graciously hosting me tonight after a "meet and greet" at "the Canoe Shop" in Panama City, told me that this route was real pretty. The first section of it was, and I took a ton of pictures.

From Apalachicola to the Route 71 bridge, the native vegetation is lush and beautiful. Birds chatter non stop in the trees, and the place seems to just overflow with life. I could look at cypress trees and palmettos forever. It is non stop wonderment to paddle along that waterway, through the middle of Wimico Lake, and back into the waterway. Mullet hurl ...read full post

Comments (0) | May 14, 2009