I am partnering with NRDC to paddle my outrigger canoe 1200 miles around Florida and west to New Orleans. My goal is to build support for a Healthy Oceans Act and steps to protect our oceans from global warming and ocean acidification. For those who do not know, I paddle to inform and for those who don't care, I paddle to inspire. I am documenting my journey on this blog during the month-long paddle. You can read more about the paddle, see photos, and take action here.

My paddles seem to be plagued with lots of wind.  In 2007, Chris Simons, a fellow East Coast paddler, and I could not believe the ferocity of the near constant north wind in our faces. Similar to today's paddle, we had forest fire smoke, so thick it burned our lungs.  (This area of Florida has had some bad brush fires in the last few days, filling the air along the gulf with smoke)

Last year, when I paddled from New Jersey to Washington, DC--for my first partnership with NRDC--the winds, both NE and SE, made most of the paddle a real challenge.  They were so fierce they whipped up the water to Maytag conditions. The chop on this trip, I suppose because of the nature of the Gulf and the shallowness of the back- bays, hasn't been as bad as my experiences in the Atlantic. Well, so far anyway (wish me luck with that).
 
Oh but the wind has been another story! The fishermen have been complaining because the wind has been stirring up the shallows, making the water too cloudy to fish. The wind has been a major issue, with many of the guys in Everglades City saying they haven't seen wind like this in the last ten years (or as long as many of them have lived there). It is definitely a topic of conversation, and definitely not anything the fishermen are happy about.
 
Hopefully now, though, the wind might have blown out some of that forest fire smoke. Yesterday it eventually dissipated, but until it did it made breathing an unpleasant experience.
 
Onto Pine Island!