Share 2010 Stories. Start 2011 Adventures.

After enjoying holiday feasting and sharing 2010 updates with family and friends its time to start planning a 2011 paddling camping adventure. First, register for a chance to win a Manitou 14 kayak courtesy of Necky Kayaks to be given away in three weeks.

Any entry has the opportunity to win through one final random drawing on January 16, 2011, during the Peace, Love Paddle trip on the Peace River. Deadline to enter is January 10, 2011.

Here's some of the stories we've collected recently in this contest. Won't you share yours?

Bill P., Bradenton -

The moon is full, the river is calm and reflecting the moonshine like a mirror. My paddle piercing the water is the only sound I can hear. I get lost in the moment enjoying the glide of the kayak along the surface of this aqua paradise...Wait...a voice disturbs my peaceful paddle. "Babe! Are you going to start working on your honey-do list, or are you going to just sit there on the couch daydreaming?" It was actually a "moondream," but I guess I'll get to work scrubbing toilets and cleaning the garage... The toilet water is calm...

Christopher A., Englewood -

My past 30 years of living on Florida's West and South West coasts, I've have paddled on many crystal clear spring fed rivers, lakes, salt water flats, bays, inlets and the Gulf of Mexico. All along the way drawing in page after page of Florida memories. I've seen some huge gators and some of the best wildlife up in Citrus county. But also some of Charlotte and Sarasota counties awesome salt water paddles on Lemon Bay. Long Boat Pass and the ICW near Bradenton, the Manatee River too.I love Port Saint Joe Bay and Port Saint Joe State park, some the most pristine areas of Florida Big Pine Key, Gulf and Atlantic sides, kayaking with schools of Tarpon and Dolfins. Mainly I used a sit in Current designs Kayak. But now own an Ocean Kayak rigged for fishing! I fly fish and spin cast to willing redfish, seatrout, ladyfish and other game fish. But hey it's all good because when I'm out paddling...

Elisa S., Lantana -

Florida is made for kayaks or canoes! I love to have trouble choosing where to launch my kayak from! Do Floridians realize how lucky we are to have so many, many, way many choices???? We've seen dolphins jumping around us (babies doing their belly-flaps!!! sooooo cute!), gorgeous rays flapping underneath... even launched rockets from NASA while on the Banana River. One summer, after work, we drove to Southern Blvd, by Trumps' Mar-A-Lago and launched our kayaks. After watching the most incredible sunset, all of the sudden, the biggest, whitest, most incredible Moon came out from the East, like competing with the sun... I think the moon won... what an incredible, natural Floridian night!

Sharing Paddling Lessons

Paddling Delights

As the holidays approach with all their trimmings, celebrations and mad shopping dashes, paddlers delight, with new adventures to explore and only five weeks left to enter Paddle Florida’s Kayak giveaway, considerably more time than you have to decorate, shop, bake, entertain, and be merry.

Take time to register to win a Manitou 14 courtesy of Necky Kayaks and consider giving a Paddle Florida trip to your best buddy for a holiday gift. If you need a nudge, read this first time paddling experience from Jill, Gainesville. Jill’s contest entry was one of many great paddling adventures we’ve received during the contest. We’ll post more in the coming weeks.

Jill from Gainesville shares...

The very first time I paddled a kayak involved going over Big Shoals on the Suwannee River, with a water level that produced Class II-III rapids. I’d accompanied Ed, my boyfriend at the time, to the area to watch he and his friends shoot over the shoals repeatedly. They made it look so easy. As the afternoon wore on, I grew restless from my perch on the bank.

“I think I want to try this,” I said to Ed tentatively as he steered his craft back to the bank below the shoals for the umpteenth time.

I’d never paddled a kayak before, but I’d canoed several times. How difficult could it be? We portaged his kayak a few hundred feet upriver from the shoals. Ed buckled me into his too-large life jacket and held the boat steady as I slid in. He handed me the paddle and advised me to “stay left,” as I approached the shoals. With a shove, I was off!, heart pounding loudly in my chest.

"Wow, this is a bit wobblier than a canoe. This paddle sure is long. Why can’t I make it turn left? Wait. That was too far left. What the?? I can’t turn it back the other way. What’s with these currents?!?"

As the thunder of rapids ahead grew louder, it dawned on me that I was about to approach them perpendicularly! Every desperate flail with the paddle was in vain. I could NOT get this damn boat pointed in the right direction. As spray from the rapids began to hit my face, I stopped paddling in frustration, looked up, and cried, “I give up!”

At precisely that moment, river currents took over, my kayak righted itself, and I shot over the shoals, bow-forward, like a pro. Seconds later, having recovered from hyperventilating in calmer waters, I felt a surge of pride.

“I DID this,” I boasted to myself, and it was my FIRST time in a kayak. I paddled over to where Ed and the others were standing on the bank, anticipating the high-fives and congratulatory hugs that my admiring audience was sure to provide and unceremoniously flipped over the boat and fell out into the river.

Life lesson #1: Do all you can to make things right. Then LET GO.

Life lesson #2: When #1 goes well, don’t get cocky about it.

Despite the inglorious ending to my first kayaking experience, it instilled a paddling bug in me which Paddle Florida continues to nurture to this day.

Posted by: Nickie Kortus, Paddle Florida volunteer

Please share your paddling adventure with us and register to win a Necky Kayak Manitou 14 or join a Paddle Florida trip.

A Day in the Life of the Paddle Florida Crew

Volunteering with Paddle Florida afforded me an amazing trip with some self discovery along the way. Before I spent the first day with more than 100 strangers I tried to understand the reason these women and men would take this trip - to paddle, camp, enjoy nature, exercise, unwind, share time with friends, meet new friends, listen to live music by the likes of the Big Cypress Band and collect memories - essentially to create their own adventure.

My first assignment was to answer the most frequently asked questions on the planet – Where is the bathroom? What time do we eat? Easy. After mastering the standard responses, I begin to embellish on the answers with a little local folklore. Breakfast will be served at Grandma Susie’s Cookin’ Shack overlooking Convict Springs and shaded by the Hangin’ Tree. This real Florida backwoods story adds to River Rendezvous Campground’s appeal and blends Southern influence with a sexy French name.

Then I discovered by asking the paddlers questions I could collect a wealth of information, from the wind direction to the description of a found eagle feather down to it’s from the right side. Quickly the piney woods on the banks of the Suwannee felt like home and I thought I was born to be a park ranger.

Volunteers help unload gear. Paddle Florida transports gear and supplies over the fields, around farmhouses we go to get to the next campground. We haven’t lost a bag or smashed a tent yet. We sometimes award prizes to the paddler that helps us load and or unload gear. This is Paddle Florida’s version of providing additional workout opportunities and completing the true camping experience, all at no extra charge.

We take turns helping to set up camp, put lights on the entertainment stage, hang banners or ready the campfire. Then we sit back and enjoy the show under the stars. One night it’s Tom Shed strumming his guitar delivering the local history with a healthy dose of humor on the human condition. Another night Patchwork takes the stage and offers a porch sing-along ‘round the old hangin’ tree (can’t escape these tales). Then it’s off to the campfire to share daily adventures on the river or your own life stories before retiring to your tent hugging the river’s edge.

The camp comes to life before sun up. Lucky for me, breakfast always includes hot coffee. If you’re on the check out crew you’re at the river as the morning mist dances over the paddlers as they glide across the water starting their day's journey. The mist disappears as the sun peaks through the trees and the sweep boat joins the boaters for the morning paddle.

Paddlers are off. The crew packs up and drives to our next outdoor wonderland. Driving through the woods and fields is one of my favorite parts. The pastures are dotted with cows, goats and horses, hardly a human in sight. The road stretches beyond your eye’s view. You can smell hay. Life seems simple.

Your window to the world paints a peaceful picture as you pass your landmark to turn if you’re on rest stop duty. Turn left at the church on the corner of the dirt road heading to Little River Springs. You pick the table overlooking the spring. Set out jam, bread and peanut butter for PB&Js, granola bars, apples, bananas and assorted snacks to make it look inviting. Truth is hungry paddlers are pretty easy to please. They are happy to see the white flag on the bank signaling our stop. What’s not to enjoy overlooking Little River Springs which looks and acts just like its name? Though it’s hard to appreciate its full beauty knowing that divers are exploring its underwater caves unnoticed not for their tiny bubbles searching the surface.

Meanwhile, down river our check in crew at camp is awaiting the lead boat accompanied by those type-A explorers that are eager to arrive first and report their trip data – average speed with total miles and time logged. As they arrive you ask, how was your paddle? They almost always reply – Great. Beautiful. Good. And often add a sighting of turkey, deer, water birds, an alligator or turtles. Whether they are first, last or in between arriving, or just completed 13 or 23 miles, they are smiling and relaxed. If it was a long paddle some may set up their tent up and catch a nap. Others find a sunny spot to read before dinner. The open air seems to invite strangers to mingle and all to enjoy the conversation and company.

How hard can it be to help these people enjoy what nature has so thoughtfully placed along the banks of the Suwannee? Everything is provided. A flowing river fed by so many springs you begin to expect their multiple treats daily, mossy oaks to shade your river front campsite and all under the stars. Moonlight strolls are optional.

Oh by the way, the restrooms are up the path and to the left. Dinner is served most nights at 6 p.m. and breakfast starts at 7:30 a.m. Your trip is naturally landscaped, powered by a gentle river current, planned and scouted. You bring the gear and add your own adventure. Answering questions and experiencing first-hand Florida’s treasures will lure me back for more Paddle Florida excursions. Being part of the crew was a pleasure. Thanks.

Nickie Kortus

3rd Annual Fall Paddle on the Suwannee River Wilderness Trail