"We had such a great weekend; I have to share it with you. The weather was great, there was so much nature to see, the group was great and the location was wonderful.

We drove down to Canaveral National Seashore Friday morning. We met at the boat ramp and unloaded the car and loaded the boats. The goal was to take everything we needed for two days of camping in our kayaks. We packed the gear on, water and firewood and floated the boats out in the water to check the weight and if they were balanced. Everything was fine, we hopped in and paddle across the waterway to the other side. We followed the shoreline around Shipwreck Island to our designed campsite, Headwinds. Most of the way, we could see the bottom and we passing several oyster beds. We set up camp and went exploring.

We had our own little island off of the big island. We saw crabs (hermit and regular), string rays, whelks eating an oyster and lots of wading birds. We had a dolphin that swam by our camp site both morning and a couple of people were in the right place and got a couple dolphins close to their kayaks. We had beautiful sunsets and sunrises. The weather was ideal. It was cool enough at night to be comfortable in a sleeping bag and we were in shorts and t-shirts during the day. I tried fishing without any luck. The second night I had a few nibbles but it could have been crabs. There were oyster beds all around and we picked out our own oysters and steamed them on the fire. Well, I ate them the first night and then when I lived, the rest eat them the next night. We found a piece of cedar and burned it and it smelled so good. It was interest to be on a remote island in the middle of the water but yet in the distance you could see the glow from Daytona speedway tops condos on the beach and have cell phone service.

Sat. we got up and explore more. The water was so still and peaceful. We explored different coves. We saw lots of interesting thing that we have no idea what they were. Round balloon type thing attached to the bottom, some sort of egg pod? Again the fish were not biting on my line. I must have had the wrong bait/lure. Barbara got to try kayaking for the first time and I think she loved. She was talking about going shopping for a kayak. That afternoon we decided to check out the canoe trail. Unfortunately, it was low tide so we ended up walking or dragging most of the way. We did see live whelks the size of my fist, shells and small fish. Again the weather was beautiful. We paddle back to the campsite and dined on steamed oysters, cheese, snacks and wine. Peter IS alive and well and came over for the day and ended up staying the night. We told him he couldn’t get out of the parking lot.

Sunday morning, we saw our resident dolphin and packed up our stuff for the trip back. It was a little easier because we drink or poured out the water, burned the firewood and ate most of our food. We got back to the boat ramp safely and unpacked. We beat the crowds going to the race in Daytona.

It was really a good trip and we hope to do it again next year with saltines and cocktail sauce. Next year? Because the weather and lack of bugs this time of the year makes it a better trip."

Diane