My gear stayed dry but not me.. Why? Well for some reason I fretted over the camp and wild animals. I have been reading to much Jacobson and others on how wild animals terrorize the camps at night. I swear I heard some God awful noises during th night. I’d get out of my hammock hold onto a tree for balance and get wet from the tree. Not a cool thing to do but I never said I was cool! 
Bro Bar had bugs on him. He was introduced to the no seeums in Florida. Everything in his cowboy camp was wet. Vans gear didn't fair much better. Talk about being rough dudes! These guys were. Davids new tent hadn't been sealed as of yet and you guessed it! Everything he had was wet. Allen and Caleb had camped in a small ravine and got hit hard with the rain water. I think Mac complained about some wet spots, but the rest of us came through quite dry. Al did accomplish one better than the rest. His canoe was flipped over and his was the only boat dry the next morning. While we dumped about 3-4 inches of water from ours, Al got to have more time at the breakfast bar.
The mornings were beautiful!
David and Bill scratching bug bites
A river pic
Harry readies for the morning take off
Fog lays over the morning river
Chuck lazily paddling Swamp Girl in the early morning
David readies his gear for a morning start
Allen and Caleb took off later than us and began fishing. Dad did the paddling and son did the catching. On this day Caleb caught six fish! As Caleb mentioned, they went to fish near a strainer and Allen was going to grab a branch to hold the canoe while Caleb fished. Thats when Caleb informed his dad that there was something else sharing that same tree limb! A snake! With quick thinking as his son was being moved straight to the snake by the current, Allen got rid of the problem with his paddle.
Speaking of snakes, some got a lesson on how to ID snakes from the water. Can you find the snake in this picture?
Some learned how to identify a cotton mouth basking in the sun. Can you find Waldo?
But there were many other wildlife to see and hear.
A hawk watches the parade of paddlers passing under him.
Reports came in about an alligator or two.
There were small feeder streams that came into the river. Their small flows made an alluring sound as they flowed into the river.
Small streams empty into the St Mary's in many places. So quiet are the days that these streams may sound like water falls.
The plants and trees were blooming everywhere.
Images on cypress. No wonder the early folks made up tales of "wood people" huh?!
Currents would be a challenge through out the trip. Here I got ahead of most and shot some pictures of them coming through a small blowdown. Not one of the more serious ones as I was doing what I could to stay dry going through them! This river is a beginners first for making headway in a fast current with strainers.
Mac enters under a stariner
Al makes it look easy
Ray and Harry cruise through
Chuck brings the Girl under it with ease.
David paddles his pirogue with ease under the limb. Note he is watching me he he he
Sometimes it's difficult to keep heading foreward and Van , I think, was showboating.
Bro Bar watches from his perch as Van backpaddles the strainer. Wonder how he made it under that branch? lol
I am happy to report no one got dumped. But that doesn't mean that there wasn't a few sweatersÂ
Bro Bar had bugs on him. He was introduced to the no seeums in Florida. Everything in his cowboy camp was wet. Vans gear didn't fair much better. Talk about being rough dudes! These guys were. Davids new tent hadn't been sealed as of yet and you guessed it! Everything he had was wet. Allen and Caleb had camped in a small ravine and got hit hard with the rain water. I think Mac complained about some wet spots, but the rest of us came through quite dry. Al did accomplish one better than the rest. His canoe was flipped over and his was the only boat dry the next morning. While we dumped about 3-4 inches of water from ours, Al got to have more time at the breakfast bar.
The mornings were beautiful!
Allen and Caleb took off later than us and began fishing. Dad did the paddling and son did the catching. On this day Caleb caught six fish! As Caleb mentioned, they went to fish near a strainer and Allen was going to grab a branch to hold the canoe while Caleb fished. Thats when Caleb informed his dad that there was something else sharing that same tree limb! A snake! With quick thinking as his son was being moved straight to the snake by the current, Allen got rid of the problem with his paddle.
Speaking of snakes, some got a lesson on how to ID snakes from the water. Can you find the snake in this picture?
But there were many other wildlife to see and hear.
Reports came in about an alligator or two.
There were small feeder streams that came into the river. Their small flows made an alluring sound as they flowed into the river.
The plants and trees were blooming everywhere.
Currents would be a challenge through out the trip. Here I got ahead of most and shot some pictures of them coming through a small blowdown. Not one of the more serious ones as I was doing what I could to stay dry going through them! This river is a beginners first for making headway in a fast current with strainers.
I am happy to report no one got dumped. But that doesn't mean that there wasn't a few sweatersÂ
