From my daily log - yesterdays paddle in Key Largo on Largo Sound:
Mon -11/25
Couldn't ask for a better "eco paddle" yesterday. We did an almost eight miler on the paddleboards doing the same route that we did with Patty and Randy on Saturday, but going a bit farther. Now for the "eco stuff": about half way up Largo sound we paddled over a huge Southern yellow Sting Ray, (about three feet across it's wing tips). Normally they take off, but this one was oblivious to us and was making a cloud of mud on the bottom, foraging for a meal. I put my paddle down and touched it's back, and all it did was shake a bit as if I was some pesky intruder looking for some free tid bits. I did it a second time and this time it moved a foot or so toward Nanci who was right above it and it started foraging again and finally moved about fifteen feet or so and stopped again. Leaving it behind we continued and in another quarter mile got quite a surprise when a beautiful Roseate Spoonbill in it's bright pink mating plumage took off from the mangroves right in front of us, ( a first for the year). We saw several sharks, but the best of the day and for several years was on the way back when in the Pennekamp canoe trails we came across a beautiful small Hawksbill turtle sitting on the bottom in the crystal clear water. We immediately stopped paddling until it moved and then we eased along with it with one of us on each side. We paddled for about five or ten minutes with it, and it stayed just below the surface and many time was so close to us that if we were kneeling on the board we could have touched it. It was so graceful and beautiful that we didn't want the experience to end, but it finally decided to head into the mangroves. As it did, I leaned over to watch it and my board started to tip toward it. I over compensated for it leaning back in the opposite direction and took my first swim of the year. The day couldn't have been any better, and that was the best swim I have had.this season
Mon -11/25
Couldn't ask for a better "eco paddle" yesterday. We did an almost eight miler on the paddleboards doing the same route that we did with Patty and Randy on Saturday, but going a bit farther. Now for the "eco stuff": about half way up Largo sound we paddled over a huge Southern yellow Sting Ray, (about three feet across it's wing tips). Normally they take off, but this one was oblivious to us and was making a cloud of mud on the bottom, foraging for a meal. I put my paddle down and touched it's back, and all it did was shake a bit as if I was some pesky intruder looking for some free tid bits. I did it a second time and this time it moved a foot or so toward Nanci who was right above it and it started foraging again and finally moved about fifteen feet or so and stopped again. Leaving it behind we continued and in another quarter mile got quite a surprise when a beautiful Roseate Spoonbill in it's bright pink mating plumage took off from the mangroves right in front of us, ( a first for the year). We saw several sharks, but the best of the day and for several years was on the way back when in the Pennekamp canoe trails we came across a beautiful small Hawksbill turtle sitting on the bottom in the crystal clear water. We immediately stopped paddling until it moved and then we eased along with it with one of us on each side. We paddled for about five or ten minutes with it, and it stayed just below the surface and many time was so close to us that if we were kneeling on the board we could have touched it. It was so graceful and beautiful that we didn't want the experience to end, but it finally decided to head into the mangroves. As it did, I leaned over to watch it and my board started to tip toward it. I over compensated for it leaning back in the opposite direction and took my first swim of the year. The day couldn't have been any better, and that was the best swim I have had.this season
