Project 10 Challenge: April 2014: Adventure

Project 10 challenge is a group of photographers that have a circle blog. Beyond that they invite photographers to link a personal blog to their page.  That is something I have been doing for a while now.  I enjoy reading everyone's take on the topic and I enjoy adding mine. Adventure is right up my alley.

Richard's second name is "Let's see how we can take Sharleen out of her comfort zone" and invariably he does.  I, on the other hand, have a second name that goes something like this "What the heck have you got me into this time". After the fact, I really enjoy the adventure - during it, not so much. This particular adventure took place last year but I still think of it and ask myself "Are you nuts".  

We do a lot of outdoor camping.  Along with the camping comes the kayaking. Pretty neat. We do ocean kayaking, river kayaking, mangrove kayaking, and now it seems stream kayaking or better yet a trickle of water kayaking.  The kayak is pretty stable and I have got the whole hang of the moves, although I have to say that I think Richard does all the work.  So join me as we take an adventurous trip down the Turner River, near Collier Seminole State Park in Florida, USA.  

It was a beautiful day to go kayaking.  The sun was shining bright and once breakfast was done we were on our way.  Richard said that a friend had recommended this river to kayak, and that if we were able to go far enough we should hit the 1000 islands.  Sounds cool.

Something about South Florida you should know, kayaking on rivers, you are mainly heading through mangroves.  Some of these photo's played havoc with my eyes as I edited them. The reflections were amazing.  Kayaking down the Turner River was a breeze, or so I thought.

Until I happened to look to my right and lying submerged in water was this guy. "Soooo" I asked Richard "did you know that there was going to be alligators on this river?"  Of course, he is innocence personified and denies any knowledge of alligators on the Turner River.  Common sense should tell me that most of the rivers in South Florida have alligators. 

And so deeper in we go.  I will confess that scenery is spectacular and it is so quiet it is almost eerie.  There is no one around.  We have no cellphone if something goes wrong. Mmm, no gps either.  And yet deeper we travel.

You have no idea what you are going to see and a Kingfisher up in the branches is a real treat. This was a first for me and I loved every minute of stopping and watching it for a while.

On we go, deeper and deeper into the mangroves. The river is getting narrower and a little shallow, but we push on.  Coming around a corner you never know what you may startle into flight.  In this case it was a snowy egret.

So by now the water is really shallow and in some places the kayak is having difficulty moving through, and nervous Nellie is starting to feel just a little uncomfortable as we pass yet another alligator.   It seems that as we go deeper so they seem to be more visible and somewhat bigger.  

I am now at about turn around point.  The kayak has stuck once to often and I feel like I am gator food in the waiting.  We struggle to turn the kayak around, but you can bet your bottom dollar that I am not putting a foot in the water.  No siree, not happening.  When we headed into the mangroves I saw this really cute, cuddly baby gator.  I was so excited.  Told Richard I could take this one home.  So heading back we come up to it again.  Still sunning itself on the log.  

What we did not see going in was mama - who was now very visible on the other side of the river watching her baby.  Yikes, good thing I did not know at the time that you should really not come between mama and her baby.  But seeing her was enough to say time out.  

It is now about time to head out of dodge.  I am ready to find terra firma again and leave the alligators behind.  Thank goodness, they are not their African cousins or this African would have been crocodile food without a doubt.  

Living life with Richard can be fun, never comfortable, but fun.  I have slept in a cave.  I have done a short hike through the mountains that took 10 hours, and at one point came face to face with baboons.  We have scuba dived in Mozambique. We have gone into the rural of Southern Africa where we have camped in tents - no running water, no electricity.  Over the years I have sure been stretched out of my comfort zone.

I hope you enjoyed my South Florida adventure.  

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