The Inaugural Voyage of the
Chick-a-Dees
Our first section of the Florida Circumnavigational Saltwater Paddling Trail (CT)
Segment 1, Day 1 – Monday, 10/19/2020
CT Segment 01 Big Lagoon State Park to Ft McRee on Perdido Key
On Sunday Dena and Deb drove up to Big Lagoon State Park in Pensacola and spent the night in the campground there before starting our first little piece of the Florida Circumnavigational Saltwater Paddling Trail (CT) Monday morning. Big Lagoon SP is still recovering from Hurricane Sally earlier this year. Normally CT-ers put in at the kayak launch near the observation tower and long-term parking area, but Hurricane Sally has damaged the boardwalks and parking lot so this part of the park is still closed. For now you have to put in a mile further west at the park boat ramp.
Due to the long-term parking lot being closed, Joe Webb, FPTA Region A Director, helped us tremendously by storing Dena’s car and trailer for a few days then picking us up at the end. (Joe and Karen also provided us with a couple of great brownies!) The FPTA Secretary Diane Rickman-Buckalew also showed up at the boat ramp to see us off. We actually found this a little embarrassing since we had not declared our intent to paddle all the CT, we just wanted to try it out and see if it was something we were interested in doing.
We shoved off from the boat ramp at 10:30 am and headed out under gloomy skies and moderate winds. We hugged the coastline along Big Lagoon aiming towards the damaged observation tower to see if we could find the orange kayak that marks the official start of the CT. As we approached the observation tower the shore border changed from sandy beach to salt marsh grasses alive with birds. We saw Red-winged Blackbirds, Great Blue Herons, and lots of Great Egrets.
We crept up a small passage through the grasses, under a damaged boardwalk going out to the observation tower and saw the orange kayak rising above the grass. YES! It survived the hurricane! We quickly found the official start of the CT and got out so we could find the book and log in.
The log book had not survived, however. The waterproof case was not waterproof, and the log book was soaked thru. Also, kids had gotten to the notebook and filled up many pages with scribbles. I finally found a blank page not scribbled on and embossed a passage indicating we had been there, but it could not be read. So we took obligatory photos of each other to prove we had been there, then we made our way back out the channel, under the damaged boardwalks, and headed south across Big Lagoon to the white sand dunes of Perdido Key.
The wind started picking up and the sky remained gloomy, as if reminding us that Mother Nature is in charge out here and we and our boats are just infinitesimal flecks in the immensity of the sea.
After a 1-mile, 1-hour paddle in the choppy seas and head wind we reached the sandy shore of Perdido Key and took a 10 minute wind break.
We paddled along the shoreline there for the rest of the day. Sandy dunes to our right separated us from the Gulf of Mexico while nice homes, businesses and condos/hotels lined the mainland to our left.
We stopped again at 2:15 for a short lunch break about a 1/2 mile east of where Johnson Beach Rd. ends. The road end marks the west side of the primitive camping zone that extends all the way to the eastern end of Perdido Key at Ft. McRee.
After lunch the sun broke through the gray and it was a beautiful day for kayaking in spite of the head wind which stayed at a fairly consistent 12-13 knots.
We passed the camping area mentioned in the CT guide but pushed on to get in a little more mileage for the day. That camping area nestled among the trees would be a good one to stop at if you had westerly winds, however.
We paddled up the channel between Perdido Key and Robertson Island.
This shallow channel is a well-known anchorage for small boats and we had a motor yacht and a sailboat for company Monday night. The cargo ship in the background was headed up the Pensacola Pass which we would cross tomorrow.
A friendly Great Blue Heron greeted us as we headed for our campsite between the dunes.
There were also several small motorboats that had come across to Ft McRee for a picnic or look-see. We landed at 6:15 pm and unloaded for the night, pulling our kayaks well above the high-tide mark.
Soon all the day-trippers left, the water became glassy, and we were left alone with a beautiful sunset. Just as the sun set and our dinners finished boiling a host of salt-water mosquitoes descended. You couldn’t breathe without inhaling several. Slapping at them and fumbling with our cook pots, we dove into our tents for the night to finish our dinners in lonely solitude. Out here you have the choice between wind or mosquitoes – one or the other.
Only 7.1 miles but we were happy with that for our first day.