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University of North Florida

Hey y'all! Sometimes an 'outing' is remembered because of the scenery seen. Other times because of who you went with. In this case, it was all of the above. In addition to my girlfriend, Dot, we had the pleasure of the company of Oupa Seane. Oupa (pronounced O - pah) works in the Intercultural Center in Bldg. 10. He is from Johannesburg, South Africa. He has been a photo fan of mine for quite a while now and has fallen in love with the St. Mary's River from the photos I pass out. Every time he sees me on campus he praises me for the pictures I put out. Well this past Saturday Oupa joined Dot and I for a day on the St. Mary's. Yes the forecast called for rain, possibly in the morning and thunderstorms with possible hail in the afternoon. But we had decided we were going to 'go for it'. It was indeed a dreary start with heavy overcast. But the air was warm and the lack of sun was almost a blessing. We put-in  at Stokes Bridge and paddled upstream which is what we usually do when we only have one vehicle. The three of us rode up together in my truck after we picked up Oupa at the University. As I've mentioned in the past the lower the water gets the faster the current gets because the water falls into the river channel. The water level on Saturday was the lowest we had ever experienced, 2.5 feet as measured at the water gauge near the old Stokes Bridge.  Oupa expressed the desire to go 'with' someone in the tandem instead of alone in a single since it was his first time in a kayak. Since Dot cannot handle the upstream current by herself in the single, that left her and Oupa in the tandem  and me in the single. And there were times when I was hardpressed fighting the current. Dot and Oupa worked pretty well in the tandem together. On her last outing Dot was in the back of the tandem with her granddaughter Amber. The person in the back is pretty much in control of the boat, steering and synchronizing with the person in the front seat. Fortunately Oupa is a fairly strong person, wiry but strong. As I said it was a very fierce current. The worst we have ever had to deal with. The other side of the coin is, as the water gets lower, it becomes much, much more scenic. It was very slow going upstream. None of us could believe the small distances we were covering for the time and effort spent. There were places we could have walked across the whole river due to the shallowness. And there were other places, as you will see, where the water simply wasn't deep enough to float a boat and we had to get out and drag the boats through those shallow places. So, on with the outing.

This is at the put-in and ready to go. 

It wasn't too far into the trip where we had to get out and drag the boats through a shallow spot. As you can see, Oupa is pretty much only ankle deep. I must add, we had many, many laughs during the course of the day. Oupa had decided to wear long pants because as he put it, skeeters love him. He said next time he is wearing shorts. 

You can see how 'small' the river has become due to the low water level. They got ahead of me here because I had gotten out of the boat to get them past the log on the left. You had to stay right next to the log to get over a shallow spot. As I also said, as the water gets lower, the prettier it gets.

Another shallow spot. After pulling Dot through here, Oupa waited for me and pulled me through. He and I traded off getting us through the shallows. Even with all the getting in and out of the boats to deal with the shallows, it was a very rewarding experience. It added to the sense of adventure.

And where there is water and sand ....

We took a break here, a breather really, and Oupa was clowning around 'posing' for pictures. The best picture I got of Oupa comes later. 

What a ham.

As you can see, the water narrows down to deep channels in places.

Gorgeous.

Oupa insisted on getting a picture of Dot and I, so here we are. We had to get out here to wade through another shallow spot anyway. 

Simple beauty. 

The water has warmed substantially since our last outing on the river. It was actually quite comfortable to wade in, not cold at all.

Oupa loves the outdoors as much as Dot and I do. 

Taking another breather. We took quite a few. It always feels good to get out and stretch. 

This is near the spot of the hidden pond. Back in the woods behind here is a small pond totally out of sight.

If you squint into the foliage, you can see Dot climbing up onto the log. What you can't see too plainly, is the end of the pond the log crosses over. Dot decided she was going to walk across the log. Oupa followed her. Wise man that he is, he decided against following her across the log. I wouldn't do it. Dot has this crazy streak that rivals my own. They say that crazy is as crazy does. Well, meet my counterpart. 

And Dot is NOT a good swimmer. Is this crazy or not?

Show off!

These are the high cypress knees we saw before, easily 4 or 5 feet high.

Pretty woods.

These are the hunter-gatherers. Dot recognized some berries she used to pick as a kid. She said a common name for them was huckleberries. I wish I would have taken a picture of them for Chuck Hubbuch to ID. The ripe ones looked and tasted like blueberries. We all ate some. Oupa loved them.  

A young blue heron that led us upriver for quite a ways. We would get close to it and he would fly off upstream and wait for us to catch up. We have seen the same behavior with squirrels now and then. 

This is where we ate lunch and Oupa took a power nap. He doesn't know I took this picture and I am sure he will get a laugh from it. He was getting pretty whupped. 

Our lunch break. I was able to walk across the river to within about 8 feet of the opposing bank. All the water between us was well less than knee deep.

Looking upstream from where I was standing in the previous picture.

Giving you an idea of the strong current flow. Believe me, Oupa had good reason to be tired out.

Looking upstream again.

Lovely scenery. Oupa commented frequently on how really beautiful it is. 

Dang! Makes me want to go back right now.

Still heading upstream.

This is a picture of Dot and Oupa coming at me.

Dot didn't want her picture taken. Typical woman.

This is the log that Charlie Bear and I went under when the water level was near flood stage. I told Oupa I had to do a back bend to get under the overhanging tree on the left side of the picture.

Playing hunter-gatherer again eating more berries. 

My favorite picture of Oupa from the whole trip. His posture says it all. Here is a man at peace with himself and with nature.  This is heading downstream. We had decided to let Oupa use the single on the way downstream since he had picked up all that experience going upstream. Talk about a duck taking to water.  Seeing the rope on the back of the boat reminded me. At one point after a short rest we started off paddling upstream again. I was up against a small tree trunk sticking up out of the water and I seemed to be having a devil of a time getting past it. Dot, in the tandem behind me at the time, asked me what was wrong. I told her that little tree sticking up was giving me fits to get around it. Later in the trip Dot 'fessed up. She had been holding on to the rope tied off on the single and I had been fighting the current, the tree trunk and pulling them in the tandem all at the same time. I'll get ya Dot! I'll get ya!

Oupa getting through another 'tough' spot. 

Once he got going, Oupa just took off. We yelled at him to slow down to no avail. Although after taking the boats out, he did comment he wished we had gone further upstream to prolong the trip downstream. It was a good thing we didn't though. 

We managed to start getting the boats back on the truck just as it started to sprinkle. And that was around 2:30 probably. We had missed the rain, or vice versa. Luckily we had a very enjoyable day on the water. And we believe a new convert to kayaking. Oupa had mentioned that his 13 year old daughter had expressed a desire to go out with us. We all plan on doing that one day.

On the way home, we detoured through Jacksonville and went to Famous Amos on Cesery for 'dinner'. On the outing we found we all had a love of liver and onions. And Famous Amos makes the best liver and onions. This old Nash was parked out front when we were leaving.  A 1955 Nash! 

Back in the day, this was considered a sub-compact.

What a beaut !

It goes without saying we all had a very fun filled day on the St. Mary's River. We had good company, good conversation, and a chance to share the very best of nature that Florida has to offer. How fortunate can one get?

Email to Jack Woodward      mailto:  jackwoodward66@hotmail.com

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