2018 – Plans for the Fishhugger!

Exciting news (exciting for me anyway): 

Dates for the 2018 leg of the Journey of the Fishhugger have been set!  June 16 – June 26ish!  The Summer Solstice is June 21, so I will be paddling during the longest days of 2018.

Quick recap for folks who are just tuning in:

2018 will be the third year of a journey from Alexandria, VA to Key West, made in chunks as big as I can each year.  The first two years covered about 200 miles, entirely in the Potomac River, ending just inside the Chesapeake Bay in Reedville, VA last year.  Each year I put my boat (the Fishhugger) back in the water in the same spot I ended the previous years’ journey.  In addition to testing my limits and having an amazing adventure, this journey has another purpose: to raise awareness about the problem of plastic pollution in our waterways and oceans.  I am a 5 Gyres Ambassador and part of my commitment to that role is using this trip to raise awareness about plastic pollution.

2018 Plans:

Unless Aeolus or Poseidon intervene, I will push off on Saturday, June 16 and start pedaling and paddling down the Chesapeake Bay.

Reedville, VA to Elizabeth City, NC.  About 152 miles.

I planned 8 days of paddling to get me to Elizabeth City, NC.  However, past experience has shown that wind and weather will cause me to stay put for all or parts of some days.  So it may take me 10 days or more to complete 8 days of actual travel.

Luckily, my wife, Chris and the kids (Hannah and Julian) will be vacationing in Nags Head, NC the week I hope to end the trip.  So we have flexibility in pick-up location and date!

Meeting up along the way:

Some friends have expressed interest in meeting up along the way.  I welcome it!  But you are on your own as far as logistics.  I have a hard enough time planning this for myself!  If you are interested, send me an email or a PM on Facebook.  We can try to figure out whatmight make sense.

In a future post, I will include a link to my GPS device which will show where I am in real time.  I’d love to see some familiar faces on the water.  Especially some of you local fishing gurus (Wayne Tu, Kevin Whitley, Rob Choi, William Ragulsky)! 

Highlights and Scary Bits:

I’m excited to paddle a good long stretch of the Chesapeake Bay.  I’ve been on the Bay in a powerboat but never in a kayak – the experience is very different. 

Another highlight for 2018 will be the Great Dismal Swamp Canal, believed to be the oldest existing excavated waterway in America.  It runs generally north and south for 22 miles between Deep Creek, Va., and South Mills, N.C. The canal connects the Elizabeth and Pasquotank Rivers, thereby connecting the Chesapeake Bay and the Albemarle Sound.  More about the Great Dismal Swamp in a future Post.

Scary bits include a bunch of open water crossings --

• Ingram Bay – 1.9 miles
• Rappahannock River -- 3.75 miles
• Piankatank River – 2.27 miles
• Mobjack Bay – 5.5 miles
• York River – 2.30 miles
• Poquoson River – 1.5 miles
• James River/Hampton Roads – 3.00 miles

None of these are too daunting (although Mobjack Bay is a looong one), but it means I will need the weather to cooperate a little if I am to complete the route.

The other scary bit is other humans in power boats.  This is true every year, but I will be traveling through Hampton Roads which sees a lot of commercial, recreational and U.S. Naval marine traffic.  I got a big airhorn and will do my best to steer clear of our powered friends.