Friends of the Fishhugger,
Apologies for the long silence! It has been a great but busy year. Hannah graduated from high school and Chris, Hannah, Julian and I took a wonderful trip to England and Scotland during the time I normally do a leg of the journey. But now dates are set for the 2019 Journey of the Fishhugger and I am deep in planning mode. On September 5, I will shove off from the same spot in Elizabeth City, NC where I ended the 2018 leg.
A quick recap of the journey to jog your memories and bring any newbies up to speed…My goal is to paddle the intracoastal waterway from Alexandria, VA to Key West, doing a leg each year as my schedule and job allow. Ideally, I will coast into Key West on my 60th birthday, April 7, 2027. Everyone is invited to that party!
I started the Journey of the Fishhugger in Alexandria in 2016 and last year made it to Elizabeth City, NC where I will put in this year. Along the way, I fish and camp and clean up trash on the waterways – mostly plastic. I am doing this trip for a lot of reasons – to show myself and others that you can have a day job and a mortgage AND a truly epic adventure (even after you turn 50); to test myself and challenge my comfort zones in several ways; to be immersed in and truly appreciate the beauty of nature; to find the kind of solitude that forces you to live in the moment and have deeper introspection; and, importantly, to raise awareness about how awful and genuinely stupid plastic pollution is.
My goal for this year is to make it about 100 miles from Elizabeth City to Hatteras, NC. I will mostly paddle on the sound side of the Outer Banks, first in the Albemarle Sound, then the Pamlico Sound. I’m really looking forward to this leg of the trip. I have loved and visited the Outer Banks regularly since the 1980's. The sounds are known for strong winds and I will be surprised if I am not forced to sit out a day or more due to weather. It is also hurricane season, so that could be a factor.
The route this year will be a mix of wilderness camping and campgrounds, perhaps with an Air BnB along the way. I have high hopes for the fishing too, with striped bass, speckled trout, redfish, and flounder all possible. It will be great to have fresh fish on the menu for a meal or two.
Plastic facts of the day: Oil demand for transportation is expected to slow by 2050 due to the rise of electric vehicles and more-efficient combustion engines, but that is forecast to be offset by rising demand for petrochemicals for plastic production. Petrochemicals, mostly for plastic production, are expected to account for more than a third of global oil demand growth by 2030 and nearly half of demand growth by 2050. Big Oil is counting on you to keep using plastic. Would you rather help Big Oil make big profits or make the world a better place?
Thanks for following, and more to come!
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do, so throw off the bowlines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -Mark Twain
