The Fishhugger has landed in the Outer Banks!

 

The Fishhugger has landed in the Outer Banks! After a long drive and some waiting, the Outer Banks were opened to non-residents at 4:00.

We checked on the home of relatives and came on down to check on and stay at Richard McMillan’s place for the night. For being such a great, consistent and generous supporter of the Journey of the Fishhugger, he gets the shout-out of the day. Thanks!!! You rock!!!

Will check weather forecast and if things look OK, I hope to drive to Elizabeth City tomorrow and shove off right where I took out last year.

It was great having a send-off from Chris and Julian this morning but we were all bummed that Dorian spoiled their plans to come down for the weekend.

#5gyres

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Headed to Outer Banks on Sunday, September 8

Just a quick update to let folks know that non-residents are not allowed onto the Outer banks as of Saturday, September 7. Seems likely that they will allow visitors tomorrow. I called several businesses down in Nags Head and Kill Devil Hills and many are open, many are not. Some have power, some do not. Grocery stores are open and everyone seems to have water.

My Dad and I will head down tomorrow. If they are still not letting folks on the OBX, we will stay in Elizabeth City (power is on there). If they will let us on the Outer Banks, priority number one will be checking on the houses of friends and family and doing what we can to help with any damage or other issues.

Once all that is done, we will assess whether doing some Journey of the Fishhugger seems safe and appropriate. I am cautiously optimistic.

Thanks for following!

All geared up and nowhere to go?

Dorian continues to make the 2019 Journey of the Fishhugger an exercise in contingency planning. The storm is predicted to go right over much of my planned route starting Thursday and peaking Friday morning around 11:00 AM.



The forecast is for winds to drop to virtually nothing by noon Saturday and stay that way for the rest of the week with highs in the upper 70's -- perfect paddling conditions.  But if the power and/or roads are out on the Outer Banks, doing the whole route would not be possible. So much uncertainty.

From the National Hurricaine Center: "A Storm Surge Warning is in effect from Edisto Beach, SC to Poquoson, VA including Pamlico and Albermarle Sounds, the Neuse and Pamlico Rivers, and Hampton Roads. Please follow all instructions from local officials. #Dorian http://hurricanes.gov"

For now, the best-case scenario plan is to watch closely and prepare to head in the general direction of Elizabeth City on Friday, hoping I might be able to shove of Saturday.  We are going to remain flexible and see what happens.

More to come.

TT

Let's talk about Dorian...

I think I jinxed the trip with my last post.  Dang.

Flexibility is key in all things about the Journey of the Fishhugger.  Due to the totally uncool track that hurricane Dorian has taken, it seems almost certain that I will change my start date a wee bit.

Oh, Dorian...She is headed for the Outer Banks and will likely arrive on September 5, my previously-planned start date

We will keep watching the weather, but right now, there is a nice calm predicted AFTER the storm.  Current thinking is to pencil in a new start date of Saturday, September 8. I can't add on any time to the back end of the trip though, so I may not finish the planned route.  We shall see.

Plastic Facts of the Day:  17.6 billion pounds -- that's how much plastic we dump into our oceans each year.  It is the equivalent of nearly 57,000 blue whales -- every single year. If plastic production isn’t curbed, plastic pollution will outweigh fish pound for pound by 2050.

Thanks for following!

"Whether you think you can or think you can't, you're right."
-- Henry Ford

Luxury Cruise?

I don’t want to jinx things, but as plans are starting to firm up for the 2019 tour, it is looking like a luxury cruise compared to last year.

One of the expected features of the 2019 Journey of the Fishhugger.

First, due to a lot of factors (mostly logistics of the pick-up), the route this year is short at 100 miles or so. But I have 10 days to cover it. So, I will have the luxury of taking days off -- just to rest and have fun, or in case of bad weather. Having extra days built into the plan takes away a nagging anxiety about making it somewhere by a certain date and time.

Second, I am familiar with the water I will paddle this year. I have not paddled a lot of the route, but I know the OBX and have paddled the sounds a fair bit. Last year that was not the case. From the Chesapeake Bay to the Elizabeth River to the Dismal Swamp Canal, it was all new and unknown.

Third, tide and current are not really factors. The sounds are protected from the Atlantic by those long, improbably thin pieces of land known as the Outer Banks. The Albemarle sound is the largest mostly brackish or freshwater sound in North America. It was a mostly saltwater sound until 1830, when a storm closed the Currituck inlet and limited the flow of ocean water into the sound. The tidal range for most of the Albemarle Sound is just several inches between high and low. Only near the inlets do tide and current become something to factor in and plan for – if you get too close to an inlet in a kayak on a falling tide, you could end up in the Atlantic.

This historic map of the Carolina coast from 1731 shows where the Currituck Inlet used to be.

Fourth, I will have an amazing support team along the way this year. My dad is not only going with me to the put-in in Elizabeth City, but he plans to follow along the Outer Banks (OBX) as I make my way to the take-out in Hatteras, so we should have several opportunities to meet up for a meal or drinks, or even share a place for the night. My wife Chris and son Julian are also planning to come down for several nights and I hope to take a day(s?) off and hang with them. Hannah won’t make it – she will be a freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University (go Rams!).

Fifth, good folks are already being helpful. I have been offered several possible places to stay for a night along the way, and the owners of an Air BnB have shared some thoughtful local paddling knowledge.

So, while there are still many wild cards that can throw a wrench into things (wind being the most likely), I am feeling more relaxed about the tour this year.

Plastic facts of the day: Recycling is fine, but it is NOT the answer. In 2015, the U.S. recycled about 9 percent of its plastic waste, and since then the number has dropped even lower. The vast majority of the 8.3 billion metric tons of plastic ever produced — 79 percent — has ended up in landfills or scattered all around the world. And as for those plastic shopping bags: Less than 1 percent of the tens of billions of plastic bags used in the U.S. each year are recycled. Barrels of oil required for US annual plastic bag consumption: 12,000,000.  Good plan.  Recycling will never ever solve this problem. Using less single-use plastic is the only sustainable answer.

Thanks for following!

TT

The cure for anything is salt water -- sweat, tears, or the sea. -Isak Dinesen (pen name of Karen Blixen)

Of course, sometimes even a luxury cruise hits a rough patch...

A More Active Hurricane Season Could Lie Ahead, Scientists Warn
John Schwartz, The New York Times
NOAA issued an updated El Niño report on Thursday stating that conditions had returned to a neutral status, which will eventually allow hurricane formation to ramp up. The forecasters at NOAA's climate prediction center thus raised the likelihood of an above-normal season in the Atlantic to 45 percent, up from 30 percent in the May forecast.

Getting Ready for the 2019 Tour!

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

2018 Tour Recap

 I’ve had a few weeks to reflect on the 2018 Fishhugger tour and want to post some wrap-up thoughts.

It was a great tour this year.  Last year was my first year in a kayak that could be pedaled or paddled so I was not sure how many miles per day was feasible.  This year I had a better idea what the boat and I were capable of and planned a pretty ambitious route (ambitious for me, anyway) of over 150 miles.

This map from my GPS tracker shows progress from Alexandria, VA in 2016 to Elizabeth City, NC in 2018.

I completed the entire route and even added in a side trip to camp at Lake Drummond in the Great Dismal Swamp.  When I look at the map of what I covered, I am still a little amazed I actually did it!  After a ton of planning and poring over nautical charts and Google map satellite images, I finally got to see places with my own eyes.  The places are no longer abstract concepts, now I know what’s there.  I like that feeling.

Sunset at my campsite on the beach at Antepoison Point on the headland where the Rappahannock River opens into the Chesapeake Bay.  Now I know what it looks like there.

I got to see a lot of the Chesapeake Bay and camped on beautiful isolated beaches.  I saw sharks, dolphins, rays, and turtles galore. Even though fishing was slower than I hoped, I caught striped bass, bluefish and a wild one called a Houndfish over three feet long.  

The wild and crazy Houndfish.

After making it down the Bay and through the Elizabeth River, I went through a lock for the first time ever and was raised 11 feet before entering the Great Dismal Swamp Canal.  I spent a night camping in the heart of the Great Dismal Swamp at Lake Drummond.  

The Army Corps of Engineers campground at Lake Drummond. No potable water, but a flush toilet(!), a screened pavillion with picnic table, and this rail trolley.  Did you say Rail Trolley?  Yes, I said rail trolley.  The feeder ditch connecting the campsite to the Great Dismal Swamp Canal is 10 feet lower than Lake Drummond.  Folks put their boats on the trolley and it rolls up to the level of Lake Drummond, where they offload the boats. The operator was gone when I arrived, so I never got to see it in action.

At the end of the 22 mile long canal, I was lowered 8 feet before entering the Pasquotank River.  On Day 10, the Pasquotank transitioned from fresh water back into salt water before I made my final landfall in Elizabeth City.  

That’s exactly where I will start the next leg of the Journey of the Fishhugger.  On tap for 2019?  The Outer Banks of North Carolina!

Other thoughts and themes of the 2018 tour…

Good Humans. I met a lot more people in 2018 than in prior years.  If you followed my posts during the journey, you know that I was helped in ways small and large by a big cast of humans, some of whom I am good friends with, some of whom I had not seen in decades, and some of whom I never met before.   The willingness of folks to go out of their way to help a guy on a crazy adventure was remarkable.  A renewed appreciation for decent humans is not something I was expecting to get out of this trip, but I certainly did.  This was a welcome surprise given everything else going on in the world.  

I hereby thank and rethank everyone who helped me in any way!  If I wrote out the names of everyone who helped me here, you would all stop reading because the list would be so long!

But there are three who do get a special, end of the tour, shout-out:  My wonderful wife Chris and my two awesome kids, Hannah and Julian.  Not only do they tolerate this crazy kayak thing I am doing, they actively support it and celebrate it with me.  Chris posts all the blog entries for me (not because it is impossible for me to do on the water, but because I am incompetent!) and helps me think through problems that crop up along the way.  But more importantly, she gives me encouragement both before and during the trips.  Thanks family!!!

The Weather. I got really lucky with the weather on the tour.  Yes, there were some days that were brutally hot.  And yes, there were many days when the wind was blowing hard in the wrong direction.  And yes, I got pounded by thunderstorms a few nights.  There were some truly spectacular lightning shows.  But I could paddle every day.  There was no time during the whole 2018 tour that I was forced off the water or delayed by the weather.  That is lucky.

A nasty thunderstorm went right over me the night I was camped at Deep Creek Lock Park (I'm the blue dot).  I was in my tent, all snuggly and dry though.

The Flip of the Flops. If you plan to tour, get some really, really sturdy flip flops.  The first pair I blew out was from REI, not some cheapo set.  Still not strong enough.  I may take a spare pair next year.

The original flip flop on Day 1.

Pair #2.  Um, good value, but smokin' hot.

Pair #3. Larger than #2, and I prefer the sparkly pink straps.

The 4th and final pair.  They're still flopping.  Thanks to Richard McMillan for taking me shopping!

Marinas. I stayed at two marinas – rented a cottage at one (Davis Creek Marina on Mobjack Bay) and was allowed to camp in a garage area at another (Dandy Haven Marina in Back Bay).  Marinas are fun and interesting.  Each had its own distinct personality and characters, not to mention a shower!  I will try to stay at more as I work my way down the coast in future years.

My accommodations at Dandy Haven Marina.  The owner was very kind and thoughtfully put me here under cover because a thunderstorm was coming.  They loaned me a car to go shopping (where do you think I got the pink flip flops?). He also would not accept a dime.  Good people.

Let’s do some numbers…

10 – number of days paddling in 2018.

22 – total number of paddling days so far (2016-2018)

160 – Approximate distance, in miles, the Fishhugger covered in 2018.

310 – Distance, in miles, the Fishhugger has covered towards Key West since 2016.

1,193 – Approximate distance, in miles, from Elizabeth City, NC (the 2019 launch site) to Key West.

20 – Approximate percentage of the way to Key West from Alexandria, VA already covered!

0 – number of days the weather prevented me from paddling in 2018.  Prior to this year, the average was weather delays one out of every 7 days or so.

97 – Temperature on June 19, the day I crossed Mobjack Bay, the York River, and the Poquoson River.  Heat Index was well over 100.  No place to hide from that brutal sun!

9 – Number of pounds I lost during the 2018 tour.  I believe I have packed most of them back on already!

4 – Number of pairs of flip-flops (or “thongs” for the Aussies out there!) I went through on the 2018 tour.  #imeldamarcosonthebay. Touring is hard on flops!

1,180 – Amount, in dollars, folks contributed to the 5 Gyres Institute as part of my fundraising campaign.  Thanks folks!

0 – Number of times I was on the water without wearing my PFD.  I always wear mine, even when it is hot and miserable on a calm day.  You should too.

0 – Number of ticks found on me during or after the voyage.  Seven out of 9 nights on the 2018 tour were spent in a tent and no ticks.  Who believes!  I treated my clothes and tent with Permethrin before the trip (I am now a believer) and used a lot of deet on the trip.  I am not a fan of all the chemicals, but for a venture like this, I think the trade-offs are worth it.

 

2 – Number of times a U.S. Navy patrol boat pulled alongside me and asked me to move to the other side of the extremely wide Elizabeth River boat channel, the opposite direction from my destination.

51 – My current age.  The goal is to make it to Key West for my 60^th birthday!

This map shows where I have been so far (little blue line way at the top) all the way down to the tip of Florida.

That’s all for now.  In coming weeks, I plan to make some time to review some of the gear I used on the trip.  I loved certain items, and some were not the right tool for the job!  Hopefully others can benefit from what I learned.

Cheers!