With Coastal Expeditions – Abbi
One of the things that came up during my Dominick House adventure was kayaking. We exchanged greetings with a group that had just completed the Bulls Island Paddle & Hike, having kayaked to the island, hiked a bit, and explored. They were waiting for their well-earned reward of a leisurely cruise back.
It got me thinking about kayaking, an activity I have never tried. Abbi and Annie, my Dominick House hosts, encouraged me to give it a go – to the point that I promised to add it to my list, somewhat reluctantly, and with trepidation. I’m not exactly well known for my balance, athleticism, stamina, etc. But when the opportunity to try a less-challenging paddle came up, I took it.
True to form, I started out awkwardly, early on – the night before, even! It seems fun event choices are feast or famine for me, in this case, feast. The Paddle & Hike was scheduled for Saturday. On Friday, I helped out at Hampton Plantation, doing the Black Friday house tours to help out the Rangers. Being that far south, and the timing being so right, I convinced myself it would be ok to go see a band I absolutely love, to see live, at The Pour House – live music, outdoors, on a beautiful night, starring The Tan and Sober Gentleman. The set being from 6-9pm was just too good to pass up. Celtic-punk-grass rocks!!
The band took a short break at 8, and I checked my phone. There was a message from Abbi from Coastal Expeditions. Like the socially awkward dork that I am, I thought the message was to ME, not a group message to all the Paddle & Hike participants. It was cheerful, excited, had the meeting location and time, a nice reminder and set up for the next day’s trip.
So, since it was Abbi, I texted back – with a photo of the band coming back on. To which my 20-something-year-old-but-oh-so-wise guide gave me my first piece of good counsel and advice – “The Pour House is so fun! Enjoy your night, but do get some rest ;)”
The band then played this fan’s absolute favorite, a raucous, insane bluegrass jamming cover of “Fat Bottom Girls”, and I took my cue to get home and get to sleep.
I Can Float!
After arriving at the meeting spot, Abbi had everything all laid out and ready to go. My kayak was a sit-in, and I took advantage of the offer to use a skirt, which fully covered the opening and gave me protection from getting wet. The kayak had a rudder, which was controlled by foot pedals. At this point, we all got fitted for PFDs, our pedal settings, and Abbi gave us basic safety instruction and operational tips. It all made sense, in theory.
We had a nice small group of really nice folks, so the pressure was immediately off to have to try and keep up with aggressive athletic types. There was a sweet family of three from Greenville, Mom and 12 year old birder son went in a tandem kayak, with Dad in a single. The other person was a kind woman from Pawley’s, very reassuring that I was going to be able to actually do this. I greatly enjoyed their company, good people enhance an experience so much!
I watched as the family launched, getting a little nervous. I was next. Abbi repeated, “Trust the process!” – and I did – and it worked! I was upright, in the water! I was feeling stable, and I executed my first maneuver of “crash into the spartina grass” until the others are able to launch, with relative ease.
Awedaw Creek
We did about half of the full Awendaw Creek trail, from the launch, oceanward. The wise, wise folks at Coastal Expeditions timed the trip to take advantage of the tide. The tide cooperated, providing a lazy river of sorts, with a strong current favoring our path. It made learning to maneuver, and to coordinate pedals and paddles while still making progress and keeping up with the others so much easier. I was able to enjoy the scenery, which was spectacular, without losing focus on what I was doing – because what I was doing was floating along with the tide. It was a beautiful, sunny lowcountry day.
I did spend a lot of time earning my Overcompensation badge – zig-zagging donw the creek. At one point, little whirlpool currents made me do an unplanned and uncontrolled 360, but nobody noticed (or at least were kind enough not to call it out), I pulled out of it, and rejoined the group.
Then – after coming around a corner and coming together as a group for instruction from Abbi – loomed the wide expanse of the Intracoastal Waterway.
The Intracoastal Waterway
Uh-oh. This was big water, and while the tide was still going my way, there was wind to contend with. Abbi reassured us, and prepped us for passing boats. Passing boats? Gulp. Back to the “Trust the Process” mantra! Paddling was a bit more strenuous, and lo and behold, here came our first power boat. Got lucky with a kind boater who must have been able to see the terror in my eyes from a distance, as he throttled back to give us little wake. Contrary to instinct, Abbi had us turn perpendicular to the wake, and paddle into it. It was great practice for the next boat, which came up behind us and did not throttle back. Following Abbi’s expert lead, calm and perfectly timed, we let the boat pass and paddled the wake. It wasn’t scary at all, it was fun! What a gift!
Almost to the finish line at Buck Hall, we were in store for another gift. In the midst of us, the unmistakable pfffft sound of a blowhole, and a big fin and head of a healthy-looking dolphin! He came up again, a beautiful, big fellow! Abbi excitedly told us we were in the presence of a newly-discovered species! This was a Tamanend’s Bottlenose Dolphin, Tursiops erebennus. A ten year research project, utilizing DNA, has determined that the nearshore coastal and estuary dolphins are a separate species from their offshore counterparts. These dolphins are more closely related to other coastal populations in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico than their neighboring offshore common bottlenose dolphins.
Tamanend dophins were named after a Native American chief, who represented peace and amity. Seeing that big boy navigating the Intracoastal was a spectacular treat near the end of the paddle portion of our adventure. Just as I was running out of steam, this sighting buoyed me, and soon the finish line at the Buck Hall Recreation area landing was in sight. I was able to actually get out of the kayak, albeit without any grace, and requiring assistance, but I got out, and was still able to walk. A pencil-eraser sized blister on each thumb were my badges of honor.
I did not take any pictures on the creek, I wanted to experience the trip without my phone in the way, so I stowed it. Abbi took a couple of photos on the water, but I managed to avoid getting mine taken until we were back on the dock.
Awendaw Passage – Palmetto Trail
After hauling our kayaks up to the Buck Hall landing, we took advantage of the facilities, and we lunched at the landing. This break fueled us for the Hike portion of our adventure. We walked about 5 miles of the 7.1 mile route. It is an easy hike, with boardwalk sections, bridges, and it is relatively flat.
A solo hike is enjoyable, but having Abbi as a guide ratchets the experience up so much! We learned about mushrooms, turned over logs bug hunting, identified plants, saw hundreds of snails in the grass, and we learned about a pest that was killing the bay trees. The tiny little Ambrosia Beetle is a bad bug, an invasive species that attack and kill live trees.
The young man who was on the tour (and who is going to be a famous ornithologist someday) was on a quest to identify as many unique bird species as he could. His banter with Abbi, their youthful exuberance, and considerable subject matter knowledge, was a learning experience for me just listening and trying to keep up with them. They used an app called Merlin (FREE, from Cornell) that identified bird sounds. It has a companion app that lets you start a Life List, of all the birds you’ve encountered and identified. Abbi and the Bird Kid, they collaborated, and pointed out birds in a fun and interesting way. Abbi told us about a movie about birders, and a competition to find the most species, called The Big Year. I’ll be checking it out for sure!
These photos are courtesy of Abbi, she was kind enough to share them, and extended permission to post.
Be sure to check out my previous adventures with Coastal Expeditions. I can’t thank them enough for the fun, the physical activity, the education, the get-out-of-my-comfort-zone experiences! I am looking forward to more, soon, and have booked two weekend adventures for 2024 already. Here are a couple of prior posts, Dominick House, and the Milky Way adventure.
Don’t hesitate or hold back, because the Coastal Expeditions folks will take good care of you! Try something new and adventurous, you won’t be disappointed. The other thing I have taken away from every trip has been a desire to learn more about the things we encounter, whether it be birds or mushrooms or dolphins. The learning goes on, like ripples from a pebble tossed in water. It’s awesome!
Resources
Awendaw Passage – Palmetto Trail
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