I was looking forward to Friday. It was special for several reason. First among them I would be enjoying the company of 3 of my favorite paddlers. Second was the perfect weather forecast and the local fall colors on display. Third I was excited about using my new splashproof Lumix FZ300.
Kevin and I transferred my solo canoe to his rack next to his solo canoe. We then left my car at the takeout with the trailer. All 4 of us with our 4 boats and gear would use it to shuttle back to the cars at the put-in. Lisa and Rusty would meet us at the put-in to begin the trip.
When we got to Brazzlemans Bridge the DOT dump trucks were lined up dumping loads of large granite riprap over the side of the bridge to shore up the pilings that held up the bridge. The road was closed with Lisa on the other side of the river. The workers were good to us, and let her pass after they dumped 3 loads that were already on the bridge.
The day was everything we hoped it would be with a high of 70F blue skies and sunny. Water temp got up to 58F. There were lots of log jams and down trees which because of low water meant we had to work our way through, and /or portage. I had a dry bag I kept the camera in when required. We worked our way through a difficult log jam, were I stopped and took some photos. Kevin portaged because he didn’t want to risk a capsize with his dog in the canoe. I stayed back to get a few shots of him portaging his boat and was drifting backwards. The flow was about 200 cfs and not a big problem. I had the camera around my neck when the backward drifting canoe was flipped by an unseen log the boat went up on. The camera was still on when I climbed out onto a log after being fully dunked in deep water. Straddling the log in the river I turned the soaking wet camera off, and managed to get most of the water out of the boat. We pulled out on a sand bar and ate lunch while I pulled the battery out of the camera dried it and wrapped it in a towel. I was wearing fast drying cloths and sat in the sun. I never did get cold like I expected, I did have a dry change and jacket in my kit, but only changed into a dry shirt. My pants dried out while paddling.
I managed to put the episode behind me and enjoy the rest of the trip. I have destroyed gear in the past due to stupidity, and it’s a waste of time and life to get upset about it. That’s not to say I didn’t regret letting the boat drift with my back turned to the river and probably loosing my new camera. When I got home I put it on a heating pad. I could see moisture condensed on the inside of the lens and viewfinder. The camera could be turned on only to have the display jittering the image and the motor making gosh-awful sounds, so I quickly turned it off.
This morning it looked like all the moisture had vaporized overnight so I turned it on again to hear and see the same result as before, and turned it off. I put it back on the hot pad resigned to it being a lost cause. Around 1 pm I tried again and was surprised to have a fully functioning camera. No noise or jitters! I am amazed it survived. It was only underwater for a matter of a few seconds, but did have water get inside.
My biggest regret now is the camera wasn’t operational at lunch when a gust of wind caused a swirling rain of yellow fall leaves fluttering down onto the river’s surface and floating down stream. It was a beautiful quintessential fall scene I would have loved to captured it. C’est la vie!
If asked I would highly recommend the FZ300 considering what I put it though. Oh, and it takes a fine photograph too. Thank you to those that suggested this camera on the wildlife photo thread.
Example of a closeup
Here are some of the photos I took before practicing swimming and canoe recovery.
This next one I took just before swimming lessons.
These two photos Lisa took. They give a good idea of the log jams and down trees.
That made me go check on it… I am sorry to report you need new glasses. 
