I feel a lot of waterways around me are getting more and more overgrown by weeds. Do you feel the same? Even in short time I am kayaking in FL I see more ways are getting impassable. I heard people could paddle all along Snake river between St. Johns and Dead river, it is overgrown now. I myself used to paddle from St. Johns to Dead river by Smith canal couple of years ago and it is also overgrown now. I even tried to find out if something can be done about it or find a group who clears waterways like a group who keeps hiking trails open and I did not find anything at all. I was willing to help though I don’t know how 
FWC was spraying , but the enviro movement is protesting. Manatees are too picky and don’t eat some aggressive plants. Flood waters are moving some out. We had a 50 x 50ft floating patch get hung up on our dock. Had to cut up so tide could float it back into cove.
Nice! I was thinking my next trip would be out of Snug Harbor to Franklin, the Minks and the McCoys. How crowded was it? Any recommendations? Trip report? Bayfield Inlet trip
Thanks for asking. It was our first time kayaking there, and I really appreciated reading your trip reports as I planned this excursion!! We took the lazy way, and stayed at a cabin (Sand Bay Resort) and simply took day trips around various parts of Franklin Island and surroundings. We only got as far as Deadhead Bay on the West side of Franklin, and to Thistle Island on the East Side.
We did drive to Snug Harbor a couple times, to eat at Gilly’s Restaurant. They do an excellent job with fish and poutine, so if you do that, give them a try.
I was surprised there were not more power boats cruising around, maybe a couple per hour? We mostly had the places we went to ourselves, as we like to explore and poke around. There were a few kayakers we would occasionally pass, and a few that we watched launching and ending their trips while we ate at Gilly’s, in Snug Harbor.
Our son came up and stayed with us for a few days, and I rented a kayak and gear for him at White Squall Outfitters (and store in Parry Sound), if you need gear or rentals, they were easy to work with and provided a pump, two paddles, spray skirt, PFD, and even a board (2x4 about 20 inches long) to help with dragging your boat onto the rocks. I would work with them again.
One tip they gave me was that they sometimes carried a brush to clear away the algae on the underwater rocks. I found a suitable brush at Canadian Tire, and carried it on my deck. It worked well for times when we needed to haul up on rocks:
It was a very nice trip, I would do it again, though I will look for other options to stay if we do it as a series of day trips again. While Sand Bay Resort has a great sandy beach for launching and landing, the rest of the resort was a bit problematic for us. There are many islands around Franklin that are free of houses, but also many with houses. The mainland around Franklin is pretty well filled with houses. We were always able to find reasonable places to stop and have lunch, and could have camped at a number of locations on Franklin.
Going out to the Minks & McCoys would be fun and I would love to do that, but my wife is not ready for that yet.
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Thanks @castoff! Good to be here. I’ve done much reading and researching, thus far. Lots of good people on this site. Looking forward to getting to know a few. All the best.
That’s Jody…. Scared me as a kid…
Or it could be Algie, Pig on a Wing…
Pig on a wing from Several Species, a Pink Floyd tribute band. I typically don’t like tribute bands, but they have an awesome live show.
Aerial and ground level shots of the beach last weekend at the annual Delmarva Greenland Qajaq Skills Retreat at Camp Arrowhead on Rehoboth Bay. 97 attendees and 110 kayaks this year for the 4 day event. Great weather and lots of fun!
I highly recommend these QajaqUSA sponsored skills camps, which are held around the country. Excellent venue for one-on-one instruction, coaching and practice of rolling, stroke improvement and self and assisted rescue, seminars and workshops to build kayaks and carve paddles, interesting guest speakers, as well as connecting with fellow paddlers in your own area and beyond.
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I haven’t attended Delmarva Paddler’s Retreat since 2005 - there seems to be a much higher percentage of plastic and composite boats these days than “back-in-the-day”. But hey - they all float (and roll), right? 
I believe they said there were close to the same number of skin qajaqs and non-skin “qajariaqs” (which included some Greenland style wood stitch and glue boats). There were quite a few skin boats out on the water and back at the swimming pool when the drone shot was taken. There were at least a dozen skin boats usually stashed in that empty area in the front row to the left.
The five plastic and comp hardshells on the far right by the trailers were loaners that some of us brought so the guests who flew in from out of state and overseas had some to use for some of the rolling and rescue classes and for the longer tours out to Cape Henlopen and to the Coast Guard station. I brought 4 of my own boats, an SOF, a folder, a poly and a composite. I think there were at least a dozen trad SOF’s from the QajaqUSA fleet as well. Most of the white SOF’s you can see were made in Anders’ workshop at camp in prior years
There were a dozen or so first timers at camp and it has been gratifying to see more younger people attending and showing interest in traditional kayaks and skills.
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shipping four boats back
Great weather
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Some uncommon views of the sky here in SC. The eclipse was near my daughter’s house in Arkansas. Many of our extended family came out to visit at that time. We made plans during the last total eclipse that pasted over our house in 2017.
Auroa and comet photos taken with a handheld iPhone 13
There was a light haze of clouds this night.
There was also a cloud haze when this eclipse was observed.
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