It was so fun.  My neighbor had asked us once before if we wanted to go with her through the canal (she lives on it).  We never took the opportunity and then she took off north for several months.  Now she’s back and we went; my two boys, me and my neighbor.  The boys had never been kayaking before.  Travis and I sat in the two seater; me in the back.  Austin and Suzanne each got their own kayak.  Austin figured out quickly how to paddle, steer and rescue himself from pilings, piers and parked boats.  The wind was stiff at a few spots so it was easy to drift into something.  But he did great.

The cool thing was we got to see the back yards of some of our neighbors.  We saw where the with the house with the statues is; there are statues in the back yard as well.  We saw a house built right up to the seawall; gives little room for heavy surf and hurricanes.  The other homes were up higher on a slope…this was right at the water.  The wildlife was fun to watch.  We spotted a bunch of crabs under the Higle Road tunnel; a little blue heron eating water bugs from the sea wall; we saw the nest holes of the black-capped parakeets that I have always seen flying around the Higle Rd tunnel area.  One tree leaning over the water was filled with woodpecker holes.  There were parakeets and red bellied woodpeckers filling each hole.  There were lots of fish jumping; large and small. 

The boys really enjoyed their first kayaking adventure.  Too bad we hadn’t done this sooner.  There will be plenty of other opportunities for us to kayak in the near future.  I hope Gary can join us on the next trip.