Tulls Bay-North West River Paddle 8-14-12

The day was sunny, the place was new and 11 kayakers (Bob M, Bob H, Bob S, Bill B, Bill R, John, Richard, Sandy B, Bruce, Ellis and Marti) were eager to start paddling Tulls Bay and the Northwest river. So eager in fact, that when the trip leader showed up at 9:00 almost everybody was there and ready to go. So shortly after 9:30 we put-in and started the new adventure. The Bay was quite calm and mabe a little hot but as we kept paddling there was a little wind to keep us slightly cool. As we turned up the river we noticed a cross with the word “Dusty” on it, and assumed somebody’s pet was buried there, either dog or possibly a duck but not sure. As we continued, we came across a duck blind where Bruce spotted a cottonmouth sleeping in the back. We poked at it but couldn’t get it to stir, too bad. Further on we came to one of the little creek shortcuts that by-passed the river, making an interesting diversion with many twists and turns through the tall grass, around cypress trees and on through the Nelle Bell ponds. As we finally connected back to the river it was decided to try another very narrow creek on the other side of the river, where my bing map indicated a pencil thin section of water (not really a waterway) were we could possibly pass through. So we went for it, and it turned out to be the perfect size and width for a kayak or canoe to pass – what a surprise! This completed our figure 8 configuration so it was time to look for a spot for lunch. A little ways past the 007 mile marker we came upon a dock, which I think was built just for us. What luck, since I couldn’t tell from the maps, it was the perfect place to have lunch, and John decided to get wet when he tipped his kayak over (guess he wanted to cool off). As we headed back, after lunch, it seemed like we were paddling forever to get back to the Bay, I didn’t realize it would be this long of a paddle (11 miles for 11 paddlers). On the way back Bruce and Sandy decided to make a detour to a beach to go swimming. Think everybody else was too tired for that. Once back at the dock we had some ice cream in the shade (on the back porch) and decided that we should explore more of these little creeks around the area at a later date. A great day of paddling was had by all.

Bob M

Bill B has more of his special pictures to share with you. Click on the link to view: https://picasaweb.google.com/b.billings/TuesdayAugust142012NorthwestPassage?authkey=Gv1sRgCLzexMHqg9TCKw&feat=email