Well, I think it’s Boy Scout Island…seems there is some confusion as to what spoil island is actually Boy Scout. I thought I would go with that title instead of “A Kayak Trip to the northernmost island south of the Stuart causeway”. It just doesn’t flow well….

Maybe I can get confirmation eventually…

For now, let’s call it Boy Scout Island and go with that.

Having recently gotten the wife interested in kayaking, and having worked a sweet deal on a kayak for her as well as racks to move them around, like all new interests, we’ve been taking the time to go kayaking, in fact, *cough*, we’ve gone overboard. (Yeah, I went there, but I’m not the only one!)

This particular trip was to meet friends, Kevin and Cheryl (yes, THAT Cheryl, and parents of Zach) at Boy Scout Island for an afternoon of R&R. The wife & I, along with out 9-year old, parked at the House of Refuge, and launched from a small sandy opening just north of the fishing pier on the river side.
The trip is about 1.2 miles, and depending on tides, wind, and effort, takes from 10 to 30 minutes. Not a horrible trip, and ironically, about as long as it takes out friends to get there from their launch points in powered boats 🙂

Both kayaks are singles, so we stowed the 9 year old behind mom, as my kayak has atank well and offers more cargo space for everything we wanted to take along, such as a full cooler (for drinks and snacks, ice, sunscreen, and bug spray). Being my cooler, its well-stocked with non-cooler related items. Just in case. I’ve found that sunscreen and bug spray are always needed in every situation that requires a cooler.

In fact, FHB Tip #5 – When in Florida, ALWAYS carry sunscreen and bug spray.

I also brought along a mask, snorkel, polespear, fishing pole and tackle, my EDC backpack (again, just in case!), my wife back pack, and my PFD. The wife & child were wearing their PFDs, like good, smart, SAFE boaters should. I’ve proven before I am a knucklehead. Don’t follow MY example. Follow the wife’s. Well, mostly. But more on that later.

Arriving in about 25 minutes, we joined our friends in “our” spot, the “bluff” (can a 8 foot sand hill be called a bluff?) in front of the tree with what passes for a rope swing.

We rested from our tortuous trip (NOT!) and quenched out thirst as we settled in for an enjoyable afternoon of socializing, swimming, laughing, and crying. (Well, not so much crying as pouting. Stick with me, I’ll get to that too.)

I quickly made nicey-nice with the friends, antsy to get into the water to kill something for dinner. I love them to death, honest, but my opportunities to go hunting and/or fishing are infrequent, and spearfishing is both to me. The water (and fish) were right in front of me, calling my name, taunting me. Bastards! Smiling at the friends, I grabbed the polespear, mask & snorkel, and hit the water. I didn’t even bother to spook Cheryl with a creepy-crawly!

Entering the water, I found the clarity to be no more than 4-5 feet, poor conditions.  The tide was wrong, and we were far enough away from the inlet for the incoming tide to have not yet reached us. Bummer. However, as the day progressed, and the tide kept bringing in clear water from the inlet, the visibility, and the fish action, improved.

One spot had a leeward side that allowed me to slip in and hang submerged for about ten seconds before getting pushed out of range. On one such pass, I saw a large shadow, just long enough for my lightning reflexes to react. Sheepshead! Score one for the Hillbilly! He went right onto the ice. (See FHB Tip #4)

One submerged tree held several decent snapper, but the current kept me from staying in one spot long enough to do much, but it was fun to drift by watching the fish, hoping for a shot. On one pass, I saw a fair snapper through a hole just long enough to get a shot off and score a hit. Nice! He also went right onto the ice. (Again, see FHB Tip #4) That makes two for the Hillbilly! And enough for dinner for the family!

As the day progressed, so did the tide, and with it, the current. As I dropped into a shallow spot behind another downed tree, Zach, who had been shadowing me most of the day,  caught my attention. We surfaced, and he said “I saw a lobster!” Diving in, I verified what he say, and with a little effort pulled it out for a picture.

As we returned to our “spot”, I showed the pictures to Zach’s dad, and THAT is when the crying and pouting started. Zach’s dad wanted to know why we just couldn’t eat him. I informed him that lobster season hadn’t opened yet, and knowing that, I returned the bug to his hidey hole, hopefully to wait for me to be reunited with him in a couple weeks. Maybe he’ll be there waiting for me. Probably not though.

The crazy part about finding this bug was his location….he was in two feet of water, about 4 feet from shore, in the intercoastal waterway. A 6 year old with a net could have gotten him. He DID get my juices flowing for lobster season though….and I know the location of at least ONE spot 😛

After putting him back (yes, even with my Hillbilly background, I put him back, I’m too paranoid to break laws anymore – my ancestors will be disappointed) and showing the pictures, I tried a couple more drifts, and taking a break, I noticed my wife was on a mission to pack things up. Bummer. Then I realized we only had a few hours of daylight left, and a 1.5+ trip back…into the wind 🙁

Motor boats looked pretty good at that point.

The wife, stubbornly left ahead of me as I was still packing up, and having a 10 minute head start, got about a quarter mile ahead of me. I said my good bye’s and took a more direct route straight into the wide, as opposed to my wife who was trying to quarter across it, making for a longer, but easier trip for her.

Stubborn in my own way, I set a decent pace, using all I had to try to catch up with her, and as I closed the gap, my daughter, sitting behind her, started to egg her on, telling her to go faster and beat me to shore. By this time, she was about 60 yards from shore, and I was only about 15 yards from her. She frantically turned, made a big dip that overbalanced her and….

SPLASH! Overturned kayak! Once I verified they were both above water and OK, I started laughing, telling my daughter to grab on to the back of my kayak. Since she had on her vest, like her mom, floating was no problem, and I quickly towed her in to shore. I then  waded out to the wife, who was still trying to swim the inverted kayak the rest of the way.

I laughed myself silly, until I flipped the kayak over and saw water running out of the storage hold. Where my EDC backpack was stored, along with my wallet, phone, and handheld GPS. Not so funny now.

The phone recovered, after I bought a new battery, lucky for me. The GPS seems dead still, but we rarely use it anymore, with all smart phones having decent GPS reception. The wallet dried out, as has my backpack and gear inside. In truth, its just “stuff”, and can be replaced. The girls were safe, and now we all have a memory that we will never lose.

Particularly now that I’ve posted for everyone to see 🙂

Peace,

db

Notes:

• There are three good launch spots to get to Boy Scout Island – Stuart Causeway (1.5 miles), the House of Refuge (1.3 miles) , and Chastain Beach (1.2 miles). All offer sandy launch points. I’ve also been told that Bathtub Beach has a pier with a low enough deck that you can launch, though it is further south, and a longer paddle to get to the island.
• Information regarding Florida Spiny Lobster Season
• The polespear is a great way to get started spearfishing, though it takes some getting used to. Mine was a (permanent?) loan from BlueTang, who has long since upgraded to a Rife (top end) spear gun. I used a paralyzer tip for my inshore sperarfishing, as it offer three tips for the smaller fish you’ll find there.