By Peter Clayton

Wednesday was a series of “firsts”:

1) we only had three paddlers – the smallest number ever;

2) we launched from Camp Chawenwaw County Park on the west side of US 17 – a former scout camp and delightful facility with a sand/gravel kayak/canoe launch where wheels are helpful due to the distance from the parking area to the water;

3)  we played Lynyrd Skynr music on the return leg to celebrate the band’s connection to the creek/place, and

4) we had pizza at Mellow Mushroom in Mura Bella for lunch – it was delicious.

The weather was much kinder than our prior outing as the wind was mild and at our backs on the return on Black Creek. The launch was from a cove with some water hyacinth to get past but easy access to Black Creek. On the outbound leg we saw a manatee, little blue heron and heard a bird with a very loud screech but never saw it. On the inbound led we had a swallow tailed kite do a fly-over and saw a limpkin and hawk plus the same little blue heron.

Most of the  creek was natural and the occasional homes were lovely with substantial docks – some even two story. We paddled about 15 minutes past the RR and highway bridges where we turned around last time – beyond that the creek narrowed somewhat and was completely natural and we found a sand/gravel pull-out on the left which was an ideal rest stop. Only took us an hour on the return paddle.

We decided on pizza since we’d never had that for lunch and it was excellent with plenty to take home. We’ll definitely make a return to Peter’s Creek and hope more will participate.