Talking About Adventure In Small Boats
chumbucket
Member
Since SharkChow wasn't able to present any special awards we should throw a few up on the discussion forum. We can start with nominations for the Best Hallucination.
Mine was a huge Christmas lighting display in the middle of Whitewater Bay. It had snowflakes and swirls and the words “Welcome to Winterfest Pigeon Forge” all lit up in white lights. It was spectacular. I didn’t want to look away.
Broccoli.... giant, never-ending jungles, clouds, islands, continents, and universes of broccoli. Floating across the sea and in the sky. With tentacles. And sparkles.
Hey, what can I say?!?
It stems from nightmares I used to have working overnight stocking produce years ago... and it's doubly difficult since I'm a vegetarian!
PrivateHam
Member
On the way from 10,000 islands to Indian Key Pass, we saw a bright green glowing area in the water that was a 6 'x8' oval shape. We thought we were hallucinating at first. It almost looked like it was being projected into the water from above and it had pretty distinct borders. We turned around and stopped next to it for a mintue or so and it appeared to be relatively stationary. We really had no idea what it was. We thought maybe someone dropped a headlamp and it was still glowing. We started to leave and the light turned off completely. It was really odd. Our assumption is that it was some sort of fish, or school of fish, that glowed. Or aliens.
If anybody has any idea what it might have been, I would love to know.
As far as actual hallucinations go, for hours I thought the Western-most tall condo building on Marco Island was built on top of a jumble of large rocks only to realize there were palm trees that surrounded the base of the building once we got next to it.
CleanSlate
Member
This one is from the 2013EC. I had fond memories of the seeing all the kayaks pulled up on the beach at Wiggins pass which was night #2 for many of the participants that year. The following evening, we were all spaced out and I was sailing at night alone past Marco and entering the 10000 islands area. I had heard that at least some tribers were planning on camping at Panther key so I made that my destination. It had been a long day on the outside, my eyes were stinging because of wind, sun, and salt, and I was over tired. As I was approaching Panther key from a distance (at night), I saw what I thought were dozens of kayaks and boats pulled up on one of the beaches just like I had seen at Wiggins pass. It looked so real. As I got closer, I started to realize that what I saw was just logs, rocks, and other debris up on the beach. There wasn't a soul around. I paddled around to various other beaches and the same scenario played out. I thought I saw kayaks but when I got closer, they were just naturally occurring items. Finally I just picked the best beach I could find and set-up camp.
I got up to take a pee a couple of hours later and saw some dim lights off-shore. I figured that they might just possibly belong to some other water-tribers going through the same thing I had gone through a couple of hours earlier so I guided them in with my light. It was JoeWildLife and Daneto. I probably saved them 10 or 15 minutes of looking for a good beach but I'm sure that 10 or 15 minutes at that time of night was appreciated.
danceswithwaves
Member
Chum,
As I was cruising along the south end of Marco at 1am, suddenly a cruise liner pulled out in front of me. It was moving left to right and close enough that I wondered if the pilot knew I was there. I took evasive action and avoided a collision. Momentarily, I realized that I was looking at a block of condos and, yep, you guessed it, they weren't movin'. I found myself in Caxambas Pass, not knowing why I was there. I did a couple 360s. Realized I wasn't making any rational sense and pulled over for a 1 hour nap. Yikes. Royd
chumbucket
Member
Excellent! Keep 'em coming.
Pigeon Forge is actually a town at the base of the Smoky Mountains. The sign that I saw in Whitewater Bay was the same one they put next to the highway as you approach the town. I still wonder why they moved it all the way down to Whitewater Bay 
ZeroTheHero
Member
Night 2 off the Everglades I looked up at the stars and thought that it was so cool that the constelations were traced in glowing white lines. Everywhere I looked I saw this. As I was muttering to myself I noted that I particulaly liked the Ninja constelation. Wait, Ninja? I shook it off for a while but it kept coming back. Also I had a palm tree just a little ways off to port the whole night. I would see it out of the corner of my eye, turn, and it would vanish. Sneeky bugger! And like so many else I saw trees and land a lot, even when were 11 miles out to sea.
In 2013 my wife, GreenMountainGal, saw a cruise ship off Cape Sable. It wasn't really there but man could she see it!
JoeWildlife
Member
Cleanslate, you probably saved me a lot more than 15 minutes finding a beach! I was unfamiliar with the area, didn't have any waypoints, and the whole area had a surreal feel to it. There was a white light on another boat that seemed to be tracking us and we never did make contact or know who it was... but the hallucinations didn't start for a couple nights for me. While I was crossing Coot Bay in the dark after 36 hours of paddling, I kept getting the feeling I was paddling through a mangrove tunnel, just like I was in the Nightmare. I would turn on my headlight and see nothing, turn it off and giggle a bit. I turned the think on and off about a dozen times to the safe effect. Then when I was nearing Flamingo in the canal, I started seeing darkened cabins, boathouses, and seawalls on the bank, very dimly lit by my one remaining bow navigation lights. I'd click on my headlight and it would be only mangroves. Turn it off and WHAM, the man-made, but darkened features where there all right, just to dissappear again when I turned the headlight on again. It was really kind of an amusing and fun way to pass the time. I got some zzz's at Flamingo and everything was normal again in the morning.
Joe
YukonJohn
Member
Meandering around for 4-5 hours, just outside of Key Largo during EC2013. It was the blackest of night, except for the stars. Stars like I had never seen before. I heard music, paddling toward it, thinking it must be the finish line I came across a backwoods jazz club with people talking, dancing, drinking, and smoking both inside and outside on the deck. I called out, wondering where the Bay Cove Motel was. They ignored me. I came closer calling out again. Ignored again. Still closer until I paddled my kayak right through the deck, the people, and the building. The music stopped. I said whoa, deciding where I had been hours before must be the finish line. In the light of early morning the multiple hallucinations ended, and I made my way to Key Largo.
juscuz
Member
For me it's mostly auditory. I hear indistinct conversation, turn to see what boat might be coming up from astern & there's no one there. After a few of those I stop looking for the source. Then on the last night, while waiting out the squall the wouldn't quit, I heard a young couple working out together & counting reps: "5, 6, 7, 8 . . ." & on the last afternoon I kept hearing a small outboard skiff overtaking me from behind - engine noise, bow wave shush, folks yakkin & laffin & having a great time - yup, nobody there - broad daylight!
NorthernLight
Member
My hallucinations are a couple years old..but its distinctly unsettling to see Toby (whitecaps) sitting on a dock at midnight in Lemon Bay. Or at least thats the name my brain put on the man in a hat who kept waving at me all night. At least he distracted me from the squirrels...
Sirtackalot
Member
3 years ago coming into Marco Island, Kokopeddle and I both saw a bridge with cars where there was none. This year I kept seeing a bridge crossing the Gulf . It was normally over the top of me . At least it was a really tall bridge so I did not have to take down the mast. Also saw trees and roots intermixed with the stars. And then there was the voices. I kept hearing voices and music. Was always behind me too. And then the race started............ha
Pedaling up the long canal to Ecity on the way to CP2 I awoke to see a red marker 2 feet from my bow dead on, my minor adrenaline jolt cleared enough brain matter so i could identify my red Hobie mast two feet in front of me........
Bermudaboy
Member
PrivateHam:
What night was that Monday night/ Tues early morning? Lost my spot in its dry bag, about 7 miles off entrance to Indian Pass Entrance when the wind shut off just before midnight, don't think it would make that much glow though.. Figured not enough weight to submerge it but the end of tracking at that point suggests it did sink, maybe just buoyant neutral a few fee under the water....
BB
PrivateHam
Member
Bermudaboy,
Yes, Monday night probably after 8 or 9pm. By midnight, we were already into the pass. This thing was bright. As far as gear goes, it would have had to be a high powered headlamp or flashlight. But, after all of the glowing fish and jelly fish we saw later in the trip near the Cape, I figure what we saw had to be some sort of giant glowing fish or a school of them. Or aliens. It was cool. Whatever it was had the ability to shut off instantly after a few minutes. It didn't fade to black. It just turned off. Or, maybe we hallucinated the whole thing.
BeastOarman
Member
Just to be clear, I never wanted the hallucinations. When rowing, I got my full 8 hours of sleep almost every night. There was a time in my life when I got a kick out of pulling all-nighters, but this is not that time.
That said, I knew with kayaking it could- and would - be different. After all, I could see where I was going so night travel was an option. So I planned ahead for the hallucinations. Own them, make the your own. So I put my Hawaiian hula girl, dirtylittledancergirl, on my bow deck and hoped for the best!
Well, you can't own what was never yours. And so when I had a spectacular all-night paddle with LifeAquatic on the outside from Rabbit Key to Ponce de Leon, it was a toll both that greeted me in the early hours of dawn. Beautiful, four lanes and all of them with green lights and no lines. Never seen such a sight in all my years. After that, I was not surprised when my GPS turned into a cello-pack of crackers. It was all good.
EchoFin
Member
I appreciated the white bearded man on my bow last year, he was a cross between Santa and Ernest; when I said "Hey, how are you doin", he seemed to fade out with a smile and I laughed at myself outloud. I never saw him again though, and I missed him. I too, heard many muted half conversations of boaters coming up behind me, men and women chatting incomprehensively, thousands of dolphin surfacing and breathing, just out of sight. Also, I think I may have the record for spooking the most manatee pods this year, 5 encounters, each one more adrenaline pumping than the last, I even hit one with my paddle stroke, scared the heck outta both of us, I'm sure.
We were drifting Southwest off Cape Romano and well off course at about 5 am on Tuesday morn when I became convinced that someone was sitting across from me in the cockpit and watching me sail. I thought it was Yolo who had gotten up to relieve me until I heard his snoring coming from up forward. I also kept hearing voices chatting away in the darkness around the boat. Right about the time that the "ghost" disappeared, the wind came back up and veered North so that I could swing a hard left to get us back on course.
Good stories don't come cheap!
ZippyChick
Member
PrivateHam:
We did see some bioluminescence in the water, round about the Sanibel Causeway. Not a hallucination, it was real.
Maybe that was your glowing orb?
I had always wanted to see bioluminescence, so I was jazzed.
However, there must be some kind of Murphy's Law for paddlers. I had just jumped out on the beach for some, ahem, private business when I noticed all the water around me was glowing green.... in full view of the causeway above. :-)
Sigh. The ONE time when you DON'T want the water around you lit up and glowing!
Moose
Member
We were cruising down Pine Island Sound after dark. "That's weird...I keep thinking I'm seeing telephone poles." "That is strange. Now I'm seeing em too." We kept "seeing" them for a long time, but when you'd try to shine the spotlight on em, they'd just disappear into the haze. Finally, after a couple more miles, they came into clear view: Giant black power line poles without a single light or reflector on them! Scared the bejeebers outta me! Makes me wonder what else we read about on the charts and quickly forgot about or didn't understand.
Cwolfe
Member
Every year I plan on one marathon paddling session that begins after a night of only a couple hours of sleep. So confused sensory interpretation is a given. Some years are better than others. Some are pleasant, some scary and some demonic. Commonplace is perception of a wall of water in front of me or the concept of paddling down or up hill. Another disturbing one is the perception of paddling in a exercise pool going nowhere.
My nomination for my favorite was last year while single blading on 30 or so hours into a stretch, crossing the lower part of Whitewater Bay in the dark. I was sleep paddling where I close my eyes for "just a minute" while I paddle. When I opened my eyes, Jane Russell, the young Jane Russell of WWII pinup fame (my father's Jane Russell) was sitting cross legged in the bow of my Kruger. Woofda. Messed my head for sure. But it was Jane Russell...... cross my heart. She didn't stay too long and a Seawind is not affected much by weight (even if top heavy) so I didn't mind. She beat the heck out of those scary trees that would jump out and scare me. Where do these neuronal imprints come from? Just makes me more amazed at the complexity of the mind.
Had a discussion with a ultradistance runner, biker friend of mine. We opened up the topic of mermaids as hallucinations. Realitively common amongst paddlers. No one ever seems to report inverse mermaids, being fish like cephalad and human on the caudal end of things. Go figure yet be thankful.
It indeed is a long strange trip each and ever year.
Cwolfe
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