Long Point 03/18-19/09

So the weather changed our orginial plans of beach camping on Keewadin to camping on Round Island...but then the rains made us run all the way up to Sebastian Inlet. We ended up staying at Long Point State Park, just North of the Inlet, which was car-camping instead of paddling out to a secluded island but we made the best of it.

The campsite was actually very nice, every spot has direct access to the Indian River Lagoon via a series of sheltered lagoons and creeks. We made camp, relaxed and ate a light lunch before going out and exploring with the paddlecraft. The wind was still howling but from the East so we were sheltered from the worst out it, the fishing was ok only because of the weak cold front that brought all the rain down south. Lots of trout, saw a giant snook, and tons of manatees...Gina had her first run-in with those "murderous sea-cows" and she survived, as I knew she would.

We made it back to camp just in time for a little rain to roll through, we had been up late the night before and had also woken up very early that morning so we took a little nap and awoke just as the sun was coming back out, perfect timing. I cooked Gina her veal cutlet and then we built a fire and drank wine and beer till we fell asleep...quite glorious.

The next morning I woke up to watch the sunrise and go fishing, Gina slept away in the tent while I went out into the lagoon and caught a ton of trout, I eventually had me fill and returned to the camp to find gina just waking up. We broke camp and headed down to the inlet to check it out. Lots of surfers and fisherman, huge standing waves were breaking just outside of the inlet, some were pushing 10'-12', pretty gnarly.

We left the inlet and had some breakfast in Vero Beach, drove down A1A to Round Island near Stuart and went out paddling again. Round Island was placid and peaceful, not much for fishing but it was nice to get out and work off the deadly deadly breakfast of french toast, bacon, sausages, pancakes, toast, and home fries...ughh, deadly greasy breakfast I love so much.

On the return from one of the spoil islands near the west bank of the IRL the wind changed direction and picked up, Gina had a little trouble tracking into the wind but we eventually returned to the launch, loaded up and headed home...stopping at Sonic for more deadly greasy goodness...and milkshakes, delicious milkshakes.