A Day of Practice

It's getting close to clutch time for our kayak instructor's course in Jacksonville. The guys spent much of the day on a small local lake, practicing kayak maneuvers and going over coaching techniques. Some in-water rescues were done in the cold winter waters - in the frosty low 70's we'd estimate!

Our thanks go to the great folks at Naples Kayak, where we shopped and chewed the fat on kayaking topics. They pointed us to our great launch spot yesterday, and to Lake Avalon today. Thanks, guys. http://www.napleskayakcompany.com/

We should mention the best bird of the day. Just as we launched on Lake Avalon, Mike pointed to a bird flying low over the water, dipping it's beak in for a drink like a Barn Swallow might often does. It was Geezer Al's favorite species, a gorgeous Swallow-tailed Kite, which then soared up and circled right over us for a minute or so - spectacular!

Also, we post here a tribute to Geezer Mike's long-suffering wife Kathy (Clark). In Marco Island village, we ran across Cathy O'Clarke's Irish Pub. Though we drove back there last night, the loud and boisterous celebrations of St. Patrick's Day were more than the Geezer psyche could take - we passed up the possibility of a Guinness and drove on. We were toasting you in spirit, Kathy!