Paddleboarding at Miramar Beach, Destin, Florida

What's a week spent at the beach in Destin without trying something new?! On this occasion, Blake and I decided to try our hands at paddleboarding, which went better than I had anticipated. A few things I learned: 1) Paddleboarding takes less effort than kayaking; 2) You had better only first attempt this on a day when the water is pretty calm; and 3) When you're on a YOLO Board, it causes you to want to say "YOLO!" about every other sentence, and not because you think it's cool to do so!

Noccalula Falls

In honor of the recent notoriety Noccalula Falls is receiving as a result of a trio of kayakers paddling over the waterfall on Monday (link), I have decided to post my only photo of the falls. Noccalula Falls is near Fort Payne, Alabama.

Noccalula Falls, Alabama (c.2003) :: Mamiya M645, Sekor C 45mm f/2.8

First Paddle of the Year

As the mercury in the thermometer begins to rise and the rains begin to fall, it was time to hit the water again. Whereas last year, we spent most of our time on the Locust Fork, we want to establish ourselves as equal opportunity paddlers so...off we went to the Cahaba.

We paddled the stretch of the Cahaba River from Hwy 280 to Lorna Road, about 11.25 miles. Thanks to some current pushing us, we were able to do this run in four hours, and that with some out-of-boat sidetracking.

We were using this trip as practice for our upcoming paddling and camping trip on the Locust Fork. For more information about paddling opportunities in Alabama visit the North Jefferson Kayak Club website.

All of these photos are still-frames lifted from video shot with my handy-dandy Flip.