Today we leave Big Munson Island.
Last night was pretty unpleasant. It was really warm, and dead calm. And when the tide came in the brine shrimp all moved up to where Josh and I were sleeping. All of their hopping around sounded like we were having a rain storm, but no such luck.
After a quick granola breakfast, we cleaned up camp to get ready for
our departure. Most of the morning was spent just
“chillin’” (in the very figurative sense), waiting
until we could be ready to go.
Aaron had to bail out his tent. During the rain storm it had collected a pool of water (I think that the fly wasn’t quite pulled tight). It was pretty impressive.
The morning is fairly cloudy, so at least it isn’t as hot as it has been.
We cleaned up camp and had an early lunch, then waited for the arriving crews. There is only one chase boat, so we needed to wait for them to arrive before we could leave.
The kayak trip back was pretty grueling. Adam was in the lead, and set a fast pace. Josh and I were together in a kayak, and managed to stay pretty near the front of the pack, keeping up with a lot of pairs of older scouts. Matt and Eric kept ahead of us, and the rest of the crew was not too far behind.
The trip back took longer than usual. We were fighting the double whammy of a head wind and a current. I’m not sure where the current came from, probably a combination of wind and tide. I’d guess that it was flowing at somewhere between 1-2 knots. That doesn’t seem like a lot, but given that we were only paddling at something like 3-4 knots, it really slowed us down.
Back at the Brinton Center, we put away our kayaks, turned in our
equipment, cleaned out the coolers, then had showers! I showered in my
island clothes first, just to get them clean enough to be in the same
room as the rest of my clothes. Then, a regular shower to get rid of the
first layer of accumulated sunblock, salt and sweat.
Adam drove me into Key West to pick up the van for our return home. The transaction at Budget was quick and easy.
The “Luau” was great fun. After a few typical Boy Scout “songs” (hmm, I just realized that maybe those should be considered early prototypes of rap), a round of Limbo and some “rope on the stump” contests, we had a delectable dinner that included various forms of crab. After dinner, each crew put on a skit, some old favorites, some creative originals.
Finally, there was a presentation on the significance of the Sea
Base patch, and then we broke back up into crews. Adam led a reflection
with us on our Sea Base week. He pointed out that this was a significant
experience we’ve all shared, and it will always be a special bond
among the members of the crew.
The guys all collected Adam’s email and IM addresses.
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