GardenBanter.co.uk - Boating in northern Florida

I sit in this shed looking out over this pond:

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...p102009008.jpg

I have been sitting in that shed looking out at the far bank, and when
the light is just right I swear I can see water (duckweed) through the
trees on the far bank. I've scanned it with binoculars and tried to
look at it from several angles, and am now convinced that there is
more to this pond than first meets the eye. My first impulse was to
try to hike around the back edge of the pond. This proved impossible
after a few feet, one, because there is almost impenetrable "jungle"
you have to go through, and second, I'm a gimp and I don't hike that
well anyway.

So I hooked up (one at a time) two kayaks to my electric (what started
out as a) golf cart and dragged them down to the back pond. You can
just barely see the cart next to the shed. It's more of a utility
vehicle now, I put a giant solar cell on the roof last September and
haven't had to plug it in since to charge it. It also has a 1 1/2 ton
winch and a 1500w inverter, and, no, I don't play golf. But I
digress. I decided on a watery expedition (hence the boats) rather
than a hike. I dragged a sit-on-top and a normal sit inside down to
the pond, but finally decided to take the sit-on-top. That's the sit
inside yellow kayak in front of the shed.

Getting into the water was a snap. I moved the air stone out quite a
bit farther but wound up getting pretty wet and slimy in the process,
one of the reasons the sit inside kayak would have been much better.
Then I paddled on off to the north part of the pond. The pond runs
pretty much east and west, so it isn't that far to the other side.
Anyway, here is a photo of where I paddled on the other side:

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...p102009005.jpg

Actually I took the picture after backing out, which is why you can
see a clear "trail" in the duckweed. Here's what you see when you get
in the

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...p102009003.jpg

It is a really narrow sliver of water that keeps it from being two
ponds. I was of two minds discovering that. On the one hand, I had
been berating myself for not seeing it before, and finding out that
the passage was that narrow was a bit of a relief. On the other hand,
I could go no farther, and that kind of bummed me out.

With mixed emotions I kind of half-heartedly paddled around the south
part of the pond, looking without success for another way in. Needless
to say, I didn't find one. So I paddled back to the shed. In the
"winter" here the "jungle" isn't quite as dense. I fear any further
exploration of the north part of the pond will probably have to wait
until then.