MBCKC Paddle Reports

Fish River Launching from Big Daddy's Aug 17
Six people besides myself launched from Big Daddy's. We had no problem doing so. We still need to make sure to keep our cars away from the entrance to Big Daddy's. We were far enough back that we didn't block customers. If the place is more crowded we may have to move the cars even further---to spots near the road. It's easy to dodge that yellow rope (made to block power boats) when you launch a kayak or canoe. The weather had looked slightly threatening earlier in the day but was basically O.K. at 1:30 pm. We heard one rumble of thunder but continued on. Two of our folks turned back early. They had another commitment in the evening. We continued further upstream until another rumble of thunder made the rest of us turn around. The boat traffic on Fish River wasn't a problem. We encountered a couple small wakes made by power boats but, they weren't a problem. Big Daddy's is slightly south of Highway 32. The further upstream you go the less houses and boats there are. The area is really very pretty. There's also a cutoff almost across from Big Daddy's that takes you into an undeveloped area with flowers and birds. I hope to go further up stream in the future. On the way back we encountered another two club members who were late and had launched at another spot. That made the day's total eight plus myself---nine in all. We arrived back at Big Daddy's and put our boats away. Then we enjoyed food and drink and listened to John Reno's performance. The two with another commitment had their meal and left early. The rest of us stayed until 7 pm to hear the rest of the show. It didn't start raining until just about the time we were paying our checks. The streets were much wetter by my house. My neighborhood (and maybe Fairhope itself) probably got a lot more rain than Fish River did on 8/17. Nancy Ward