Monday March 9

SandyBottom left camp and was on the water Monday morning by 7:24 AM. SB had camped at the bridge foot with KB and KW for 8 hrs 22 mins, but were sleeping for only 6 of those hours as meals, tent management and getting into dry clothes takes some time --especially when you are tired and moving slowly.

There had been no place for a hammock. Sleeping on the therma-rest pad turned out to be painful (Saturday night she slept in a hammock) and SB did not sleep well. She is certainly planning to use that very comfortable hammock henceforth, whenever possible. The rib pain is worse in the mornings, she reported.

SB called home this morning at 9:00 and reported that she was not having fun due to the chronic rib pain and also due to the frustration of needing to paddle at a her own pace to help deal with the painful rib bruise which was at odds with the urge to speed up and try to catch up with KB and KW who were always far ahead a mile or two.

Her rib still hurt a lot and was somewhat swollen. Perhaps it is fractured after all, maybe. But the standard of care for an injured rib is to wait and let it heal. Perhaps tylenol and/or ibuprophen will help. She has lots of ibuprophen but no tylenol.

The route Monday was southeast along the gulf coast, of course.

At the end of the day (11:04 PM) SandyBottom reached Marco, FL, paddled into Goodland Bay, caught up with KB and KW who had stopped, and together they found a campsite not far from the bridge over the bay. Okay, very close to the bridge.

SB had covered 47.5 miles during the day's 15.5 hours of paddling. Her average speed computed as 47.5/15.5 was 3.07 mph.

This is a fast pace for SB. She reported that she tended to paddle at the pace of KB and KW, which is faster than her own usual pace, because they were always a mile or two ahead the entire day.

Being in Goodland Bay put SB in the 10,000 Islands area of Florida. From there, she was about 23.5 miles from CP2. If tides and wind are favorable or at least neutral, SB may reach CP2 by 3pm on Tuesday.

SandyBottom called home at 11:55 PM Monday. She was in her hammock which was strung up over water and her boat was tied nearby. She was too tired to talk much and promised to report in tomorrow morning. I'll be waiting by the phone, waiting for it to speak. Will report more news then.

Oh speak dear phone, speak.