A Day In The Life Of Fid

For those of you who are interested, the following is a description of my life right now. 

The alarm is set for 5:30am which is better then the 4:30 it was when I was still in the Pacific time zone. Either way, it is still totally dark when I wake up. This gives me time to pack up my gear, make breakfast and a mug of coffee (I "borrowed" Kathleen's camping French Press), drag the boat and gear down to the edge of the water, and then to launch just as the sun is breaking the horizon. It is light enough to paddle before then but honest to God's truth I saw JAWS in 4th grade and it is still messing with my head. Twilight paddling freaks me out.  It tends to be cold in the morning where I need my shell but as soon as the sun comes up it gets warm fast.   I then paddle between 15 to 25 miles. The wind usually picks up midday which is why I start so early.  Sometimes that means by 9am and sometimes it never occurs (rarely). That usually determines how far I paddle that day. Sometimes I will troll a fishing line behind the boat if I feel like dealing with cleaning and cooking a fish. Pretty much if you drag something shiny that wiggles behind you then there is a fish that will come and try to eat it.  By 11am to 2 pm I have reached my goal or am driven ashore by the wind. I then unload everything and set up camp. By then I am hot and sweaty so I will often jump onto the ocean to cool off. Then it is time to eat my lunch (usually a peanut butter and jelly tortilla), send out a SPOT signal to the world to tell everyone I am alive, figure out the next days paddle on the charts, and then take a siesta on the shady side of my tent through the hottest part of the day.  Around 4:30 or 5pm I will go walk into the desert to see what I can find for a bit. Then it is time to make dinner and shortly after it is dark I go to sleep. Somewhere during the course of the afternoon I will journal the days events also.  Survival takes a lot of time. I really haven't had as much time to read as I thought I might. I also have my harmonica to keep me occupied.  It is a simple but very fulfilling existence.