George the Manatee

DuBois Park and George the Manatee

Aug, 7th 2015

DuBois Park

This has so far been my favorite place to start going out and paddle boarding.  It is great for beginners and for advanced as well.  From the scenery to the ease of access, this is a fun spot.  I've been out of  DuBois Park several times.  It is on the inside of the Jupiter inlet where there is a ton of activity all day.  You have sunbathers, people grilling, fishing, boating, kayaking, paddle boarding ect...  If you are lucky you might even see some great wildlife like I did today.  Meet my new buddy George.  He scared the the life out of me at first. 

George the Manatee

I had jumped off my board to enjoy the water a cool off.  As I'm floating there messing with my GoPro camera I see something moving towards me.  I realized it was a manatee but have never interacted with one.  I've seen the videos where they have flipped over people before.  Like every video though, who knows if there had been any antagonizing prior to the aggression.  Anyway, I put the board between myself and George.  He veered away, obviously curious as to who I was.  I immediately jumped on my board and started to follow him slowly.  I kept trying to get a good shot but the clouds were not cooperating with me.  They rolled in and made it more difficult to pursue George and get that award winning shot.  After hanging out for a little while I started to head back in.  To my surprise there is George right next to me.  Again I felt a little anxious, but I think that is normal.  I finally got a pretty decent underwater shot without bothering my new pal.  He hung out with me on my way in to the launch and eventually lost him in the clouds again.

Jupiter Inlet

It was an amazing outing today.  This is one of the main reasons I wanted to get a paddle board to begin with.  I still have yet to stand up on it yet, but I'm working on it.  Hopefully I'll get a pic of a sea turtle next.  Two have passed right under me and I'm smiling too much to grab the GoPro quick enough.

Feel free to ask me anything about my adventures.  My GoPro setup or my board.  If you have any great places in South Florida please share.  Next time we will go over safety and what you should be taking with you out on the water.

Have fun and stay active friends.   Jim.

Big Guy background

July 26th, 2015

Ok here we go.  I wanted to start writing this blog because of how much research I put into finding the best paddle board for me and the obstacles I found doing research.  Also, I want to start sharing all the great places I find while out on the water as well.

First off let me start off by letting everyone know that I am new to paddle boarding and have only gone out a couple of times so far.  I love it tremendously already though. Why?  It's a cheap way to get on the water and you can get out of it what you want.  Whether it be exercise or relaxation paddle boarding is great.

I'm going to try and give a summary of my background.  I'm 37yrs old and living in West Palm beach with my wonderful fiance.  I am 6' tall and about 300lbs currently(now the title makes sense).   I grew up on the beach and as I got older, strayed farther and farther away from one of my longest loves.  Part of it was you get busy.  Start a career, family ect...  The other part of it being of my own fears and insecurities of getting out on the water.  I haven't always been 300lbs.  In fact about 6yrs ago I was 330lbs and got all the way down to 250lbs.  I've struggled forever, just like way too many, with my weight.  So for me, taking my shirt off and jumping on a paddle board was a mental challenge first.  Then being active all through my childhood and teens, I knew what a struggle I would have physically as well.

Let's start with the research.  I wanted to find the perfect board within my price range.  The other challenge was where would I store the paddle board.  We live in a basic two bedroom apartment.  With everything I was seeing, for my height and weight, a board of over 10ft was my starting point.  Well, with 8ft ceilings, I'm not standing it up.  Now, they make plenty of wall mounts too, but after measuring the space out on the walls, it just would not work.  So this was a bit of a dilemma.  After countless hours of searching, I came across inflatable boards.  There are a couple of youtube videos out there to see how they worked and peaked my interest.  They are portable and very durable.  This wound up being the answer I'd been looking for.

I wound up going with the Solstice Tonga.  It is a 10' 8" board with a weight limit of 325lbs.  Perfect.  It was also under my price range of $800.  The board comes with pump with gauge, removable fin and carrying bag(paddle was separate).  It is a really great looking board and so far has functioned amazingly.  Solstice has several models of paddle boards and paddles.   They also have a lot of great reviews online.

This is not intended to be an advertisement for Solstice and their products.  I just want to share my experiences now and going forward with my entrance to the world of stand up paddle boarding (SUP).  Until next time.  Keep an eye out for my next post. Tell me what you want to hear about.

Jim.

  

 

Solstice - Bora Bora Inflatable Paddle Board - Gear Basics