As I was getting ready to launch at the Everglades City ranger station for my Wilderness Waterway trip this January in the Everglades Jennifer Brown, a video producer for the National Park Service happened to be there filming for a video on the Western Everglades she was working on. She just published the video on the National Park Service web site. (Coincidentally, Jennifer is originally from Grand Forks, North Dakota. Very near my hometown of Hallock, Minnesota)
Like most people I’m not someone who relishes the idea of being filmed but here is the end result. She did a great job.
A couple of funny things happened during the filming. The tide was rising as I stood with my back turned from the canoe doing the interview and a boat passed by. The wake knocked my canoe loose and sent it into Chokoloskee Bay. I thought, oh great, I’m going to wind up on Youtube as the dumbass paddler who almost lost his boat. But I think she edited it nicely.
Then after all the distractions of being filmed and interviewed I struck out paddling into Chokoloskee Bay starting my 80 mile trip. About 100 feet from the shore I realized I forgot to do what I normally do, get a good compass heading to Rabbit Key Pass. So I actually had no idea what direction I should be going. Knowing I was being filmed, I paddled long enough to be out of camera range and finally tried to figure out what direction I should be paddling. But I sure do look like I know what I’m doing on the video. Thanks Jennifer!
Here is the footage… http://www.nps.gov/ever/photosmultimedia/gulfcoast.htm
