Day 2 Avalon to Sea Isle City

No, it's not very far between Avalon and Sea Isle City. It's 4.6 mi., to be precise.

First of all, the cheerleaders woke up at 5a.m. - woke ME up at 5 a.m. Although I was thrilled to finally be staying in the StarLux in Wildwood (but not in an Airstream as they are under renovation), the walls are too thin to dampen the many hair dryers used by cheerleaders competing in Cheertech - "Best of the East." However, I met adorable 9-year-old Sara Hanellin in the elevator and doesn't she have the coolest eye shadow?!

Second of all, there was plenty of wind. Even the metal petals on the fake palms of the Starlux were fluttering - on the leeward side of the barrier island. And, as there were no guest day-trippers at the put-in who might have paddled the 3 sounds between Wildwood and Stone Harbor before and known what they would be like in the wind, we decided to exercise a new plan to paddle between sounds.

Lastly, and the best part of the day, was there was lots of bird activity to observe en route. There were bird baths, birds dropping shells to try to break them open, birds fending off attackers from nests, birds flocking, birds diving for fish, etc.

We noted this is one of the parts of paddling this area that makes it special - the wildlife. You don't see 1/10 as much on the Delaware River. The long vista is special too. If you look towards the mainland, all you see is wetland and birds, and today's paddle also had nice, puffy clouds. No boats, no houses, no people. Very relaxing - except for the wind.