Chapter 16
Chapter sixteen
Warner – Back to the Island
Paddleboarding was going to be awesome. We put them in the water right at our site.
I’d never had that before but was marking this down as one of the best campgrounds ever.
Since I had to have the big talk with Cody and then we all headed into Key West yesterday, I put off inflating our board, but I was up at first light to do it.
I inflated Vince and Joey’s as well with my electric pump.
Since our site was considered primitive, we didn’t have an electric hookup like at our previous site, but I could connect the pump to the car.
There was a boat dock on the other side of the peninsula that we were on, but we didn’t need that for paddling. While I waited for everyone to get up and ready, I also packed water and snacks in a little cooler, along with other things we might need like sunscreen and ChapStick.
“Daddy?” Cody stuck his head out of the tent and looked around. “I’m hungry.” Of course he was; the scents of breakfast were already in the air. I suspected someone nearby was frying bacon and sausage.
“Wash your face. Here.” I handed him a wet wipe so he could freshen up. “Let’s go see what’s cooking.”
Cody sniffed the air and his stomach growled. “Yes, please.”
We made our way around camp to where Drew had set up the food station and put together a couple of breakfast burritos.
While we ate, Vince and Joey showed up, and we chatted about the day.
Everyone was ready to hit the water. I eyed Cody warily, trying to be sure of his mood.
I didn’t want him getting pissed off and running away again.
I wanted him to stay and enjoy himself. That was my main concern for the day.
As we chatted with others, it seemed some of our group were renting kayaks. The inflatables sure made carrying them easier for a road trip.
Crow and Skyler joined us before we finished eating. “You guys putting in this morning?” Crow asked.
“Duh. Are you coming with us or what?” Of course I wanted Crow around.
He was my best friend, and at one time, we were practically joined at the hip.
Back then, it would have been just us out on the water.
But I loved having significant others to share our love of the outdoors with.
Skyler had apparently not been so sure about it at first, but he was just as into it as the rest of us now.
“We can for sure. But you know, guys, paddling here is not like along the river.” Crow motioned east to west.
“Oh?” Cody asked.
“It’s more like Gandy with mangroves and open water,” Crow explained.
“What do you mean by mangroves?” Vince asked. He was a recent Florida transplant, having moved here after retiring from a successful career in F1 racing.
It took a minute for anyone to answer since we were all stuffing our faces with fresh tortilla, egg, sausage, and cheese, but finally Crow washed his bite down with some coffee.
“The trees that are all around the water with their walking roots.” He made hand motions like an upside-down claw to help illustrate.
“Around Gandy up in St. Pete and Tampa, they’re everywhere, and you can paddle around and through them. Sometimes they make tunnels.”
“That sounds cool.” Joey bounced in his seat, much like Cody normally tended to do.
“It really is.” Cody had gone with me a few times around Gandy. “Even if we don’t go into any groves today, it’ll be nice. The open water will be great to swim in.”
“Do you think we’ll see aminimals?” Joey asked, mispronouncing the word in a cute way that showed he was already in little head space. Cody didn’t normally go there when people outside our group were around, while Joey didn’t seem to care about things like that.
One of the other littles in the group, Danny, and his daddy, Lee, came over. “Hey, guys. We’re going in the water. Are you?”
Levi and Hudson were right behind them. This was why I loved our group.
We all knew each other, and all our friends were super nice.
Danny and Levi were both littles and they joined our boys, chatting away, leaving us daddies to plan our route.
Cody couldn’t hold back his little when surrounded by three others.
When I caught his eye, I smiled at him, and he blushed, smiling back, making our relationship feel new again.
In the distance, a late rooster crowed. “Guess that means it’s time to go.
” I stood and gathered our garbage, and in a few minutes, we headed to our site and got in the water.
We languidly paddled around the immediate area, not in a hurry to go off until our friends had gathered.
“Look, Cody.” I pointed to the rocks along the shore.
“Ohmygosh. Is that an iguana?”
“It looks like it to me.”
“Oh wow. I didn’t think ‘bout ‘guanas. I want a picture.” He maneuvered around to get his phone out of the waterproof pack. “Paddle closer, Daddy.”
Ever so slowly, I moved closer to the shore, hoping I didn’t scare it off before Cody could get his picture. “Easy…”
He snapped his camera several times. “Wait and let me look.” As he flipped through the pictures he had taken, the iguana got nervous and skittered away. “Oh. Damn.”
“Language.”
“Oops. Sorry, Daddy. But I did get one good one.” He stuffed his phone back into the pouch to keep it safe.
“I’m sure we’ll see more before the end of the day.”
“I hope so. Joey will love it. Oh! Here they come. Joey!” He waved his hand in the air, and Vince paddled over to us.
“I’m getting the hang of this. Slowly.”
“You can swim, right?” I asked.
“Yes. Both of us can.” Vince nodded his head.
“Then we should go out deeper. If you tip over, it’s an easier fall.” I started angling us out.
Cody kicked his feet in the water. “Guess what, Joey?” He didn’t wait even half a second for Joey to actually guess. “I saw a ‘guana.”
“A what?”
“You know. A ‘guana. It’s a big pre’storic-looking lizard. Lalalala…” Cody stuck his tongue out and wiggled it around.
“I don’t think they do that.” I chuckled.
“Whatever.” He rolled his eyes and Joey giggled.
“I want to see a ‘guana too, Daddy.” He looked up at Vince, who was, by all accounts, concentrating very hard on keeping the board moving in the direction he wanted to go.
“I’m sure we’ll see some.” His face was not relaxed.
Crow and Skyler paddled up next to us, with Skyler also sharing the board with his daddy. “Hey, all.”
The iguana story came up again. As we floated along, the boys were occupied with watching the shoreline for more lizards. They didn’t see any right away, but there was a snowy white egret stalking fingerlings near the shoreline for them to ogle and take pictures of.
We still weren’t moving much, though, since we were waiting for the other two little-parties.
It didn’t take much longer for them to join us with Danny and Lee on one board and Levi and Hudson on another.
Danny and Levi were best friends, but Danny had previously been closer to Skyler.
All the littles got along well, but Crow worried about Skyler sometimes.
He wasn’t a little or a pup, and he wasn’t all that into BDSM either, although, according to Crow, they did play that way sometimes.
Skyler was adaptable and easygoing, and he seemed to gravitate toward our littles.
I didn’t know whether that was because Crow was my best friend or, as I suspected, because he might be a middle.
He naturally took on the role of babysitter for them.
Either way, the four of them were chatting and pointing things out along the way as we headed around the islands.
We went out away from our site for a few hours, staying relatively close to the shore, and then found a spot to stop for lunch.
I was getting hungry for sure. We ate sandwiches and fruit that we’d packed, and the boys all swam for a bit.
Then we packed up, not leaving anything behind, and headed back toward camp.
Thankfully, Vince had managed not to tip the board and seemed a lot more relaxed on the way back.
Along the way, there were more birds, iguanas hanging out in the trees, and at one point, several stingrays darted underneath our boards. Joey squealed and pulled his feet up on the board. Cody giggled, but not in a mean way. “They won’t hurt you unless you step on ‘em.”
“I’ll just be safe though.”
Osprey flew above us, hunting for their own lunch, and Crow pointed them out. But none of that compared to the moment Danny spotted a dolphin. “Ohmygawd-ohmygawd. Look, look, look.” Everyone looked in the direction he pointed and gestured to.
A second later, two dolphins bobbed up out of the water, and all the boys squealed.
All the daddies turned the paddleboards so we could paddle closer, but the dolphins weren’t having that.
They disappeared. “Whoa. They stay under the water a long, long time.” Cody pointed out toward the open water. “There they are waaaay out there.”
“Did anyone get a picture?” It was a memory they would want to keep, but no one had their phones out.
“Rats.” Cody splashed the water beside the board. “Next time, I’ll get them.” Even without pictures, I was pretty sure it was a moment they’d never forget.
The closer we got to the campground, the more the boys splashed and played, until finally a couple of them went into the water.
Cody jumped in right after them. It was a good thing we had as many daddies as boys to keep watch on them, and we circled them as they swam and played.
Eventually, they each found their boards again.
Cody draped his upper body over the top of the board instead of getting all the way on.
“You tired?” I asked.
He moaned a bit. “Uh-huh.”
“We’re almost there.” I paddled closer to the shore toward where I could already see our campsite, and in a few, we were there.