JEM Watercraft

OnkaBob wrote:Where are you thinking of starting from?

I've sent you a PM. I'm thinking of putting in at Hindmarsh Island marina, and paddling across the Murray mouth to Godfrey's landing, pick up a permit and then down somewhere about Mark's landing or somewhere around the same area on the Younghusband peninsula side. That would be a max of 15-20k the first day. Another day wandering around and fishing various spots in the Coorong and then back the next day. If it's nice weather could make it a 4 dayer.

You'd be very welcome to join me.

Do you have plenty of options for camping spots?
My favorite trips are do it at your own speed ,I like to get up drink coffee and leave not really on a schedule , paddle fish stop and do it again all day . I normally start looking for a place to camp 1 to 1 1/2 hours before dark, it takes about thirty minutes to set up camp and have a fire going.
I love the paddling late in the afternoon till dark thirty ,thats when most of the critters are most active ,to me it is the best part of the day and I dont have a problem setting up camp in the dark.
I do like setting up and staying in one camp for several days.
Ron

We ( the gang ) use to break camp everyday and paddle then set up camp and the next day move on repeating the process. The last 4 or 5 trips we would camp the 1st day then break camp and move down river ( normally to get away from civilization ) and set up camp , then spend two nights in that camp. Break camp and move further on and again set up camp and spend two nights there making the last day's paddle a short one to the take out.
When the whole trip is about 20 miles downriver ( river miles ) it is easy to do that.
One trip we paddled out to an island and spent all the time ( 4 nights beach coming and fishing ) on the one island then returned to the vehicles.

Chuck.

goanywhere wrote: That would be a max of 15-20k the first day.

Using Google Earth's ruler function in "path" mode gives just over 15km from Godfrey's to Mark Point.
Then there is nearly 14km from the marina to Godfrey's giving a total of about 29.
And then there is a significant portage to get around the Goolwa barrage because the marina is on the freshwater side.
That makes it a biggish day if you want to take it easy and do some fishing on the way.

Launching from Sugar's Beach or the Mundoo ramp would be a better bet (just over 20km) however I am not sure about vehicle security.
(Does this guy worry about EVERYTHING? Well yeah, pretty much )

It's a shame there are no campsites between Godfrey's and Mark point as something about midway would give a lot more options if things turned out difficult on the day.

No 19 beacon ramp (near the barrage) to Godfrey's is just under 12 km. Not as far from civilisation as you may want to go but then the second day could be spent between there and Tauwitchery, with fishing, photos etc and could still be a good trip.

According to Google Maps it is just over 20 k's to Mark's Point from the Hindmarsh Island marina.



I was trying to describe this route as the first day's journey. Once at Mark's point there are several options, but that's a good spot for camping as there are a few trees there for fire wood, which is scarce on the peninsular side. Camping on the southern side of the channel is more isolated and secure, and it is possible to nestle between sand dunes for wind protection. So it would be possible to set up camp on the peninsular, paddle across to collect a bit of firewood and back again to the camp.