PERDIDO KEY, Fla. — After 144 days and more than 7,000 miles of paddling, a longtime kayaker has reached the Gulf Coast, a journey he undertook to honor his late wife and raise money for a global medical charity.
Mark Ervin, 65, set out from Nova Scotia and worked his way south, paddling rivers and bays and sleeping in a tent wherever he could find shelter. This week he is making his way from Mobile Bay toward the Florida Panhandle before turning north to head home.
The trip is a fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders, the organization that provides emergency medical care around the world. Ervin said the mission took on deeper meaning after the death of his wife, Kirsten, an orthopedic surgeon who died of brain cancer in 2013.
‘Some of her focus and energy I’ve taken on this trip and I thank her for her dedication,’ Ervin said.
Ervin said the people he has met along the Gulf Coast are part of what has made the journey memorable. He expects the trek back home to take another four to five months.