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Warm weather is here! Trips this month: 11
4/2/06
Because of the time change I took off and hour early last night so I was able to get a reasonably early start this morning. I knew that with the warm weather the waterways would be busy so I put in at Cedar Point along Heckscher Dr. and headed north. Since it was just past mid-tide I had hoped to see the White Pelicans gathered at the confluence point but as I rounded the bend I could see none of the big white guys. I continued on past the sea daisy island at the confluence and headed north toward the point passing a couple of kayak fishermen as I went. Once at the point I paused briefly to eat some breakfast and then headed on north in the stream that runs north and eventually becomes Pumpkin Hill when it crosses Cedar Point Road. I was a little disappointed in the lack of photo opportunities along the way and I was just about to resign myself to a non-photo day when just after turning back south I scared up a Green Heron who must have been lurking in the grass a few feet from where I passed. I saw where it flew to - just a few feet away and I could see it perched in the grass to watch me as I passed by. From my past experiences with these brave little birds I felt pretty confident that he would wait for me and pose. Sure enough, I pulled into the pool where he was and he climbed down from his grassy perch and hid in the grass below. His curiosity quickly got the better of him and he soon began peering out at me and climbed back out into the open as I glided to within about five feet of him. He began to twist his head about to get a better look at me and he also began to cluck as he raised his wild crest in alarm. We sat there for several minutes eyeing each other and I began clucking back at him and even talked to him a bit. I managed to inch myself to within a couple of feet of him and was surprised how tolerant he was of my presence. Finally, he flew off and returned to the general area where he had begun. I wondered if he/she had a nest in the vicinity this accounted for his unwillingness to leave the area. For whatever reason it provided me with the best group of Green Heron photos I have ever taken. As I headed back south I nearly ran head-on into a pair of Dolphins as they headed out to the ICW. Coming around a sharp curve near the large sandbar I had to put on the brakes when I saw the two glistening bodies just a few feet in front of me. They continued on without incident and I did the same. See the pictures from this trip
4/3/06
I saw that the temperature was supposed to be in the high 80's today so I knew it would be a great day to "veg" in my hammock on the FGR. I threw together a quick lunch and grabbed a beer and my book and headed out. I decided to put-in at Alimacani so that I would get a bit more of a paddle in. I headed toward Simpsons on the incoming tide having to paddle very little. I didn't see much on the way down - no sign of the Reddish that have been so evident this spring. I was soon at my hammock spot - the same place Hope and I visited on Friday and in a few minutes was swinging in the warm breeze with PD James' latest. A large dark bird was circling overhead letting the breeze carry him over Little Talbot toward the beach. At first I thought it was a Red Tailed Hawk but after examining the photos I'm pretty sure it was an immature Bald Eagle. After eating, the breeze died down suddenly and it got warm enough to at least think about taking a dip. It was freezing, of course, and a dip was all I could stand. I explored some potential campsites along the Simpsons Creek bank that might be doable except for it being a little far from the water. With work looming I packed up and with the tide now close to slack I headed across to the grass island and took one of the streams that runs through the middle. I stopped at the Yacht Basin and shot some pictures of the young Osprey who hangs out there and a Great Blue and then completed my journey back to the ramp. See the pictures from this trip
4/5/06
I slept in this morning which I greatly needed but it made me get a pretty late start on the paddling. Things are starting to heat up at work so I knew that today might be the last opportunity to paddle for a few days. I decided to head to Pumpkin Hill even though my late start meant that I would be a little pressed for time. With the tide at near dead low PH is a pretty good option with plenty of water the entire way. I was hoping that the low tide would also mean lot's of opportunities to shoot herons feeding in the shallows.
That turned out to be quite an understatement as I came upon a Great Blue Heron soon after I set out who was so intent on feeding that he allowed me to follow him in the shallows and shoot him for close to 30 minutes. I have never been able to watch a Great Blue feeding for so long or from such a close distance. He had a very successful day of fishing - coming up with large fish on several occasions which he promptly sent wriggling down his gullet. As he stalked the fish I could tell when he was about to plunge his head under the water by the way he would begin to stick his neck out from his body eventually holding at an angle that was nearly parallel to the surface of the water. After a few seconds of doing this his head would lunge forward and disappear under the surface of the water as his enormous wings would fly up in a canopy over his head. The head would then emerge - often with a fish speared through one of his bills which he would then work down to the tip. In one motion he would then transfer the speared fish from his beak to his gullet which would then become engorged as the still live fish headed toward the stomach. Occasionally, he would shake and fluff his feathers to dry off and then continue his hunt. He flew off occasionally when I got too close but he never flew far and when I finally decided to move on he flew back to the the exact spot where we had begun our trek.
As soon as I started on toward the point I saw a large white shape gliding out from the shoreline ahead of me and he was soon joined by a second. As I got closer the pair of White Pelicans took off flying ahead of me in the channel the leads to the point. I followed them again but my attention was soon diverted by the distinct sound of Oyster Catchers. I looked to my left where a long chain of Oyster Beds runs along the southern bank of the creek in this section. There were a total of at least 20 Oyster Catchers gathered on the beds - by far the most I have seen at one time in this area. I made several passes and got some great shots. My preset time for turning back had already passed so I decided to park near one of the beds and eat my lunch rather than finish the journey to the point. As I sat there reviewing my pictures I watched the Pelican Pair fly back up the creek in the direction we had come. After my break I caught the incoming current and began heading back. As I rounded the first bend I spotted the Pelicans who were now joined by four others sitting on a sandbar that was slowly being covered by the incoming tide.
I approached slowly on the tide and watched them as they groomed themselves. Finally, as I got near, four of them scooted off the bar into the water while one of them who had been sitting off by himself stayed put. I got one really nice shot of him sitting there watching his friends floating by as if to say - "hey - where you guys going? - oh yeah, wait for me!" Not a bad way to record my 400th trip.
See the pictures from this trip
4/11/06
Andrew's final concert of his senior year at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts was tonight and so with the outage at an end I decided to go into work a little late. That gave me a free afternoon and the tides were right to make a trip down Simpsons Creek. When I woke up this morning, however, I could hear the wind howling and quick check of the internet told me that rather than the previously forecast calm conditions there were small craft and coastal flood warnings out. Had I known there would be these kind of conditions I would have made plans to head to the St. Mary's but it was too late to make that kind of trip on the spur of the moment so I decided to chance following my original plans. After crossing the several bridges between my house and the A1A bridge over Simpsons and seeing nothing but whitecaps I was a bit apprehensive as I pulled over on the side of the road. I could see that the flood tide had pushed a lot of extra water into the creek and there was good flow heading north out to the sound into the teeth of a 15-20 mph wind. I set out and almost immediately crossed paths with a male Red Breasted Merganser who seemed determined to stay in the same general area near the ramp. I made my way toward the sound without seeing too many photo ops. My intention was to not even attempt the open water of the sound but instead to head into Myrtle Creek and set my hammock up in the clearing at the north end of Long Island where I camped years ago. Once I reached the sound I saw that the water was not as rough as I had feared and so I began to explore a little bit to the west of the mouth of Simpsons. The oyster beds located there were full of Sandpipers and at one point an Osprey landed and appeared to be trying to eat one of the shellfish. I decided to try to find a way to get onto the small island that is now a part of the Machaba Balu Preserve - the one that is located in the marsh between Long Island and Big Talbot Island. Unfortunately, by the time I decided to do this the water had dropped too much and it would have required too much tromping through the mud in order to gain access so I decided to leave it for another day.
I wound up eating my lunch while sitting on the sand at the very end of Big Talbot before heading back. Not long after re-entering Simpsons I spotted a female Red Breasted Merganser sitting on a sandbar. She also seemed determined to not move from her perch and I began to wonder if she had a nest nearby. I made the rest of the trip fairly easily. The water level was low enough that the wind only effected me occasionally and when it did it was usually at my back. When I reached the area near the ramp where I had crossed paths with the Male Merganser I saw him again only now he was doing exactly what the female on the other end of the creek was doing - sitting on a sandbar. I eased over to him and was able to get the best photos of a Merganser I've ever managed as he calmly got up and waddled into the water. I nearly ran over him as I continued on to the ramp and I wondered if he too was being protective of a nearby nest. See the pictures from this trip
4/12/06 I managed to convince the Church Lady to blow off Wednesday Prayer meeting and come play with me on the FGR. I guess she felt sorry for me when I informed her that the unit that we had just started up was down again due to a tube leak and I was looking at doing a start-up all over again. We picked up our sandwich at Nicoles and got in the water behind the Ribault Club about and hour after the tide had turned. The wind was in our face but it wasn't nearly as fierce as the day before and the current was manageable as we made our way along the west side of the grass island before cutting into the interior. We soon were at our destination - the east bank of the mouth of Simpsons Creek on Little Talbot Island. We set up our hammocks and chairs and since we had both skipped breakfast we ate and drank and then crawled into our swinging beds and dozed in the warm sun and cool breeze. Far too soon it was time to head back so we did so reluctantly - making a pass in the yacht basin but seeing only the young Osprey who has been hanging out there we didn't stay. No pictures today.
4/16/06
The outage is over and my night shift came to an end on Friday night. For some reason, I was unable to sleep last night and so wound up getting up at 6:00 am this morning which is probably a good thing considering that I will be back on my day routine tomorrow. At any rate - it gave me an excuse to hit the water and have my own Easter sunrise service on Pumpkin Hill Creek. I managed to reach the water just as the sun peeked over the trees on Black Hammock. The area in front of the put-in was packed full of all types of Herons and Egrets feeding in the shallows along with various Sand Pipers and a lone White Pelican. After pausing to shoot some pictures from shore I noisily launched my boat and set out. Somehow I managed to not scare all of the birds away so after shooting what remained I began making my way toward the point. I followed the Pelican for a while until I spotted a Great Blue standing in more or less the same spot that I had shot the one last week. After spending some time with him I continued on to the point. I was passing the large oyster beds that line the bank that leads up to the point - disappointed in not finding any of the Oyster Catchers I had seen there on my last visit. Almost on cue a group of about eight crossed my bow and landed on one of the mounds. One of them appeared to be vigorously tugging at an oyster as I approached but soon they all flew away. There was a strong breeze coming out of the NW so once I reached the point I found only a Vulture sitting on the bank. I pulled off to eat breakfast and enjoy the cool breeze. I set out for home and was angling over to check out the oyster beds again when I glanced up at a large pine tree near the point. I saw a large chocolate brown body with what looked like a white head and after a little investigation I knew that it was a Bald Eagle. I managed to get close before he flew off and it was a real Easter treat to see him. It's nice to be able to enjoy these early morning paddles once again! See the pictures from this trip
4/19/06
I'm finally back on day shift so this is my first after work paddle in almost two months. With the tides low and the temperature in the 80's I decided a trip in FGR toward Huegenot Park's "Pony Pool" would be a relaxing way to spend the evening. I headed into the large pool behind the beach and made my way against a stiff sea breeze. I was a little disappointed in what I found in the way of bird life. I saw Ospreys, Great Blues and at least one Reddish but the shallowness of the water prevented me from getting very close and the herons were busy stalking fishermen on the shore. I skirted one spit of sand that was covered with Terns, Black Headed Gulls and Skimmers and watched as one pair of terns mated from a distance. I started to hear what sounded like thunder rumbling in the distance and the horizon toward the NE began to darken slightly. There was a lot of noise coming from Mayport so it was a while before I fully realized that a Thunderstorm was bearing down on me. I watched with amusement as the tiny Sanderlings ran quickly back and forth to the waters edge around the much larger terns and gulls. It reminded me of little kids at the beach running underfoot of the larger adults. Finally, the thunder became louder and more frequent and I began to see flashes of lightning. I paused to drink a beer but the cool sea breeze made me reconsider taking a dip. The nesting area inside the dunes at Huegenot had been quite noisy and I could see several terns swooping and sipping beneath the sand. Now, as the thunder became more ominous, a solid cloud of terns rose up in agitation as the storm approached. Almost without warning, out of the vaguely dark horizon emerged a storm front low to the ground that resembled an alien space craft. It was moving slowly but steadily toward me so I decided to not linger and headed toward the bridge. The odd cloud became even stranger as it began to show patches of light in places which may have been due to the sun getting close to the western horizon. I made it back to the ramp just as the edge of the front passed overhead and with it a strong blast of cold wind hit the ramp area blowing my hat and glasses off. The storm brought no rain but the temperature dropped 10 degrees almost instantly. The first storm of the season. See the pictures from this trip
4/21/06
One of the subscribers to my newsletter, Jack, who is also a kayak photographer sent me some pictures from his recent trip to Guana Lake and since I was already thinking about making a trip there I took the opportunity to visit there after my annual physical at the Mayo Clinic. Actually, my photo ops started as soon as I exited my truck at the Clinic. A family of Canada Geese were out for a morning stroll around the pond and the two adults were surrounded by five or six balls of fuzz. I walked quietly over and stood behind a tree and watched them before I headed in for my appointment. A couple of hours later I was on my way south on A1A and by 11 I was setting out at Six Mile ramp. No one else was at the put-in but as set out in the extremely low water I could see literally hundreds of birds walking about including Coots, Moorhens and Herons. One of the reasons that I anticipated making this trip so much after Jack's e-mail was because he reported seeing lot's of Black Necked Stilts - a bird that I spotted five years ago at the plant but haven't seen since. These odd looking black and white birds with their disproportionately long legs have always been one of my favorites. Not long after setting out I spotted the first pair and paused to shoot. I soon realized that Jack's report of seeing at least a hundred was without a doubt true. The banks of the main channel through the marsh were lined with all types of birds but on every outcropping there were at least two Stilts. The coots kept up a constant serenade punctuated with the low honk of the Ibis and kip, kip, kip of the Stilts who were obviously nesting.
One of the other things that Jack alerted me to was the presence of lots of Gators. My doctor, who is from Minnesota, has often questioned me about what I see when I paddle and today he asked again about Gators. I told him that I occasionally see them - especially in Guana and that it was an enjoyable experience that I looked forward to as long as I was able to give them wide birth. I saw my first Gator soon after reaching the main channel floating ahead of me. It wasn't long before I realized that the place was literally crawling with the critters - both in the water as well as sunning themselves on the banks. At first I was enjoying it but I have to admit that seeing five or six Alligators floating ahead of me in water not more than a couple of feet deep made me feel a bit nervous.
They would all drop below the surface quietly as I approached by every once in a while one would stay on the surface and watch me as I passed. The ones on the banks would all slither into the water as I got close - sometimes with great violence. The main thing I worried about was the amazing amount of non-gator activity that was going on under the water as small bait fish caused the water to come alive as I passed and on several occasions would smack my hand and on a couple of occasions land in my boat. I wondered what would happen if a Gator decided to chase a fish that was leaping in my boat. It never happened but it gave me pause.
I had been seeing several Great Blues as I made my way north and at one point I spotted an immature one with a fuzzy head and heavily speckled neck stalking his prey. Apparently, he was so young and inexperienced that he didn't consider me any kind of threat and I was able to sit quite close and watch. He carefully stalked his prey which was abundant under his feet but he never once pulled the trigger and so I continued on. Even the movements of extricating myself from the mud caused him little alarm. I also saw a bird that I had never seen before - a Least Bittern which resembles a smaller version of a Green Heron which I also saw.
One of the nice things about the water levels being so low (which apparently they do in the summer to control vegetation) was that there were no motorized boats in the water and I saw no other paddlers either. At one point I began to hear the unmistakable sound of an airboat approaching and soon I saw clouds of birds rise to the south including dozens of Black Crowned Night Herons. I had reached the point where the stream appeared to be too shallow to pass and at that point the air boat also appeared but he turned back as well. It looked as though he was doing some kind of tour but I'm not sure. I guess its a good way to get around the area but it sure was hell on the wildlife.
As I made my way back south there were even more gators in the water than before thanks to the air boat and I passed several babies. The youngsters hatch in June and stay close to mom for three years so these were apparently yearlings. I found the same young Heron in a different spot and once again he cared little that I was sitting five or six feet away. I began to feel sorry for him because he was such an inept feeder. At one point he clumsily ran across the spit of land he was on and then plunged his head under the water only to come up empty while the fish literally swirled between his feet. If I could have found one of the fish that had leapt into my boat I would have tossed him one.
I passed the channel back to the ramp and decided to head a little ways toward the open water. Off to the east I spotted a large mass of white and could see a couple of dozen White Pelicans feeding but it was too shallow to get close. I tried to go further south to circle back and as I did a Bald Eagle came flying down the tree line to the west and lighted in a tall pine tree for a few minutes. Heading back I spotted a Black Bellied Plover - a bird I hadn't seen since late last summer. I made my way back to the ramp having to force my way past a feeding Great Blue and masses of Coots who constantly were crossing from one side of the channel to the other. It was a lousy day as far as pure paddling was concerned but by far one of the most rewarding wildlife experiences.
See the pictures from this trip
part one
4/23/06
Way up the Upper Suwannee River! Hope and Andrew were down at Camp Weed for the weekend so after my trip to Guana on Friday I decided to do some exploring of the Upper Suwannee River near White Springs. Actually, I considered camping out Saturday night but I had a lot to do this weekend and decided to scale it back a notch and explore campsites before actually doing it. It was a foggy day as I set out from the house around 7 with a goal of getting in the water by 8:30. I pulled off on 441 near Lake City and headed north. I could tell that the elevation was definitely going up as I drove along and the fog that was starting to lift near the interstate was thick by the time I reached the Cone Bridge road. I took a dirt road a couple of miles down toward the river where it dead-ended at a fairly new concrete ramp. Across the river I could see a pair of ancient steel pilings from the remains of the old Cone Bridge. The area around the ramp had several roads going off in the woods and I could see that people had driven down to camp along the water's edge. There were about six trucks with boat trailers parked near the ramp but I didn't see anyone about. Down in the river itself the fog had nearly completely lifted and only a light mist remained dancing on the water. Within a mile of the ramp I believe that I must have passed nearly all the boats that belonged to the trailers back at the ramp and from then on I saw no one on the river for quite a while.
The scenery was outstanding and more than made up for the usual lack of visible wildlife that I usually see on the Suwannee and St. Mary's. The gage height measured at White Springs showed 51.64 ft which most of the written information for this area say is toward the bottom end of optimal paddling depth. I found the level perfect since it was plenty deep to paddle but low enough to expose the beautiful limestone formations that are the main feature of this section of the Suwannee. There were plenty of white beaches - especially at the bends but the straight sections were lined with layers of incredible limestone along with spires, caves and overhangs. Often the rock would be covered with thick vegetation and bright green ferns were popping out of the crevices and water was dripping from a source deep in the woods. There was a faint, pleasant fragrance in the air which I tracked down to either the Button Wood Trees or the massive Tupelo trees which I call the people eating trees because of their bulbous trunks that sometimes look as though they contain unsuspecting people. I began to hear a faint hum which, at first, I thought was the sound of tires on the highway. I realized after a while that I was hearing the tiny bees which were buzzing at the tops of the Tupelos and Button Woods feeding. Near Apalachicola, the bee keepers hang their hives in the Tupelo trees so that the honey will only be made from that type of blossom and it produces a uniquely flavored honey that will not crystallize. I passed one section of river about and hour north of the ramp where the river narrowed as it passed a series of tight turns and one bank was a wide shelf of exposed limestone. Here, the current, which was strong most of the way became quite swift and it took a great deal of effort to get past this short section. I pulled over at the bend and ate my breakfast and rested for 20 minutes or so. I headed on and soon passed a section of creek where five or six people in canoes were gathered fishing. They didn't seem to be connected to one another but all seemed to have decided to fish this section. I left them behind and as it was approaching my pre-determined stopping time of noon I began to look for a place to pull over. I had been seeing pairs of Pileated Woodpeckers throughout the trip, occasionally flying across the river - always too far away to shoot. Now I heard a loud hollow drumming echoing from deep in the woods which I believe is one of the ways the Pileated announces its presence. I pulled off at a spot that looked good where a rough road led up toward a field where I could see what looked like route 135 that comes out from White Springs. There was a Red Shouldered Hawk in the trees as I walked up and he made his territorial call. I could see him fly from tree to tree but never got close enough to shoot and he eventually crossed the river. I eventually decided to go a little further up the river to eat lunch where the trees were a little better for hammocking. Having seen a Gator cross in front of me in this same area I decided to not go swimming but swinging in my hammock was so nice that it was really hard to make the decision to leave. But finally I did and now since I was going with the current I knew that I was going to make better time and get back in plenty of time to meet Hope and Andrew at Camp Weed. I passed a pair of Cattle Egrets who were feeding on what looked like some kind of fresh water crabs. I continued on pausing to shoot the limestone formations along the way. I thought that I saw a branch of some kind floating along the edge of a stone shelf and I was sure that it was an inanimate object of some sort since to seem to bounce off the rocky protrusions as the current pushed it along. Suddenly, something flew out to the middle of the river and began an odd call while it flailed its wings. I looked back to the place from where it had flown and spotted two tiny balls of fuzz floating along.
The persistent calling from Mom finally got the youngster's attention and they raced over to her as fast as their thumbnail sized wings could propel them. She turned downstream and began swimming with them in close pursuit - at times it appeared that they even climbed up on her back. I tried to give them a wide berth as I caught up to them but since we were going the same direction that proved impossible. Each time that I got within 10 feet or so the female would race ahead another 10 feet and leave the two babies behind. She would then flail her wings and call and they would race to catch up. This act was repeated several times until I was able to get ahead of her and force them to head the other way. It was hilarious to watch the babies run across the water after her with their tiny fuzz covered wings lifting them up just enough to allow them to run. I later identified them as a family of Wood Ducks although the female must have been quite young since her crest was barely evident.
After that incredible encounter the rest of the trip was anti-climatic and I cruised back to the ramp. When I got close to the ramp I could see that the Old Cone Bridge was a very popular place with the locals who were all in the water enjoying the river. I packed up and headed to Wellborn and was blessed to hear my son deliver the closing sermon at the youth retreat. Afterward I kidnapped Hope and we headed toward the Stephen Foster State Park and Cultural Center to spend the night.
See the pictures from this trip
part one
4/24/06
Originally, our plans called for a day of paddling on the Suwannee and I had Hope's boat locked up on my truck and her paddling gear in the cab. After breakfast (At the Suwannee River Diner in White Springs - highly recommended!) we changed our minds and made it a day to hike and explore. But I am getting ahead of myself. As usual - I was up before dawn and so decided to explore the park. It was another foggy day and I soon found myself on the trails near the campground hoping to find one that led toward the river. I wandered through a scrub field where there was evidence of a recent fire. A Red Shouldered Hawk flushed from a tree near the road and he disappeared into the fog. The trail headed downward toward what I was sure would eventually be the river but then turned and began going through what I would call bottom timberland - a tree farm planted along the river. I followed this for some time before turning back. It was quite serene walking through the stand of pines as the fog drifted through the treetops while the shafts of sunlight broke through. I spotted a bog near the road and walked over to investigate. I was just thinking how this would be an ideal place for a Red Shoulder to hang out when a large reddish brown bird spooked and flew into a nearby tree. I was sure that my thoughts had been prophetic and began to work my way through the bog's edge to get a better view.
I thought the bird was facing away from me but suddenly I realized that even though I was seeing it's back - I was also staring at two big dark eyes in a head that was turned around completely backwards. Of course it was an Owl that I later identified as a Barred Owl and so I spent a good bit of time trying to shoot him. He seemed content to sit there in the fog and with his ability to turn his head nearly 360 degrees he never had to move to keep an eye on me. I left him and made my way back to the cabin as the Carillon Tower in the center of the park began to chime. After waking the Church Lady we decided over breakfast to head to Big Shoals where we would hike down to the water. The signs at the trailhead say to allow 2 hours and once we got to the shoals we realized why. You could make the round trip in an hour easy but once you climb down to the water from the trail - you won't want to return any time soon. We regretted not carrying our hammocks with us but I guess had we done so we would probably still be there swinging by the cool breeze listening to the roar of the water.
We finally set back out for the vehicles and from there we decided to check out the next put-in north of Cone Bridge - the CR-6 bridge. I had passed over it the day before on my way to Wellborn and wanted to check it out. There was a long dirt track down to the water on the NW side of the bridge and once we reached the river there were several places that you could choose to park. We parked on the northernmost area and set up our chairs near the water.
This section is actually another set of shoals - at least at this water level and it would probably require a portage especially if you were going upstream. It was the ideal place to cool off and we sat down on the smooth limestone rock that forms the river bed here. The bottom was consistent through out and not at all slick so we could walk up and down the whole area. In places it got deep enough to swim and I could ride the swift current down to the bridge and then walk back up. Looking north and south from this location I could see that the banks had stopped being rocky and were now fairly consistently sandy and apparently this continues up to Fargo. After an hour or so of laying in the water and drinking beer we decided that it was time to head back. We both really wanted to go on up 441 to Fargo but we decided to save that for another day. We had planned to go camping on the St. Mary's Next week but we are now thinking that we will change that to the Suwannee. See the pictures from this trip
4/28/06 Well this is probably the shortest journey I have ever recorded here - I'm exaggerating to call it a half mile. It was our first "paddle picnic" of the year and so we put-in at Alimacani. I knew by the weather forecast that it was going to be an "iffy" adventure and we almost decided to stay home. Once we got in the water I realized that I had misjudged both the weather and its effect on the tides. There was a strong breeze coming off the ocean and as soon as we passed under the bridge we realized that the sandbar at the end of Huegenot Park was already covered by waves breaking over it. The current was strong and even if there had been a place waiting for us it would have taken too long to reach it. So we quickly made a new plan and passed back under the bridge and beached at the huge bar at the entrance to FGR. I tried to find a place that would not be covered by the inrushing tide too soon and dug a fire pit, lit the charcoal and popped the cork on our Merlot. We sat sipping wine while enjoying some raw veggies fresh picked from our garden. This being our first cookout in a long while I of course did a lot of things wrong but within a few minutes we were enjoying steaks burnt to a crisp on the outside and mostly cooked on the inside. Hey - there something about sitting on a beach drinking wine with your lover that makes any food taste pretty darn good. The real treat came a few minutes before the steaks were finished when a Bald Eagle came flying low over the bridge and practically right over our heads. I had resigned myself to this being a non-photo day so my camera was stowed in my boat and by the time I retrieved it he was disappearing beneath the trees on Little Talbot Island. We sat there for a while it was obvious that the water was going to chase us to higher ground so we retreated a few times while we finished our wine and ate some cookies. About 10 minutes after the first eagle had flown over we saw another flying in nearly the same path but by the time we saw him it was too late to get my camera out. Finally, we decided to give in to the inevitable and journey back to the ramp. We got home and built a fire, had some more wine and enjoyed the cool breeze coming across the marsh. Great night.
4/30/06
After some unseasonably warm temperatures of late a spring Nor'Easter blew in and dramatically cooled things down. I got going kind of late but finally headed toward Pumpkin Hill Creek just before 8 am. The skies were overcast and slate gray as was the choppy water. As I was readying my boat at the put-in a Dolphin fin rose out of the water not more than five feet from where I was standing in what I later measured to be about 2.5 feet of water. I got my camera out and spent the next 15 minutes shooting the lone Dolphin as he fed not more than 15 feet from the shoreline. Once it appeared that he was ready to move on I got in my boat and spent the next 30 minutes following him pausing to shoot him as he splashed around following fish. At times he appeared to lift his head completely out of the water to take a look at me. As I rounded the second bend and started toward the long run just before the final bend I was blasted by a wind that was at least 20 mph - twice what was forecast and the incoming tide was rolling toward me in whitecaps. The strong breeze meant that the tide was early and the point where herons usually hang out was accessible so I ducked in there. I didn't find much but it was nice to get out of the wind and after drinking some coffee I went back to the main channel. I had by now decided to give up on making it to the point so I headed back to where one of the hiking trails in the main park comes to the water and set up my hammock. I ate my breakfast and then decided to hike around some of the trails. I found some incredibly beautiful wild flowers and paused to shoot them. When I returned to where I had set up my hammock one of the residents of Pumpkin Hill Road was there fishing and we talked for a while. He told me that the guy who lives in the trailer near the point is a friend of the former owners who tried to develop the park and that he has some kind of agreement that allows him to stay. He told me that he was supposed to leave long ago but he keeps hanging in there - I don't blame him - living rent free in one of the most beautiful spots in Jacksonville. He told me that everyone pretty much ignores the fence across the northern half of the park and no one knows why it is there. After talking with him I set out back to the put-in stopping at the island where I saw the hogs a couple of years ago. It looks like a good place to camp but I definitely saw evidence that the hogs visit there regularly - something to consider. See the pictures from this trip
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