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A slow start to the month thanks to some minor health issues. Trips this month: 6
7/14/04 Gee! Halfway through July and its only my first trip. My old nemesis - the kidney stone that wouldn't leave - finally got extracted last week and it really put me on my ass for a few days. Anyway - today seemed like a good day to get out there and it was an unusually clear but hot day - 99 degrees when I set out at 6:15. It was also quite breezy with a 10-15 knot wind coming out of the south. The wind blowing over the water really felt nice though and it was at my back as I set out toward the ICW. I scared the Night Herons near my put-in as usual. They stay well hidden in the cedars until I am past them and then they announce their presence with a "WOK!" as they fly away. The old cedar was crowded with a variety of herons and I thought the wind would push me close to them but the incoming current nulled out the wind and they flew off well before I got in range. I cruised by the Great Blue rookery but there were none to be seen and I have to believe that they have now moved on. Since I never saw any evidence of young I am guessing that they were unsuccessful. I took my more northerly route out to the waterway which put me out a little north of our most recent campsite. I crossed and tied up and cooled off with a beer and a dip as I watched the sun drop on the horizon. I then headed south expecting to see the usual gaggle of white herons in the island at Shad Creek but there were very few visible. I saw a few flying toward the island but apparently they were hanging out on the leeward side of the island - out of the wind. I beached my boat in the grass and could see that an Osprey was occupying the tide monitor pole that is located in the lagoon behind the island. He didn't stay long and so I tried to sneak through the mudflat and then through the cedars so that I could photograph the herons I knew were hanging out in the trees. Another Osprey was in one of the cedars and she was moving her head about to see who I was as I approached and she flew off. I crawled through the low, overhanging branches of the cedars - destroying a fair amount of spider webs on the way. As I made my way through, I spotted a Painted Bunting flitting through the trees. Once I got in the open I had a great view of the herons but unfortunately with the sun well below the tree line it was a little too dark to get any good photos. I checked out the campsite area and found some really nice Blue Heron feathers which I collected before heading on back to my truck. See the pictures from this trip
7/16/04 I'm "batchin' it" for the next several days so I grabbed some leftover chicken and headed out to Alimacani hoping to get in a swim while I watched the sunset. As I was putting my boat in one of the few people on my mailing list who I have actually met - Keith - saw me and stopped by to say hello. Nice to put face to the names and I enjoyed chatting about the latest paddling news. The tide was close to mid-tide and there was a pretty decent sea breeze so the trip in was effortless. About the area where the channel bends to the eastern bank along the shore of Little Talbot, I noticed a smallish egret on a sandbar and he soon began to dance and spin along the edge of the water. Of course, he was one of my favorite birds to observe - the Reddish Egret and I can watch them do their comedy routine for hours. He was relatively calm, actually, and I only saw him undulate wildly a couple of times. There was a lone Dowitcher sitting on the bank nearby who seemed to be enjoying the show as much as I was. About the time I began to wonder why I have only seen lone Reddish Egrets, he flew off and landed on an adjacent sandbar where he was immediately joined by another. They did a quick dance together on the bar before she (I am projecting here....) retired to a nearby growth of grass and seemed to watch him do his thing in the nearby shallows. He must have had a little more incentive now because his dancing became a lot more frantic. As far as I could tell - she wasn't very impressed and neither were the fish who mostly seemed to frantically swim away whenever he began to spin and twirl. I still have never seen a Reddish actually catch a fish but they certainly don't let failure diminish their efforts. From there I continued on to the area at the mouth of Simpsons Creek and set up my beach hammock and took a swim in the chilly water. After eating I began to see some lightning strikes to the south but it was apparent that they were well away. At one point a partial rainbow appeared over Mayport Navy base. I finally left a little earlier than I had intended. The storm to the south seemed like it might overcome the sea breeze and the sun was disappearing behind the clouds to the west well before actual sunset so I headed home into a stiff breeze and strong current. See the pictures from this trip
7/18/04 My original plans today were to put in at Clapboard Creek and try to explore Fitzpatrick Creek but as I checked out the radar I could see a long line of thunderstorms just to the west of Jax and so I thought I'd better stay a little closer to home. So Hannah Mills it was and as usual, I harassed the Black Crowned Night Herons nearby. Their light grey plummage blends in so well with the shadows of the cedar grove that they are literally invisible to me until they alarm. In the past, I had thought that I had seen a Yellow Crowned amongst them and this time he was unmistakable. Yellow Crown's have a much longer neck and sleeker bodies than their Black Crowned cousins. A 15 knot wind was coming from the southwest and it pushed me quickly toward the ICW. I decided to take my western route and head over toward Cedar Point Creek. I passed a few Whites and many Tri-Colors but not many photo ops and after a while I realized that I had forgotten my extra batteries. Amost on cue, as soon as I had stowed my camera for the day, a large head rose out of the water a few inches from my boat. I think it was an otter - I HOPE it was an otter because if not - it was a really large SOMETHING and I'm not sure I want to know. I reached the island where Hannah and Cedar Point come together and started into the pool that leads up to the landing. Ahead of me a large dark shape rose out of the shallow water and stayed on the surface. It was a lone Dolphin who was searching the muddy bottom of this pool which was not more than two feet deep. It was so shallow that he would stay on the surface while he searched the bottom for food. I let the wind push me toward him expecting that he would soon sense my presence and take off but incredibly, he was so focused on what he was doing that the bow of my boat came within an inch of actually bumping his dorsal fin. As soon as my boat passed over his tail fin he knew I was there and took of in a swoosh. It was so shallow, however, that his dorsal fin stayed on the surface and bobbed up and down as his powerful tail sped him away. He stayed in the pool for a while and I decided that I would keep him company for a while and we made a game of hide and seek as he headed on. Soon, he left me far behind and I headed back into the wind and made my way home just as the rain finally started to fall. See the pictures from this trip
7/26/04
Ok, ok - now I can finally say that my kidney stone episode is REALLY over after my stent was removed last week and I really feel like making up for lost time. The tides were right for me to head to Pumpkin Hill and check out Tiger Point. I got in the water a little before 5 and headed out with a pretty good offshore breeze blowing in across Black Hammock Island. It made the trip out alternatively easy and hard depending on which bend of the creek I was on. Not far out I saw what looked like a juvenile Yellow Crown Night Heron lurking in the grass and I followed him as he flew along the creek bank. I made it to Tiger Point in about 45 minutes and as I rounded the point I could see the familiar shapes that I hoped to see up in the trees. The Roseate Spoonbills were back in force and this time they were joined by literally hundreds of Ibis. I didn't realize how many Ibis were in the trees until I finally spooked them enough that they flew off in an enormous pink and gray cloud along with the Spoonbills and headed across Edwards Flats toward the Broward Islands. The line of birds stretched at least a quarter mile across the flats and I was sure that every bird in the vicinity of Tiger Point had left but as I continued to float west of the point I could see that the marsh that is located behind and west of the point was full of hundreds more of the Ibis. I carefully entered the shallow stream that leads into the flats there and saw that not only were the trees full of the curved beaked birds but the grass and shallows flats were occupied by just as many - some of which were feeding in the water as they croaked. Eventually I turned around and headed back out into Edwards Creek and paddled over to the landing where Edwards and Pumpkin Hill join. I walked around the point a bit picking up several feathers - none of which appeared to be Spoonbills and then got ready to head back. As I did I saw another long, but much thinner line of birds heading toward Broward Islands coming from the flats that I had just visited. The trip back was the same as the trip out - alternating between a real work out and an easy paddle as the wind was whipping up some pretty good waves. As I approached my put-in I could see the shape of an Osprey up in one of the large pine trees near there. I managed to get some good shots of him as he flew away. See the pictures from this trip
7/27/04
I left my cart in my boat just in case I was able to shake off my soreness and make another trip to Tiger Point - thinking that this time the moonrise might be about right for some nice pics. Unfortunately, I realized late in the day that I had left my tevas as well as my swimsuit at home so I had to make a stop by the house anyway. That, of course changed my plans and I headed east in spite of the gathering storm to the south and a distant rumbling. The sky over Hannah Mills was a nearly perfect division of blue skies and dark clouds as the sea breeze fought to keep the thunderstorm at bay. I was glad that for most of the trip the storm was at my back since I could only hear the thunder and not see the lightning flashes so I was oblivious to how close the storm was getting. As soon as I set out I could see the grove of trees to the east occupied, as it has so much lately, by a collection of Great Blues and Night Herons so I decided to attempt a different tack to taking some pictures and I swung around wide and then let the wind blow me back in. They were wise to me as usual and by the time I got back in range everyone had left except for one juvenile Yellow Crowned who wasn't sure what to do at first. The sea daisy islands were heavily populated with Tricolors and Little Blues as usual and as usual they didn't let me get very close so we played our usual game of chase around the marsh. I made my way to the ICW and headed toward the Kingfish Park. As I approached I could see an Osprey sitting on the light pole near the pier with a still wriggling catch. As I tried to maneuver my way through the pilings, he flew off but I was able to float up on some terns who were sitting there. On my way back I encountered several Green Herons who were crouching in the sea daisies on several islands. None let me get too close but it was unusual to see more than one and I saw three (or else I saw the same one three times). Once I entered the main pool near Heckscher Drive, a dolphin briefly surfaced and swirled his fin around before disappearing. He surfaced one more time before disappearing for good. I spooked another Great Blue in the grove before reached my put-in and he would have been a great photo had only seen him. Those herons know what they are doing selecting that group of trees as a roost. It is so densely foliated that they can easily hide in the shadows and there are several yards of grass that keeps you from easing too close without them being aware. See the pictures from this trip
7/30/04
I set out this morning just before dawn from the closest possible place for me to get in the water from - The Palms Fish Camp at Clapboard Creek. For some reason I have been hesitant to use it as a put-in but now that the city owns it I am going to start using it a little more regularly - especially when I want to explore Clapboard Creek and it's environs. The sunrise was pretty nice and there was little wind as I paddled along with the incoming tide. My goal was to explore Fitzpatrick Creek and Greys Swamp and I figured that with high tide at 8:30 or so I would have the current going my way both in and out. I reached Pinders Island in about 30 minutes and stopped there for an energy bar break before heading across to the entrance to Fitzpatrick which lies west and north of there. As I began to paddle up the creek, I noticed that the water was churning with activity and it was apparent that something large was feeding furiously under the surface. The swirls of water were often coming just under my boat and at times a small fish would come flying out of the water. Several times the splash looked an awful lot like it had to be caused by the horizontal tail fin of a dolphin but only after several minutes of observing this activity did I briefly see the dorsal of a dolphin appear. I headed on north and passed the point where I stopped several years ago - the only other time I had been in Fitzpatrick. I continued on and soon found myself passing several small houses along the water. By my maps I knew that Grey's Swamp was to the northeast and I found the stream that looped around the swamp and ran close to a large mudflat with a prominent Osprey nest on it. After exiting the swamp I found the branch of Fitzpatrick that took me further north past some more houses where it finally petered out in a wooded swampy area. There were several Green Herons flying about this area and I enjoyed sneaking up on them - hoping to get them to raise their punk-like crests in alarm. I also passed one of the nicest houses I have seen built in the marsh - quite large but built in a turn of the century style that made it look like it belonged in the middle of the Timucuan Preserve. Duly noted - the lotto is at 32 million this weekend! It was close to 9 by now and the tide was just starting to turn so I headed back. Once I reached the area of Fitzpatrick where I had seen the feeding activity earlier, I saw the same indications again only this time two dolphins were surfacing in front of me. As I paused to take their pictures, I could hear the exhale of a third one behind me. The pair were heading out towards Clapboard so I paddled along with them. From that point - for the next hour - we stayed within 10-30 yards of each other as we all headed toward the St. Johns River via Clapboard Creek. I managed to get several good shots as I floated along with the current. Finally, they left me about a half mile from the bridge. As I approached the fish camp, I could see something dark floating in the water just offshore and since I couldn't remember a crab trap there when I set out I was a bit perplexed. Once I got within about 10 yards the details of the snout and eyes became clear but as I reached for my camera the small gator submerged and I never saw him again. In all these years of paddling in the preserve - while I have known gators were probably out here (we have them at the plant after all) that is the first one I have seen. |
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