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The back still making it difficult to paddle Trips this month: 7
7/6/10
My back is still feeling gimpy but with the week off and Hope busy at work I decided to test my back by taking a trip on Pumpkin Hill and check to see what the shrimp were doing. It was just after high tide when I arrived about an hour after sun rise. There weren't too many shrimp jumping as I floated past the new overlook platform that they are building where the trails come down to the water and I saw only a few birds. When I reached my shrimping spot I headed up the feeder stream where I caught so many shrimp last fall. There were several Sea Sparrows waiting for me at the entrance to the stream and I got some good pictures as I headed in. I paddled up the creek as far as I could go and watched some Snowy Egrets catching a few shrimp but I never saw the masses that I saw last year. I continued on to the point and as I entered Edwards Creek a Dolphin swam out into Pumpkin Hill. I thought that I might see a few Roseate Spoonbills perching in the trees but there were only a couple of Great Egrets there. Three Green Herons flew out from the low branches overhanging the water which indicates to me that the youngsters have left the nest since Green Herons tend to be solitary birds that only hang out together as youngsters. There was also a young Osprey from the nearby nest who was perching a little upstream of the point. After getting out to stretch my legs a bit I returned to my boat and shot a lone Spoonbill who was feeding across from the point before heading back. Close to the put-in I watched a Great Blue Heron snag a worm from the mud for his breakfast.
See the pictures from
this trip
7/9/10
My back started feeling slightly better the last couple of days so with Hope busy I decided to grab a sandwich and pack up to have a picnic out on the water. I decided to put-in at Horseshoe Creek and paddle into the FGR to eat my dinner. I was surprised to see the water level at near peak high tide a good three hours before it was due. As I was loading up, I chatted with a young man setting out who had seen me out on Pumpkin Hill several times in the past. It was a beautiful evening with few clouds and glassy water. As soon as I entered the ICW I spotted several Dolphins heading north on the opposite bank. I paddled south initially so that I could check out the Heron rookery located on the island that lies between the two entrance to Horseshoe Creek. There were several fully grown Herons perching near the nests that I believe are the chicks from this spring. They may have been waiting for a meal from their parents but it looked like mom and dad were long gone and the kids were going to have to learn for fend for themselves. I paddled toward the entrance to the FGR and was surprised to find the current heading against me but I was able to make progress and was soon in front of Kingsley Plantation. I had hoped to find a little bit of the sandbar where we had eaten dinner back in April exposed but it was covered by at least six inches of water. I paddled around to the back side of the bar and found a tiny little beach still exposed and decided to make that my destination. I took a swim and then spent the next hour or so drinking a couple of beers, eating my sandwich and soaking in the water. My little beach was rapidly disappearing so I decided to pack up and paddle up to Point Isabella to see if anything was happening there. As I paddled toward the point I spotted some Great Blue Herons perching in some pine trees just east of the plantation. As I paused to shoot I began to notice that in the trees were several flimsy nests indicating that this was another Heron nesting spot so I marked it on my GPS and continued on. Once at the point, I paddled in and took advantage of the high water to paddle all of the way around the basin behind the point. No one was perching there so I headed back out and let the still incoming current carry me past the plantation and out to the waterway where another group of Dolphins were passing by. I paddled past the entrance to Garden Creek and then crossed over to the Heron Rookery I had checked out earlier. The wind had picked up since I had set out three hours earlier turning the glassy water rough but I was soon across and spent some time shooting the young Herons before heading back to the put-in.
See the pictures from
this trip
7/13/10
I woke up this morning with my back feeling better than it has in several weeks and decided to head out to the FGR to combine some relaxing with some exercise. As I loaded up I could see an Osprey perching at the entrance to the while another pair were chasing each other around the area. By the time I got going there was only one left and I had to chase him to the end of the basin before he settled down. On the way to shoot him I flushed out a few Night Herons including several youngsters.
After shooting the Osprey, I headed out to the channel and began floating to the west with the incoming tide. There was a lot of activity in the water with schools of small fish leaping out of the water. This was attracting the attention of several young Ospreys who appeared to be just learning how to fish by repeatedly diving into the water. They were coming up empty on most occasions but that didn't stop them from trying repeatedly. I turned into channel just past the last house and tried to float by an Osprey eating a fish. He flew off, but I spotted three young Green Herons perching on one of the fallen trees there. I stopped to shoot them as they tried to use their new found skills of pretending to be tree branches and croaked at me. I left them alone and continued on around the bend to Point Isabella. I spotted the same father and daughter pair who were fishing from inner tube boats floating past the wharf and wondered if they had been out here all weekend and where they had launched from. I headed in at the point and went part way around the basin before heading back out.
I started to paddle over to my hammock island as the Ospreys continued to crash into the shallows around me. Before crossing over, I paused to shoot a Reddish Egret who was dancing a bit in the shallows. As I approached the island I saw an Osprey perching on one of the fallen trees but he was soon chased off by another one of the youngsters but it didn't stick around long enough for me to get very close. When I arrived at the island I found that the person I had seen camping there last Friday had done good job trashing the place including nearly burning the place down. A blackened ring about 10 feet in diameter lay in the middle of the clearing and included the melted blue tent that I had seen on Friday. In the middle of a fire ring lay an electric powered weed eater that they had used to trim the grass and large stacks of lumber lay under the trees. The person I had seen on Friday had put up a flag pole and it's base was driven deep into the sand. I guess this person thinks they own the place and wants everyone to know it. I supposed that if you burn a place down and trash it around here it's as good as a title.
I set up my hammock and enjoyed relaxing in the cool waters and reading my book while drinking a beer for the next couple of hours. At one point, while I was cooling off in the water, I suddenly had the feeling that I was not alone and stood up to see. I saw a large, dark shape about six feet long moving toward me in about four feet of water. It was a blob of purple when I first saw it and thought that it might be a huge sting ray. It approached to within about three feet of where I was standing and then turned and began swimming toward the ocean and it was then that I could clearly see the distinct shape of a Manatee swimming under the surface of the water. I began walking along behind it and was able to stay just a couple of feet behind it's rounded tail. I was very tempted to dive into the water to try and touch it but I resisted the temptation and it was soon in deeper water. I stuck around for a little while longer and then packed up and headed around the sand bar on my way back to the Ribault Club. I spotted a couple of Reddish Egrets along the way but was unable to get very close to take pictures.
See the pictures from this trip
7/16/10
I had to drop Hope off at the airport early this morning and decided to head up to Horseshoe Creek afterwards for a bit of light paddling. My back has regressed a bit since my last paddle but I decided to give it a go anyway and was on the water a couple of hours after low tide. It wasn't much of a trip and I wound up taking few photos. I made my way out to the waterway and paddled into the FGR where I headed down to the sandbar where I ate dinner a week ago. I swam a bit and ate my sandwich while I read and had a relaxing time except for getting a minor jellyfish sting. I headed back a little before noon and had an uneventful trip.
7/20/10
I decided to head back to the Ribault Club this morning for another light paddle as I continued to heal up. Once there I had a productive circuit of the basin getting some good shots of an immature Yellow Crowned Night Heron and an Osprey. Once back out in the river, I decided to head east with the outgoing current and was soon passing beneath the bridge. I paddled against the flow coming from the lagoon behind the beach at Huegenot Park and shot a Reddish Egret running along the sand. I then followed the channel as it looped up close to the beach and back out to the main channel. I had to pull my boat over a shallow area but I was soon on my way out to the end of the beach where the waves were breaking. I spent the next hour or so relaxing on the beach, swimming, eating and reading. Just before noon the tide had turned and I decided to head in. I headed across the river to the Little Talbot Island side to check out a large tidal pool that I had been seeing when we drove along A1A. It was place that a couple of years ago was actually a channel that cut through the beach but the ocean end has been slowly choked off. The western end still had a tiny connection to the river at high tide but it will only be a matter of time before that too is closed off. I let the tide carry me back to the ramp and I paddled around the basin one more time. I didn't see much in the basin itself but overhead was a Swallow Tailed Kite flying just above the tree line.
See the pictures from this trip
7/22/10
Today, I wasn't sure about where I should go. I was feeling pretty good as far as my back was concerned but I was worn out and almost decided to skip it and spend the day inside enjoying the AC. I finally decided to head out but with the Kingfish Tournament in full swing I wanted to stay off the Intracoastal and finally decided to just head back to the FGR.
I was in the water about an hour later than I would have liked and it was nearly the end of the outgoing tide. I could see my old friend the Osprey with the streaky plumage waiting for me at the entrance to the basin so I headed in and got several shots as I floated by and then shot a few of the many young Night Herons that have been literally lining the shoreline of the pool for the last couple of weeks. I headed back to the river and once there I decided to paddle against the current toward the bend. As I made the turn past the last of the docks I could see the air filled with several immature Ospreys circling above the water as they tried to learn how to catch their own fish. I expected to see the young Green Herons amongst the branches but there were none in sight. I decided to make my destination the sandbar where Hope I first started doing our paddle picnics 10 years ago and sat out on the sand to eat my lunch.
Since I got such a late start on the day I couldn't stay long and after an hour of swimming and relaxing I headed back. The trees lining the bank opposite the sandbar was filled with young Ospreys - at least six, who were flying around and then chasing each other off the best perches. There was still a good outgoing flow and my trip back was easy but the ramp was occupied by about two dozen school aged kids so I did another turn in the basin and shot the same Osprey and same young Night Herons before I returned to the empty ramp.
See the pictures from this trip
7/25/10
It had been over two months since I had been out on a Sunday morning paddle - usually the one day of the week that I never miss but with my back messed up it just seemed like I could never get going early enough to make it worth while. It had also been over four months since I had launched from Hannah Mills but this morning my back was feeling decent and the tides were perfect for a launch from Heckscher Drive so I headed that way and was in the water about an hour after sunrise.
I paddled over to the grove of trees to the east of the put-in and the Night Herons immediately began to stir. There were at least two dozen birds there - Black and Yellow Crowned, mature and immature, so I spent several minutes shooting them as they peeked out from behind the cedar branches. As I headed north across the large pool next to the road, I could see a mass of pink on the sea daisy island just beyond the pool. There were several Roseate Spoonbills dozing in the sun as I approached but they soon flew off, heading north toward the Pelican pool where they reside for the summer.
I passed the old cedar but didn't stop and I was soon out on the waterway continuing north and a few minutes later I pulled my boat up on the shore and began walking across the flats toward the pool. I was close to the slough that lies close to the ICW and it was full of a variety of birds including several Wood Storks. The spit of land in the Pelican pool was crowded with birds - mostly Spoonies along with several Great Egrets and Snowy Egrets and a pair of young White Pelicans. I was within about 20 yards of the shoreline when the Egrets flushed taking the whole group into the air with them but I knew that the Spoonies would return so I continued walking until I reached the edge of the water. Sure enough, after circling the flats a couple of times, the Spoonbills began to drop down on the spit of land and it was soon crowded once again. Several of the Spoonbills split off from the group and landed in the shallow pool closer to the island to the north but something spooked them and they rose up and flew over to the Pelican pool. I walked over to the smaller pool where about a dozen of the Spoonies remained and took a few shots before they joined their friends in the other pool. I returned to my boat and began paddling back to the south, crossing over to the eastern bank where I shot a pair of Ospreys perching near our old camp sites. Once I reached Shad Creek, I crossed back over and paddled down to the the Kingfish Park and headed back against the outgoing current. I didn't see too much on the rest of the trip and was soon back at the put-in and heading home.
See the pictures from this trip
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