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It's outage time - again and again! I passed 600 trips. Trips this month: 4
3/5/06
My 600th trip - or at least that many journal entries! It would have been nice to make it a special event and go somewhere different but with the outage in full swing and me on days - that was not possible. Hannah Mills has always been a special place for me especially for after work paddles in the late winter and early spring. The light was already transforming the place as I set out into a low incoming tide. There were a few wispy clouds in the dark blue sky and the glassy waters were reflecting the soft light and turning its colors a beautiful aquamarine while the marsh grass glowed orange and golden. The only negative was the fact that the lack of wind and warm temperatures were giving the gnats incentive to come out and feed and they were being chased by the many Bank Swallows who skimmed the surface of the water.
As long as I stayed moving, they didn't bother me and I set out toward the gap that leads to the north along the old oyster beds. I decided to do a clockwise run of my usual circuit and come back by way of the marina. For the most part I saw only shorebirds - Dowitchers, Willets and the like as I cruised by the many old beds that are now crowned by sea daisies. The soft light made for good shooting as they dociley posed for me. Mostly, I shot the incredible sky and marsh cape as the sun sank lower in the western sky behind me and enjoyed the time on the water away from the humans who I saw none of. The old cedar was empty, so I paddled out to the waterway which was also empty both of human and aviary life. As I started to cross over to the eastern shore I looked behind me and saw the silhouette of an Osprey perched on a branch over the water - almost at the same place I had seen one on my last trip here a month ago. I turned and let the incoming tide carry me past him and got several shots before he flushed. I turned back toward the south and angled my way across the ICW where I paddled down toward the old Sisters Creek Marina and the entrance back into Hannah Mills. As I passed the Manatee Zone sign I once again looked to see if there was any activity at the old nest. Last year, no one nested there, the the two years prior to that the chicks who were hatched apparently never reached maturity. It looks as if the Ospreys have decided that there is something wrong with this location which is disappointing for me since it was the best place to see young Ospreys up close. Of course, for that same reason it was probably a lousy place for a nest being barely 10 feet off the water and I guess the Ospreys have finally figured that out.
I reached the entrance to Hannah Mills and crossed back over and re-entered the creek. With the tide now carrying me in I was able to sit back and enjoy the marsh as the sun continued it's decent toward the horizon. I passed a kayak fisherman who was heading toward the waterway and then paused to shoot a Red Wing Blackbird who was perched on top of a sea daisy island chirping away as several females admired him from nearby. I love the Red Wings and consider their rusty sounding melody one of the true harbingers of spring in the salt marsh. I would have stayed longer but the light was failing and the gnats had found me and were making it difficult to breath so I headed on. The rest of the trip was more of the same. I cruised into the pool by Hecksher Drive and pulled up to my truck as the sun finally disappeared behind some clouds at the horizon. It was a great way to celebrate trip number 600 and gave me new appreciation to one of my old standbys - Hannah Mills. Yeah - it ain't fancy and you are surrounded by constant reminders that you are in large urban area with heavy industry all around but I count myself lucky that I can get here in less than five minutes from my house - and only 10 minutes from work. Beat that! See the pictures from this trip
3/10/06
After my last trip, my cold took a turn for the worse, so I gave myself a chance to rest and even stayed home when we were given a day off this past weekend. Feeling much better today and with an extra hour of sunlight to play with I grabbed some Wendy's, stopped by the house to pack a beer and headed to Alimancani and the Ft. George River. The tide was close to dead low as I set out so I decided to head out on the ocean side of the bridge for the first time in several months. There was a young Great Blue hunting near the ramp so I paused to shoot him. He had a fishing line hanging from his mouth but it didn't seem to hinder him. I paddled past the rocks on the Little Talbot side and beached my boat just shy of where the Huegenot sandbar bends to allow the FGR to make its way to the ocean. It was then that I realized that my cooler with the delicious, now frigid Harp, was sitting in the back of my pickup where I had left it. A disappointment, but I didn't let it upset me too much as I sat on the sand and ate my sandwich - it would be that much colder when I finally did drink it.
After walking around on the sandbar a bit I pushed off and decided to explore on the Talbot side of the channel. There appeared to be a cove dug deep into the shoreline but as I paddled up it I realized that this was the old channel for the Ft. George River. A few years ago, it cut sharply to the north along the beach on Talbot - so much so that it eventually wiped out the old pier that we used to picnic on when the kids were young. It has been gradually moving south but the old channel is still there although it is almost completely close off at the breakers. In a matter of time it will seal off completely making a large, deep cove that will be nice for swimming. It reminded me a lot of what has happened at the north end of Little Talbot and it never ceases to amaze me how futile man's efforts to control the sea is. No matter what he does - the ocean will do what the ocean will do and it always seems to win.
I turned back when it became too shallow and let the incoming current carry me back in. Once I reached the inlet area of Huegenot I cut into one of the channels that lead into the "Pony Pool" behind the beach at Hugenot. I followed it as it wound it's way through the ever changing sandbars until I came back around near the south end of the bridge. I spotted an enormous live Whelk Shell that was attached to a much smaller one - possible mating activity? As I made my way toward the bridge against the inrushing current I saw a mass of birds chasing something in the shallows. There were Terns, Snowy Egrets and Female Red Breasted Mergansers in the group so I stopped to shoot them before the Mergansers flushed. I paddled the rest of the way to the ramp, not having too much trouble with the current. I loaded up and then pulled up to the picnic shelter and sat there enjoying my Harp as I watched the sun set behind Ft. George Island. Perhaps dayshift isn't so bad after all. See the pictures from this trip
3/12/06 This afternoon was basically just a repeat of Monday's trip only with low tide a couple of hours later so there was good current carrying me out. I paddled out as far as I could to where the sandbar ended and the Atlantic Ocean began and sat there eating my sandwich and drinking my ice cold beer that I had remembered to bring with me. Had it been 10 degrees warmer, I'd have jumped in the water and brought more beer but it still felt great to sit in the bright sunshine while I watched the waves crash into the sand a few yards away. I headed back into the still outgoing tide and got a decent workout until I could cut back into the same path I followed on Monday. Today - the beach was given over in totality to the Black Headed Gulls so although I took a few shots I decided to not keep any. I was able to watch with amusement as a Tern dive bombed a Great Blue Heron repeatedly until he drove him across the channel. I headed back and loaded up for home as the sun set in the west. Hopey comes back tomorrow and I can't wait to come out here with her.
3/21/06 Hope returned from her two weeks in Europe and with the tides and weather right I decided to take off from work an hour early so that we could do our first paddle picnic of the year. As soon as I got in the water I knew that something was wrong. I had been bothered by a pain in my side for the last few days but I assumed that it was one of the many little discomforts that I have to deal with. The pain became excruciating as I paddled but fortunately our plan was to only go across the channel to the big sandbar where the river bends sharply to the west so I was able to tough it out. We spent the next hour or so enjoying the weather while we ate our sandwiches and drank our beer but the trip back was painful. It looks like I will have to head to the Mayo Clinic to figure this thing out.
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