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Paddling Journal November 2003 Time change! Hard to find the time to get out there but it's nice when I am able. This month's highlight was a trip to the Gulf Coast and Cedar Key. Trips this month: 7
11/3/03
I love it when the weatherman gets it wrong. Boy did he ever! It was supposed to be wet and windy with the forecast calling for winds as high as 25 mph. I figured that if it wasn't an out and out hurricane that I could still manage to put in and get at least a quick little paddle in since the forecast for the rest of the week wasn't going to be much better. As I waited for the tide to turn, I noticed that the weather started to clear. By the time I was ready to go the sky was blue and the winds were fairly calm. In fact it was downright hot and I was tempted to head for the FGR and get a late season swim in. Hannah Mills looked too tempting, though, so I shoved off and headed toward the ICW. Along the way I encountered a white heron who was stalking his prey in the water just on the other side of the grass from where I was perched. I was able to slowly position myself next to him and I kept a few feet away from him for nearly 30 minutes before he finally spotted me and flew off. I made my way toward the waterway, beached my boat on the shell bank and drank a beer as I watched a long line of snowbirds heading south in their yachts. After that, I took a leisurely trip back to the truck, meandering through the marsh as I waited for the sun to set. See the Pictures From This Trip
11/12/03
I love the fog! It makes the marsh an eerie place. This morning I headed out around 9 and although the fog was already starting to lift it was still pretty thick. I immediately saw a lone white pelican soon after I put in and stopped to take some shots and then headed east, checking out my usual birding spots hoping to get some good fog photos. I didn't find too many opportunities and as soon as I got to the ICW the fog was pretty much already gone. I paddled across to the east side the waterway and into the lagoon behind our last campsite. I strung my hammock and then walked around the island getting some good spider web shots. I then vegged out in the hammock for an hour or so, reading and eating lunch. About 11:30 I headed back across and floated down to the creek that runs by the Sister's Creek Marina. Just before I got there I saw a couple of beautiful American Oyster Catchers - I haven't seen any of those in a couple of years. Just before I reached my truck I saw an Osprey on the tide monitoring pole and was able to position myself in such a way that I got quite close to him and watched him for several minutes before a passing fisherman finally scared him off. See the Pictures From This Trip
11/17/03 The cool weather is gone and it is back to the unseasonably warm fall that we are having this year. I decided to put in at Cedar Point and explore a branch that I had explored a couple of years ago. At the point where I normally take the branch that heads toward the ICW, there is another stream that heads in a slight northwesterly direction and it looked as though it might lead up to some interesting islands. I followed it and wound my way around trying to get close to the islands. I wasn't very successful but while I was exploring I saw what I think was an immature Bald Eagle. I finally found a place to beach my boat near a small island and got out to explore the interior and the mudflats surrounding it. The interior showed some promise as a campsite and there was a fire pit that showed that it had been used before but it was pretty clean of human trash. The mudflat had a lot of interesting drift wood. It is a pretty remote place and might well be worth camping at a later date. I took a leisurely trip back to the truck. Not much in the way of photo ops. That's the way it is sometimes. It was a pleasant day out. See the Pictures From This Trip
11/20/03 The days are getting so short! I was able to get in the water about 45 minutes before the sun set and take advantage of an absolutely glorious afternoon. In spite of the weather reports that forecast 20 mph winds - the water was like glass and I hit it right at slack tide so it was like a mirror that was reflecting the beautiful autumn sunset. I made a quick circuit past some of my usual birding spots and then past the old cedar and then floated back. I had some trouble with my camera batteries so I really didn't get any good shots but it was still nice being out there.
11/25/03
We are spending Thanksgiving week over on Cedar Key on the gulf coast with Hope's sister, Faith and the weather forecast was supposed to be great all week. Well, they missed it badly today as we awoke to slate grey skies and cold breezy conditions. Our plans for a family outing on the water were put aside in hopes of better weather later in the week but I thought it would be a good idea for me to set out and get familiar with the area first anyway. I set out from the beach in front of the condo and set out for Atsena Otie Key which is less than a mile across the channel from the town of Cedar Key. According to history, it was also where the main town was located prior to a devastating hurricane that wiped it out. Now, it's part of the Cedar Key Wildlife Sanctuary and is unoccupied. I was able to reach it easily within 15 minutes and I entered a small lagoon on the east side to investigate an Osprey nest with an Osprey sitting in a tree nearby. The incoming tide was filling the lagoon so rapidly that I had to turn around for fear of being forced into an area I did not want to go. From there I proceeded west to the dock which was occupied by hundreds of Terns, Cormorants and Brown Pelicans. As I prepared to exit my boat I stowed my camera as usual and looked up to see a pair of Bald Eagles flying directly overhead from the interior of the island. They were gone before I could even think about getting my camera out. I explored the interior of the island briefly and then proceeded on my way to see how difficult it was to circumnavigate the island. As I skirted the western and southern banks of the island I scared up several Great Blue Herons. Once I reached the southeastern bank of the island the water started to get noticeably rougher as the wind which had calmed by the time I set out picked back up. I finished the circumnavigation within a half hour and re-entered the lagoon I started from and then set back across the channel. The water was quite a bit rougher and the waves were hitting me broadside. At first it was merely annoying but soon it was rough enough that I had to stow my camera and concentrate on getting across. I finally had to angle my way across so as to keep my bow pointed into the waves but soon it was calm enough that I could easily make my way home. Another great place to explore! See the Pictures From This Trip
11/26/03
We awoke to a glorious day on the Gulf. The sunrise was intense and the water was like glass on the gulf. Finally, the weather was going to live up to the forecast! We waited for the tide to come back in enough so that our trek across the mudflats in front of our condo would not be too long and set out around noon with the "McCharen Flotilla" to invade the shores of Atsena Ottie. Andrew and Faith manned the Malibu 2 and Hopey and I were in our pokes. We made a beeline for the pier on the west side of the key and realized that everyone else had the same idea. We were accompanied on our journey by several kayakers and canoeists as well as the usual assortments of pleasure boaters. Nothing like the weekend traffic you see around Jacksonville but a lot different that the previous day when I was the only small boater out there. We made it around the point and were coasting in the water while we waited for Hopey to catch up when a Bald Eagle came flying out from the interior of the island. He flew out into the bay a few feet from us and then circled several times over the water before proceeding on toward the main key. We beached our boats and then took a hike on the trail that traverses the center of the island from the pier to an old cemetery along the salt marsh that splits the island in two at the eastern end. We sat on an overlook and were accompanied by a Mockingbird that sat on a branch very close to us for a long time - a departed spirit perhaps? More likely a bird that had a great perch and wasn't about to give it up. We came back to our boats and ate lunch and after some discussion decided to continue the circumnavigation. We were all amazed at the incredible glassiness of the water all of the way around the island. We found a great little beach on the eastern side that reminded us a lot of Big Talbot - one of our favorites back home. We had an easy trip the rest of the way back home. See the Pictures From This Trip
11/27/03
Another beautiful day on the Gulf! It was a little breezier than the day before but still a warm, clear, Thanksgiving day and what better way to spend it than on the water. With Faith packing up to leave and Hope and Andrew driving her to Gainesville to send her on her way, I had the day to myself and so I set out soon after the tide turned at low. I intended to set out west to check out Dog Island but as soon as I approached I realized that it was too shallow at this tide to make it around easily so I headed west over to Atsena Ottie with the idea that I would set my hammock up on the trees we had seen on the eastern beach. As I paddled across the open waters of the gulf, I was approached by a line of Pelicans which I assumed were Browns. As soon as they got within a few feet of me I realized that it was a group of whites which makes sense since their normal habitat is the gulf coast. As I approached Atsena, I saw three Bald Eagles rise from the trees along the shore and fly off the the west as I had seen them do the previous two encounters. I also saw an Osprey land in one of the trees along the beach where I was going to set up so I pointed my boat in that direction. I got out and began searching for a suitable pair of trees but did not find anything where I had landed. I saw some about 100 yards east and so I walked in that direction. Just as I reached the trees, I heard a call that I had never heard before. It was very similar to an Osprey call but different and more urgent. I looked up and saw through the trees that bordered the beach that two Eagles were approaching a large nest in a dead pine tree that bordered a pool on the interior of the island about 100 yards away. They swooped up to the tree adjacent the nest and hovered together for a few seconds before lighting. I went ahead and strung my hammock and carefully gathered my belongings and decided to make a day of it observing these magnificent creatures. From my hammock I could actually lay back and look through a break in the branches and observe them quite clearly. I could also walk a few feet from my hammock and be past the trees to observe them easily. I watched them from this vantage point for an hour and a half and for the most part they were quite content to sit on the tree turning their heads 360 degrees as they looked out on the world with great disapproval. Occasionally, I would see the female fly up and around, sometimes accompanied by the male and always associated with their very distinctive call. At one point she flew down into the nest itself as if to do some housekeeping but soon returned to be near her mate. Finally, I decided to venture forth and I decided to enter the stream that I entered on my first trip here. I had since confirmed that it did indeed go all the way through the island and I knew also that it would take me directly below the Eagle's nest. As I entered the interior of the island it soon became a mangrove swamp that was full of Herons, Egrets and Wood Storks. I worked my way over to where the Eagle's nest was and snapped some shots. Soon they tired of my presence and flew off silently. I didn't see where they went at first but in a few seconds I had located them nearby at another large nest. I'm not sure if either of these nests are theirs or why they would have two of them. It seems odd to me but it was clear that they had an attachment to both of these trees. After taking some more shots, I continued through to the other side of the island and then cut back around to the beach where I had been before. As I passed their new perch from the gulf waters, they flew off and when I passed their first nest, it was empty at first but before I got very far I heard the call and looked up to see them both swooping in again. I left my Eagle friends and headed back to Dog Island once again and this time the tide was in far enough to easily circumnavigate it. Not much to say - a small island overgrown with mangroves. Once around it was a short jaunt back to the condo where we had a very non-traditional Thanksgiving feast of steaks. And speaking of traditions - I think we have found a new one. Instead of food and football it will be paddling and bird watching. |
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