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My favorite time of the year. Cool temperatures, nice breezes and lot's of water! Trips this month: 6
10/3/03
When I left work I saw the smoke leaving the stack at a 90 degree angle and had second thoughts about making this trip but as I drove home watching the water I saw that it wasn't really all that rough so I packed up and headed out. It was pretty windy and I faced the nor' easterly breeze from the git go. It gave me the incentive to reacquaint myself with some of the smaller streams that meander through the area. I zigged east and zagged back west before heading south and back to my truck. There were very few birds out and about - they were all taking refuge from the wind. I stopped and watched a Kingfisher do his thing in a pool - dropping like a rock - KERPLUNK! - into the water.
10/6/03
Some days you just have to play hooky. This was one of those days. A late night related to my football writing had me getting in bed around 2 a.m. and since I get up at 4:30 - I decided that it was a good time to take advantage of all my leave time. The weather was glorious! The cool, breezy weather that we have been experiencing for the last couple of weeks is gone and it's warmed back up slightly. I hit the water right about low tide and put in behind the Ribault Clubhouse and headed toward the ICW. As I passed along the large sandbar across from the docks, I saw a Great Blue Heron sunning himself along the bank and stopped to snap him. He had his wings out so that it looked as if he was a guru sitting in the "lotus" position - contemplating the great mysteries of life - like "why the hell is that big hairy guy floating toward me?" After I left him, I started noticing that there were a number of Wood Storks that were circling and then dropping into one of the interior pools of the sandbar. I could see them coming in from all directions and then circling as if in a holding pattern at a large airport before dropping in to whatever appointed meeting had been set up. As I watched, I noticed a Roseate Spoonbill fly in overhead and apparently, he had been invited to the big meeting as well and he swooped in and dropped into the interior of the island. Almost immediately after the Spoonbill flew by I looked up to see a Bald Eagle fly from Ft. George Island across the river toward Little Talbot. My trip was only 10 minutes old and already I had seen a half dozen or so varieties of birds - it was going to be an interesting day! I paddled over to our old sandbar and private swimming hole and ate lunch, drank a beer and took a swim - perhaps my last of the year. As I sat there I also began to notice that there were quite a large number of very vocal Osprey's circling overhead. After I set back out, I watched these and wondered if they were part of a large extended family since I have observed that the offspring of Ospreys seem to stay very close to their original home. These Ospreys seemed to be learning the art of fishing - hovering and then dropping to the water - sometimes crashing in - other times simply swooping close to the water and then flying back up. At no time did I see them actually catch a fish which was unusual for these usually very proficient fishers. I continued on past Kingsley and went all of the way out to the ICW where I crossed over to check out an island for camping. It was far too overgrown to be adaptable for camping so I headed back toward my truck against a now incoming tide. I reached our sandbar again which was now covered by the incoming water and I decided to pull off and drink my remaining beer and take another swim. As I pulled up, I saw a Reddish Heron close by and tried to exit the boat to take some pictures - but instead scared him away. As I sat drinking my beer and soaking in the water, I suddenly noticed that he had returned and was now just 10 yards away from me. I quietly got out my camera and laid out in the sand to snap him as I watched him do his hilarious comedy dance routine. He was quite entertaining - he often did tight little pirouettes in the tidal pools and then scurried quickly away. Once again, I never saw him actually catch a fish but I'm sure the fish were quite suitably amused - I know I was. I also used the video feature of my camera to capture a bit of his routine. I headed home from there. Like I said - it was a great day to play hooky. See the Pictures From This Trip
10/8/03
There was just enough water to do a paddle right after work so I loaded up and headed for Hannah Mills. There was a storm to the west but there was also a strong breeze coming off the ocean that was keep it at bay so I felt comfortable heading out there. It was pretty uneventful - the water was low enough that there were plenty of egrets and herons feeding along the grass line. I had a feeling that the old cedar would be occupied so I headed up stream of it and then let the incoming tide carry me toward the Tri-Colors and Grackles that were filling it's branches. After they flew away, I positioned my boat underneath and sat back to enjoy a beer. As I sat there, a large male Grackle flew in to the topmost branch and we eyed each other for several minutes while I finished my beer. He was soon joined by his harem of females and later by a couple of males. He was on the most prominent branch and was obviously quite proud of this fact and let everyone know about it with his calls and wing flutters which sound a lot like a squeaky screen door followed by a box of bones being shaken vigorously. I usually don't consider it a good day when my best photos are of Grackles but this day was different - I actually enjoyed their company and perhaps they knew I was the one who feeds them dog feed daily a few miles to the west. At any rate, they were quite unperturbed by my presence. I headed back as the sea breeze had calmed and the storm was pushing on through. Although I had heard thunder all afternoon, by the time I reached my truck I was now seeing the lightning popping with increasing regularity. The rain did hold off until I got home, however. See the Pictures From This Trip
10/10/03
Must be on the mend for sure, eh? I'm back in my ideal cycle of three trips a week and I seem to feel better after each trip. Things are looking up! I got a late start today but since my plan was for FGR it didn't matter too much except for the fact that I would be bucking the tide on the outgoing trip. I put in and started digging west, stopping occasionally to snap some Ospreys and Herons. I reached the ICW in about an hour which is making pretty good progress against the current. I headed south because I wanted to check out the island that Horseshoe Creek straddles on the west bank of the waterway. One of the frequent visitors to my web site had e-mailed me a while back telling me that he had check out the island for camping and found it to be suitable. I had checked it out myself several years ago and thought it was a bit too overgrown but that was well before I was ready to actually start camping. Anyway, I skirted the shore until I reached the south end where there was a prominent growth of tall pine trees - something you don't usually see on the ICW islands. I found the path into a small clearing in the interior where the pines grew. The large amount of trash was good evidence that it had been used before as a campsite. It wasn't too trashed out - one large bag could easily erase the evidence of generations of inbreeding. It looked like it could be a nice, quiet camp spot - well away from the noise of the base and the shipyards. I was musing about dubbing the island "2 Pines Island" but as I explored it I counted a lot more - perhaps "Lotta Pines Island" or just "Pine Camp". After exploring the mudflats around the island I headed back and was very thankful to turn into the FGR where I could relax and float home with the outgoing tide. See the Pictures From This Trip
10/13/03
It was a "misty moisty morning" as the nursery rhyme goes. There wasn't supposed to be a lot precipitation as the day went on and with high tide coming in around mid-day it was the ideal time for a long explore. I put-in at Cedar Point and decided to duplicate my "birthday" trip up Cedar Point Creek into the branch that ends just shy of the road. There was a fairly strong Nor'easterly breeze blowing and the water level at mid-tide was already so high that I was well above the top of the grass meaning that I had little to shield me from it. It wasn't too bad but it was strong enough that it countered the incoming tide that I had counted on to help me on my way north. Not a lot of bird life - not a lot of life at all actually. The clouds were low to the water and racing along giving everything a "closed in" feeling. At one point I frightened up a flock of 8 Great Blue Herons. I have never seen Great Blues except as solitary creatures - it was amazing to see eight of them all hanging out together - what in the world were they up to I wonder? As I approached the land to the south of Cedar Point road I saw the the trees were full of Herons and Wood Storks. I pulled off at the landing there where the old road runs down to the water and stopped to admire the many spider webs that were now glistening with water droplets. Some of the webs were stretched out from the trees and attached to the grass in the marsh a good 10 feet away with no easy way for the spider to make that kind of leap. I sat on the pile of oysters at the landing and ate an energy bar and listened to the sound of the water dropping from the Live Oaks down onto the palm fronds below. It was just about the only sound out there other than the occasional Osprey call or the buzzing call of the Kingfishers. From there I headed north and saw what looked like a Red Tailed Hawk flying up the creek. I didn't go quite as far as I did last June but stopped to explore some of the side streams along the way. As I headed back I saw what looked like a Cormorant sitting on a dead tree. As I approached I realized that this was an Anhinga - a type of cormorant that is a little smaller but with garish designs on his back. They also have a quite distinctive silhouette when they fly. It's amazing that they are related to the Common Cormorant which I have always considered the ugly duckling of the birds I see out here. After I scared him from his roost I watched him fly around for a couple of minutes before lighting again and I was able to pull up and sit directly underneath his branch for several minutes as we eyed each other. I headed home with the tide and wind both at my back and it made it a pleasant trip home which I needed. Five hours was by far the longest trip I have attempted since my latest flare-up. I was able to lie back and enjoy a beer as I floated home. See the Pictures From This Trip
10/29/03
We spent a weekend visiting our daughter in New York a couple of weekends ago and I have been recovering from it since. That and not so good weather has kept me on dry land lately. Today, I wasn't feeling all that great but the weather was absolutely glorious after several wet days so I made myself head out and got in the water around 5. It's going to take a little adjustment getting used to the time change. It seemed as if the sun was already setting by the time I got in the water and it had set behind the island by 5:40. The light was really beautiful as it shone on the water and the sand. I didn't paddle for long. I stopped to sneak up on a Great Blue up in a Cedar Tree on Little Talbot and was eaten alive by gnats who then followed me back to the boat. Since the sun had already set and I had forgotten my lights and cut short my trip and headed home. See the Pictures From This Trip
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