Saturday, March 21, 2015

Moon River

Bruce's hat made up for missing the rising sun
Author's Note:  I am going to be away most of the next week.  Early Monday morning, I'm heading to the Okefenokee for another 3 day wilderness paddle and then I'm heading to North Carolina for a wedding.  I'll check blogs when I get a chance, but that won't be often.  

Well, it's not wider than a mile, but it might have been for we couldn't make out any details of the other side when we slide our kayaks into the water beside the bridge on the Diamond Causeway.  The air was saturated with humidity and fog reduced visibility to a few hundred feet.  There would be no brilliant sunrise this morning, but it was good to back in the water with a sailing and kayaking friend from Michigan.  We were paddling the famed "Moon River," a small tributary of the Vernon River near Savannah.  There are many songs named for rivers; this might be the only river named for a song as an honor to one of Savannah's famous sons, Johnny Mercer. The Mercer family owned a home on this marshy river.  The song became iconic after being featured in the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's and Savannah felt the world needed a real Moon River.  I have been wanting to paddle this river since arriving--and some night when the moon is full and the tide high, I'll paddle it again.

We paddled up river from the causeway.  I'd chosen to take Bruce on this section of water because I knew we were not likely to get lost.  If we were paddling in the open waters of Green Island or Wassaw Sound, we might have ended up somewhere we didn't want to be before the fog burned off.  As the crow flies, it was two and a half miles between Diamond Causeway which runs to Skidaway Island and the causeway running to Isle of Hope.  Of course, the river isn't straight, and we did some exploring, so I figured we'd cover six or seven miles and had a favorable tide.
Entrance to Wormsloe
(photo taken by Bruce's wife)
The tide was nearly high when we began paddling.  The top of the Spartina (grass) was barely out of the water.  Once we'd headed up north a bit, the fog seemed to dampen the sound of the cars on the causeway and we were in our own world.  Occasionally we'd pass a pier from one of the houses on the west side, but no one was around.  Much of the east side of the river is wild, a part of the Wormsloe plantation which is a state historic site and has an incredible drive though a long row of Spanish moss draped live oaks.  I'm sure many of you have seen this driveway as it was featured in the movie "Forest Gump."  In the wooded areas to our east, we heard a number of owls.  
Isle of Hope Causeway (the fog is burning off)






At Isle of Hope, we turned around. The bugs were getting bad as the causeway was blocking what little wind there was and we were mostly in grass and not open water.  The tide was now going out and it gave us a good push as we paddled back the way we came. The fog had mostly burned off by the time we were back at the take-out where were encouraged to quickly load the boats and get moving by a hoard of mosquitoes.  At least, the repellent kept them from biting, but they were still annoying and I'd swallowed a few of the buggers. 

that's me!
Moon river, wider than a mile
I'm crossing you in style some day
Oh dream maker, you heart breaker
Wherever you're going, I'm going your way
Two drifters off to see the world
There's such a lot of world to see
We're after the same rainbow's end
Waiting 'round the bend, my huckleberry friend
Moon river and me

39 comments:

  1. Moon River always brings back that lovely song and movie for me. I've been lucky enough to see and take some pictures of the grand old Mercer house when we were there too! I envy you on your 3 day exciting adventure and can't wait to see the photos of it and of course a detail reporting of all the fun.

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    1. It is kind of neat how they changed the name of the river because of the song. The Mercer house in Savannah (in the book In the Garden of Good and Evil) was built by Johnny Mercer's grandfather but he never lived there.

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  2. The water looks oily. If that was the conditions on this side of the Atlantic, with fog, at this time of year, professional seafarers of the inshore variety would be pulling boats high indeedy.

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    1. It gets like that at high tide when it is swilling around mudflats.

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  3. That is so beautiful Sage. You have a good trip.

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  4. Hope you have a wonderful trip and have fun at the wedding. Always love seeing the pictures you post.

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    1. Thanks, I'll try to take some more photos of the swamp.

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  5. Wonderful peaceful shots of nature. Have fun!

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  6. Oh wow...a three-day wilderness paddle? That sounds like lots of pictures when you return! I hope you have a great time. We're all living vicariously through you.

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    1. I probably came back with 300 frames the last 3 day wilderness trip! I'll be back with more.

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  7. That first image is stunning. It looks and sounds like you had a fine time. And there are certainly worse ear worms than Moon River. And yes, it sure would be amazing to paddle it under a full moon.

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    1. I will do the moonlight paddle one day on the river, but wonder I will be able to get any photos.

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  8. I love that song. I'd want to have it playing if i was out paddling like you, however unlikely that is in Sussex. Fabulous pics.

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    1. What kind of rivers are there in Sussex? Thanks for stopping by.

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  9. I can almost hear the song as you kayak into the fog. It's a perfect scene.
    Happy, safe continued trails, Sage.

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  10. I can almost hear your voice as you belt out that song. Lovely images and beautifully written post. Enjoy your time off.

    Greetings from London.

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    1. Believe me, you don't want to hear me sing that song (or any song)! But thanks!

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  11. Beautiful photos and yes, Andy William's signature song is playing in my head.

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  12. Mosquitoes can ruin the day, for sure - but it looks like a great trip.

    We were in Bath, Maine, once and got out of the car to look at a beautiful scene. In about 30 seconds, a black cloud of mosquitoes covered us and we ran back to the car. Talk about a quick trip. The bugs wanted to eat us alive.

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    1. The bugs can be bad, but like the humidity, you learn to doe with them

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  13. I must say, the south really knows how to landscape a driveway!

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    1. that driveway took a few centuries to become that majestic!

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  14. Have fun on your wilderness paddle! I can't wait to read about it. :)

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  15. This song is a classic. Hope to see you back soon.

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  16. Have a fun, relaxing and safe voyage, Sage!

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  17. I hope you are enjoying your trip. What a wonderful trip this one was - so glad you got to do that. Moon River - a perfect soundtrack to that beautiful place.

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    1. It was great-my next post will have the song, "Old FOlk's Home" :)

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  18. The bugs don't sound nice, but this looks like great exercise for the arms and back and extremely peaceful. I only went canoeing and manned a small boat about twice and really enjoyed it.

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  19. I'm pretty much a "live and let live" type of person, but mosquitoes REALLY test me. I hate them! I have a shirt the color of that bright hat. The official name of that color is "safety orange."

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    1. If you think Mosquitoes are bad, you should try sand gnats :)

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  20. must be wonderfully spooky kayaking in the fog like that

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