A Day on the Water (Updated with New Photos!)

I found the photos I lost from my camera. I had taken a few shots with my camera for work, and I had moved them (along with the others) to my work computer.  So now you can see the cute crab!

I took last Friday off and for the first time in a month had a full day to kayak. It was a beautiful day for early November, clear skies and temperatures in the low 80s. Leaving  the Landings Marina on the north end of Skidaway Island, I paddled out into the Wilmington River with the falling tide.  Along Cabbage Island, which sits on the north side of the Wilmington River, I stopped to relieve myself of some coffee and explored a little creek that flowed through the marsh.

Creek on Cabbage Island

                                                                            At the mouth of the river, where it opens into the Wassaw Sound, I turned left, skirting around Cabbage Island toward Little Tybee Island.  Here I saw a magnificent bald eagle circling above, it’s white head and tail feathers very visible..  Sadly, the only camera I had with me was my iPhone, so I was not able to get a decent photo.

 I’ve paddled to Little Tybee before, but always from Tybee Island, so this was a first from this direction.  There are some long shoals around the east side of Cabbage Island and I made it just in time as I pushed my boat through 6 inches of water.  Another few minutes and I would have been walking and toting my boat across sandbars.  The shallow water continued on until I was in the waters of the Bull River, which also flow out into the Wassaw Sound.

On Cabbage Island,
looking back across the Wilmington River

I ate lunch on Little Tybee and found a place to sling a hammock, but the bugs were pretty bad as the island was blocking most of the wind on the southwest side.  Instead of being annoyed by bugs, I set out to paddle across the face of the sound, where it empties into the ocean.  It was slack tide, which meant the shoals from the Bull River extended out into the ocean.  The only encounter with any waves this trip (and these were small) was when I crossed those shoals.  Had I tried to stay further inside the sound, I would have run aground on sandbars. 

Approaching Wassaw
(Battery Morgan is to the left of the trees)

Coming up on Wassaw Island as the tide was turning, I noticed the remains of Battery Morgan is now well out into the water at low tide.  This “fort” was built during the Spanish American War to prevent ships from getting to Savannah through the Wilmington River, but was abandoned after only a year or so.  Today, all that’s left is a large chunk of concrete that is slowly eroding away from the island.

It was much more pleasant on Wassaw Island, as the wind coming from offshore kept the gnats and flies away.  There are tracks of ghost crabs running on the sand and I spot one and chase it into the nook of an old tree where I capture some incredible photos (however, when I started posting to this blog, I can't find those photos).  I then nap before riding the rising tide back into the Wilmington River and to harbor.  I’d been gone a little over six hours and had paddled somewhere around 13 or 14 miles. 

The Lost Photos:

Ghost crab

From Wassaw, looking at Little Tybee

Inland Lagoon on Wassaw

Kicking back on Wassaw

Battery Morgan at low tide

Paddling Across Romerly Marsh

Leaving Delegal Creek
(notice empty osprey nest)

They changed the weather forecast for Friday so I thought I would take my kayak out to an extended trip.  I launched at Delegal Marina a little before ten, knowing that I had just over an hour before the tide turned.  The winds were stronger than expected, coming out of the south, which provided resistance as I paddled out of the creek.  By the time I was in Ossabaw Sound, the wind was coming off my starboard side and I found the skeg worked wonderfully as I maintained a straight line toward the south end of Wassaw Island.  The last mile or so, as I paddled by the shoals off Pine Island, the waves began to build.  As I crossed the entrance to Wassaw Creek, I was paddling in three foot waves.  The boat handled perfectly.  I made the five mile paddle to the island by 11:15 (which would be close to 3.5 miles an hour which wasn’t bad with the waning tide).  

Ranger station on Wassaw

Normally I would be ready to crawl out of the boat, but it was so comfortable that I paddled about a mile and a half up into Wassaw Creek, stopping at the ranger station for the National Wildlife Refuge.  There was no one there, except for a couple of fishermen who had decided to hole up under their dock.  They fished there, in the shade for over an hour and I think they caught one fish.  I pulled out on a sandy beach a ways down from the station, took out my lunch and hammock, and found two perfectly spaced trees up on a high bluff where I could enjoy a nice breeze.  I strung the hammock and then had lunch.  

Lunch stop

Lunch stop

The Good Life

My original plan had been to return the way that I came or back through the Odingsell River, but I have always wanted to try to paddle through Romerly Marsh to the north end of Skidaway Island. I’ve done this before, paddling in the ocean, but I wanted to go through the marsh.  I figured it would still be close to 17 miles (the distance it is in the ocean) due to the curves in the creeks.  I knew there is a dredged cut I’d have to find, and it’s not very wide. I made a call to get picked up at the Priest Landing marina and headed out about 1:30.  I was hoping to be back around 3:30, well before any afternoon thunderstorm.

This turned out being harder than I thought.  The map showed the cut being further from the Parson family holdings on the island than I thought (they were close to the docks), which I discovered after spending an hour going down false leads.  When I made it back into the main creek, saw someone on the Parson family dock, I paddled over and asked if they could help me.  They pointed me to the right channel, told me to take the second left, which would be marked with a PVC pipe.  I never did see a pipe (in a kayak I’m a lot lower than someone standing in a boat).  I got lost again, but thirty minutes later I had found the cut.  Each time I got lost, I had to paddle back against the tide.  By this point, I was tired. I had also broken a paddle, but thankfully had another with me.

The Parson family purchased the island in the 1860s.  In 1969, they sold all but a 150 or so acre holding to the Nature Conservancy for one million dollars. They, in turn, sold the island to the government to be used as a wildlife refuge. This kept the island from being developed and it is considered one of the most natural islands along the Georgia coast, since it has never been farmed, logged, or used for raising livestock.  The only development on the island are several homes in the Parson holdings, the Refuge ranger's station, and a Spanish American War era battery on the north end that is slowly eroding away.

The marsh is an interesting area.  There are a number of hardwood hammocks within the marsh (with live oaks and sort) and these trees were filled with a variety of birds.  I saw several osprey, ibis, egrets, a variety of ducks, sea gulls and pelicans.  I love watching pelicans fish and one dove into the water not more than 20 feet from my boat, making a big splash.  As he came up, he threw his head back and swallowed.  I also saw a couple of alligator in the marsh.  One, I surprised as I paddled around a bend.  He jumped out into the water and almost hit my boat as he dove under it. 

Dead end

As I floundered in the marsh, I kept looking for where the tide was going against me as I headed in the right direction, for I knew then I’d be paddling out toward the Wassaw Sound.  High tide wasn’t until 5:20 PM, at which time I could probably make it through over the marsh grass, but then I would have to paddle against the tide back to the marina.  When I found the cut and where the tide changed directions, it felt good, as I was now sure that I had only a couple of miles before I would be in Wassaw Sound (and then five more miles before I was at my destination). 

In Wassaw Sound

Once in Wassaw Sound, I turned inland.  In the distance, a storm was brewing.  It was already after four.  I would paddle hard for a bit and then rest.  Thankfully the ocean breeze was strong and to my back, as it gave me a push and also kept the thunderstorm from moving over me.  Instead, the storm moved north, parallel to the coast.  Yet, it was close enough that I saw a dozen or so strikes of lightning.   Once I entered the Wilmington River (where I regularly sail) I felt safe. 

I arrived at the marina at 5:40 PM.  I figured I’d paddled over 20 miles, but I had fulfilled my goal of paddling across the marsh.  

Destination in sight
(notice broken paddle)

The Skeg (photo to answer questions below)

Kayak photos while I'm away

I am going to be away from the internet for the next ten, with little access, in a place that will look as different from the photos below as you can imagine.  They'll be salt water there, but craggy rocky islands.  I'll be in Scotland.  Until I return, I'll share some photos I took on Friday, June 16, when a friend and I paddled from Skidaway Island to Ossabaw Island and back, with stops at Raccoon Key and Green Island.  Enjoy the photos:

Bird segeration

Old Civil War embankments on Green Island

My kayak on Raccoon Key, looking at Hell's Gate
The Intracoastal Waterway runs through here and there are terrible shoals

Looking out on the Sound

My paddling partner for the day

Last Friday on the Water

Chicks peaking out of their nest

The osprey chicks, in nest built on top of the two navigation markers leading out of Delegal Creek, are maturing.  As I leave the marina and paddle out of the creek with the falling tide, the parents do their usual dance.  As I get closer, they begin to cry out and then stand tall on their nest and spread their wings before flying.  At first they approach me in a threatening manner, then head to a tree in the marsh where they continued their cry as I paddle past.  This happens every time there are eggs or chicks in the nest, only this time the young chicks are large enough to bop their heads up to see what’s happening.  It won’t be long before they fledge and take off on their own. 

Approaching nest at mouth of Delegal Creek

Last Friday, I took the late morning outgoing tide to Wassaw Beach.  It’s a warm day, but not too hot and with enough of a sea breeze to keep me cool as I paddle. With the tide in my favor, I make the five mile paddle in just over an hour, pulling my boat up on the beach and enjoying lunch.  Just up the beach from me are two families who’d made the trip in two powerboats.  The two men have rods out in the water, which are sticking in the back of their boats while they sip on beer in the shade of beach umbrellas.  They catch a few small sharks (thankfully they release them) but the sight of the sharks is enough to keep the children out of the water and for their wives to caution them about getting too close to the sharks’ mouth, warning they might bite off a finger. 

Approaching south end of Wassaw

 

Osawbaw is in the distance, to the left is open ocean

After lunch, I pull my boat up higher on the beach and take my hammock, a book and journal, and head off for some privacy.  I walked around the south end of the island.  The high water mark is a graveyard of dead (and stinking) horseshoe crabs.  At the southern tip of the island, and just far enough inland to avoid the stench, but not so far as to block the sea breeze, I find two pines where I can string my hammock.  The site affords me a nice view of the water and Ossabaw Sound to the south. I plop myself in the hammock, enjoying the constant breeze, for some reading and an afternoon nap.  The tide is turning around 3 PM, but I’m not in a hurry.  After waking from a nap, I watch a pod of bottle-nosed dolphins play and fish in the water just feet from the shore.  I’m sure the sharks, who tend to avoid dolphins and porpoises, have cleared out.  Many times I have been fishing and, like the guys I’d seen earlier in the afternoon, and have been catching lots of what we called sand sharks, only to have dolphins show up and the sharks to clear out.  I also notice that the humidity has dropped for Ossabaw Island, which is at least three miles away, appears a lot closer than when I fell asleep.

Dead horseshoe crabs at high water mark

relaxing!

 At 5:30 PM, I pack up, stow everything in my kayak, and paddle back home.  The breeze has picked up and waves are on the water, which makes for a more interesting paddle (and an easier one as I am often able to ride the waves).  I make good time heading back.  As I enter Delegal Creek, the Osprey again greet me with their usual dance as I pass the navigation markers.

 As I am loading up my kayak on top of the car, a number of kayakers began arriving, planning for an evening paddle while watching the nearly full moon rise.  I am tempted to join them.

Adult osprey approaching nest

Photos from the Okefenokee

Early this January, I spent three days paddling and camping inside the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.  This was my fourth trip into the swamp.  Joining me for the journey was my father.  I was going to write a longer article on the trip, but never got around to it, so I'll just post photos and some comments.  The first day was lovely.  We camped at Roundtop platform in the middle of Chase Prairie, which was beautiful (and my favorite spot so far for camping in the swamp as you had views in all directions).  That night around 4 AM, a storm came through and the lightning (which I wasn't able to capture by camera) was incredible.  It rained on and off most of the second day.  We camped the second night on a platform in Mizell Prairie.  On the third day, we paddled back to where we started.  Click on any of the smaller photos to enlarge

paddling the canal into the swamp

a nice gator (we saw 100s)

My father (this was 5 days after his 80th birthday)

The swamp was lower than my other trips.
There was lot of weeds, pollen and algae blocking the canal

paddling through muck

leaving the canal for Chase Prairie
(see the gator on sentry duty?)

The prairies were filled with pitcher plants from last summer

An ibis.  There were lots of large birds in the prairies!
(sandhill cranes, great blue herons, a couple wood storks, egrets)

Roundtop camping platform (outhouse on the end) 

Evening light

setting sun

morning rain

a temporary clearing (it would rain again and again)

Camping on a platform

After glow (it was amazing and I have dozens of shots)
I decided to enlarge it for your pleasure

Sunrise on our last morning

a nice size gator

back where we started