Sunday afternoon on the bayou

Today was the day!  After over five years, I figured out how to get the Sea Eagle inflated and headed for the bayou.  Even though it’s been in storage so long, the kayak had no leaks and was still supple.  I was a little worried when I took it out of the storage bag, and several half eaten acorns fell out with it.  I was afraid a squirrel or chipmunk had perhaps chewed a hole in it while it was in my daughter’s garage or shed.  You’ll remember that Denny and Fonda are fellow volunteers here (and when I was last at Anahuac).  Fonda doesn’t do water stuff, but Denny agreed to accompany me on my maiden voyage.  He was able to borrow a refuge regular kayak, and beat me into the water.

I’ve never been accused of being graceful, and today was no exception as I awkwardly got myself ensconced in the kayak, and with Fonda’s help, launched out onto the bayou.  I voted for heading upstream first so I could become accustomed to maneuvering this craft.  I’m a very experienced canoeist, but have never really paddled a kayak before.  I think this may have been Denny’s first time in a kayak as well, so it was a good choice to take the meandering, slow moving route upstream until we got our ‘sea legs’. 

There were a lot of twists and turns as the waterway became skinnier the further we traveled. 

It was so quiet as we paddled along.  I wanted to see where this little tributary began.

We were hoping to come upon some unsuspecting wildlife along the way, but we didn’t see much but one turtle head.    That’s not to say it wasn’t enjoyable, though.

As we wound around another bend, suddenly there were gunshots very close by!  Seems we had curled around to the shooting range for the refuge Law Enforcement Officers, and they were out practicing today.  Egad!  I could just envision a stray bullet piercing my inflatable.  I made the executive decision to immediately reverse course and head back downstream! 

As we cruised back past our starting point, Fonda and her miniature poodle, Brandy, had taken up the post of watching for our return.  After Denny stopped to adjust his seat, we continued downstream toward Bayou Castille. 

That’s my rig in the left picture.  I had no idea the bayou came this close to our sites.  We also found a wood duck nesting box along the way.  I heard a wood duck calling a couple of nights ago, but we didn’t see any birds except a cardinal and a brown thrasher on our paddle.

When we reached the junction with Bayou Castille, the wind came whistling down the bayou, and I could make barely any headway no matter how hard I paddled.  I guess that’s one disadvantage to this inflatable.  It puts you higher in the water than a regular kayak, and the wind really has an effect on forward movement as compared to a canoe. 

Denny suggested that we turn around and head back home, and reminded me that this wasn’t an endurance trial.  He was right, of course, and we took our time backtracking to our starting point.  Fonda and Brandy were there waiting for us, and she provided all the pictures today of me in my kayak.  Thanks, Fonda!

After we got back, the guys got a fire going, and I made up a big pot of ‘stuff’ for everyone to have for dinner.  Others brought sides to go with the ‘stuff’, and we had another feast tonight.  There was no big rush since we had all remembered to turn our clocks ahead last night, and enjoyed the daylight until shortly after 7:00.  Another great day on the refuge!

 

Thanks for stopping by…. talk to you later,  Judy