Geeze look, a binary date.
Ho Hum. Just another one of those average New Year days. Temperature in the upper 70's, water in the mid-60's, bright sunshine, brilliant blue skies, beautiful fluffy white clouds, 5 knot wind to keep the heat down, the tide pushing me along for a change, both going out and coming back, no bugs, lots of snowy white egrets, great blue herons, yellow topped pelicans, sting rays, dolphins, etc. Yawn!
After sleeping late this morning, I ran for an hour through palm tree lined roads, wearing only shorts and T-shirt. It took me 10 minutes just to get out of the palm and palmetto campground, and other 15 minutes through the road tunneling through the overhanging trees draped in Spanish moss, a few blocks through an upscale neighborhood and then I had to retrace my steps.
After a leisurely breakfast and shower I made a last minute decision to go paddling and ended up at Ponce de Leon Inlet again. As it was yesterday, the boat ramp and parking lot were really crowded since the inlet is the only access to the ocean for miles and miles.
The Halifax River kinda ends at the inlet and the Inter Coastal Waterway switches over to a stretch of water named Ponce de Leon Cut. This short river just kinda loops around inshore past the inlet and then picks back up as North River.
Several snowy white egrets and great blue herons and yellow topped pelicans as well as a bunch of cormorants and assorted other water birds watched me paddle out to the Halifax River.
The Ponce de Leon Cut looked interesting on the map so I paddled a couple of hundred yards against a mild tide and wind to where it branched away from the Halifax. Once through this channel I was able to point the kayak south and let the wind and tide move me along at their own pace.
I mostly just watched the birds and a couple of motorized hang gliders. Well, one was shaped like a hang glider while the other was more like a sky diving parachute. Both had a little go cart type vehicle underneath and, presumably, a person coordinating things.
As I drifted along, I watched the bottom pretty closely, looking for conch shells. I saw a couple but they were in less than perfect condition and I didn't want to disturb the resident crabs.
Pretty soon I was drifting over little puffs of sand and soon was watching stingrays, mostly platter size, sliding by under the kayak. Then, after a 100 yards or so, I didn't see anymore. They apparently congregate in 1-2 feet of water for fairly short distances , either feeding or breeding or spawning or whatever. I didn't notice if the stingrays had legs & feet. Talking to a ranger the other day I learned they (the rangers) don't have any idea when they (the stingrays) will appear in the river. Sometimes in March and sometimes in December.
Being a gorgeous Saturday on a holiday, the ICW had a fair amount of powerboats and fishermen. Other than the noise, nothing was particularly offensive. Airplanes flying overhead caused just as much noise.
And then, coming the opposite way up through the Cut I saw a couple of dorsal fins coming right at me. Then a couple more a little farther out. Then I saw a school of 6 inch fish jumping out of the water as the dolphins drove them right at me, all 4 of them working as a team, sometimes splashing and making a commotion to herd the fish into shore where, presumably, they became lunch. Cool!
I followed the dolphins out into the center of the Cut where they milled around a little, one guy almost surfacing 5 feet from the kayak. They apparently had come up the Cut far enough and did an about face with me paddling along beside them as they dove and surfaced frequently on the way down river.
When a powerboat came zooming by they wouldn't surface for a minute or so. Along the way they separated into pairs and one pair went on ahead while the other took a more leisurely approach. Every once in a while, one of the dolphins would jump about half way out of the water. I started to wonder if it was trying to get a better view of the area. I thought I saw seals in Maine popping up out of the water for a better look at their surroundings. Maybe the dolphins were watching out for powerboats or something.
A couple of hundred yards from the end of the Cut, a half a dozen dolphins appeared, coming the other direction. They all met right in front of me and I was surrounded by 10-12 of them. They seemed to be greeting each other like it had been some time since they last met. I'm sitting there in my kayak as all these dolphins romped and frolicked within 10 feet of me. I was so excited and dumbfounded I just sat there and watched with my mouth open and didn't even think to take a picture. Not until after one dolphin jumped completely out of the water just like in the shows though maybe not as high. Then all I could do was say Damn!
The whole group kinda turned around and headed down river into the North River, still splashing and yukking it up. The shores were lined with people watching the show. I let them go and had a nice lunch on a sandy beach where the Cut and North River met.
The tide and wind had turned so I let them push me along the beach on the southern side of the inlet. Here I got my first taste (well taste might not be the right word) of Florida's bikini clad lovelies. Except they were probably all from somewhere else.
Two jetties protect the inlet and the southern one was jammed with people pretending they were fishing. And then the jet skis appeared. Up until then I was bombarded with noise from the powerboats zooming in and out of the inlet. That was nothing compared to the whine of our ever friendly PWCs (Personal Water Craft). It was like someone had opened a gate and they all just poured out to wreak havoc on the rest of the world.
I had been safe, padding in shallow water where the powerboats couldn't go. The PWCs have less draft and delight in bouncing around breaking waves that were occurring in the shallows. Although they are extremely annoying, I'll have to say none of these folks did anything rude.
With all the traffic in and out of the inlet, things were a little choppy. Out around the southern jetty I saw 4-5 foot breaking waves pounding the beaches. I also saw 30-40 little black things bobbing around out past the breakers. Then one of them got up and walked on a breaking wave. Surfers! A whole herd of them in the water and another bunch on the beach. I looked and watched and finally convinced myself I shouldn't join them. My reasoning said I didn't want to damage the camera and I didn't have a wet suit. But I was surely tempted.
I had just started back into the inlet when a pair of fins surfaced 25 feet from me. When they appeared a second time I saw they were, while about the same size, much darker than the bottle nose dolphin and had a much rounder or blunter face, more like one of those white Beluga whales. I only know about bottle noses and porpoises so have no idea what the were. Maybe they were bottle noses that ran into a wall or something to push their faces in. I dunno.
Geeze, I hope something interesting happens next trip.