Hey y'all, Welcome to my Website
Courtesy of the University of North Florida
and Jack Woodward
On Friday evening,
10/6/06, Dot and I did something out of the ordinary. Unfortunately we don't
have any pictures for a very good reason. We were supposed to meet some friends
for a full moon kayak ride down at Guana Lake. The friends had to cancel out,
but Dot and I went for it. We got on the water around 7:45-8:00pm, just about
the time the full moon was beginning to rise. There was supposed to be winds of
10-15 mph, but the wind was calm. It was supposed to be partly cloudy, but it
was an absolutely clear night. The temperature was cool, but 'warm' enough
to wear shorts. Bugs . . skeeters . . ZERO ! One could not have 'wished
up' or 'willed' a more perfect night to be on the water.
I have a 3 watt LED
flashlight that throws out a pretty good beam of light. For a lot of the trip, I
was paddling while Dot scanned the surrounding waters for 'gators. For the first
quarter mile or so we didn't see any, which surprised me a lot. I thought we
would see a lot more than we did. But after the first quarter mile, we did
indeed start to see them. LOTS of them! All told we spotted TWENTY (20)
alligators! Many, many more than we see during a day trip. Dot was like a little
kid with a new toy. The flashlight picks up the reflection from the gator's eyes. It
must have been a 'deer in the headlights' type thing. We were both extremely
amazed at how close we were able to get to the gators. In all seriousness, there
were a couple times where we very nearly 'ran over' them, easily within 1 foot
of them before they submerged.
That said, most
people have this idea that alligators will come under the boat and roll it over.
Y'all have been watching too many Tarzan movies. Yes . . crocodiles will do
that. American alligators . . NO ! All that alligators want to do is LEAVE the
area! Post haste! Do you want to know what really scared the (you know what) out
of Dot? A fish jumped up, hit her paddle, and collided with the side of the
kayak. Dot dang near cussed. (Which she never does.) But it did scare the
bejesus out of her. And gave me a really good laugh!
We did have a 'cheap'
thrill on the way back to the boat ramp. And I learned a valuable lesson. I
should have known better. I really should have. I DID know better. I have gotten
'lost' out on Guana in broad daylight. I SHOULD have taken my GPS with me Friday
night. I didn't. Bad, BAD mistake! We had probably paddled about 3 miles north.
On the way back to the boat ramp, we, > I < essentially got lost.
Thankfully, very, very thankfully I had been to Guana Lake numerous times with
Charlie Bear and occasionally with Charlie and his daughter Donna. Thank Heavens
!! We went back to the boat ramp on a channel that paralleled the eastern
'woods'. It looked somewhat familiar, but at night, it ALL looks different! Dot
told me later she 'knew' I was concerned because I talked a lot. Yeah, I was
concerned alright. We came to 'spots' where I had thankfully made the 'right'
choice about which direction to go. But it was very, very nerve-wracking. We
were 'lost' and I knew it. With the numerous channels on Guana Lake we could
have spent a LOT of time trying to find the 'right' channel back to the boat
ramp. I learned my lesson !! TAKE THE GPS !!!! LUCKILY . . we made a 'bulls-eye'
getting back to the boat ramp. But that is the stuff that nightmares are made
of.
Like I said, no
pictures of Guana. Darn! But the next day, Saturday, Dot and I went to Black
Rock Beach on Big Talbot Island. Dot had seen the pictures from my previous
outing up there without her, and naturally she wanted to see it for herself.
Now . . talk about coincidence . . and weird experiences ! Well,
we had one at Black Rock Beach. We had looked at the internet for the tide
information before we left the house and saw where the tides were EXTREMELY
high! I'm talking 7-7 1/2 foot tides! That's a LOT for this area. On the way to
Black Rock Beach we saw that Myrtle Creek on Little Talbot Island was flooded to
the point that ALL the swamp grass was nearly submerged. We also saw that nearly ALL
the swamp grass at Simpson's creek was nearly submerged. This was a SERIOUS high
tide. But we trekked on to Black Rock Beach anyway. Now it got weird. As we parked her
SUV we saw a couple coming off the trail. We got out of the truck and asked them
how high the water was. They said it was up to the trees. VERY high! Dot and I
decided to walk down the trail anyway. As we were getting our act together to
walk down the trail, Dot motioned to me toward the couple we just saw who were
now in their truck. They both got out of their truck and the man of the pair
walked up to me and asked me if I was Jack. I was like "Yes, why? Do I know
you?" They told me they were considering getting kayaks and had done a web
search on kayaks and the St. Mary's River, and my website showed up. The woman
told me she had spent a few hours looking at the pictures on my website. Dot and
I figured she had recognized me from the 'cowboy' hat I wear all the time now.
Needless to say, it was a very strange coincidence that they were just leaving
the area as we had just gotten there and they told us they were there only
because they had seen my last web posting for Black Rock Beach and had decided
to check it out for themselves. Now, is that really weird or what??
So now we have some
'new' friends, thanks to this website. And I give my thanks to the University of North Florida for
giving me this webspace.
Truth is stranger
than fiction !
This is the path down to Black Rock Beach. I reckon it's somewhere between a 1/2 mile to 3/4 of a mile to the beach.
Even though it was quite windy, back in the woods here there was only a slight breeze.
Since I had taken along my new tripod Dot asked me if it was possible to take a picture of the two of us. I told her it was since the camera has a 10 second delay function. So here we are. I don't know if anyone is aware of this or not, but back when color film first came out, most of the National Geographic photographers always tried to get someone wearing a red shirt in the picture.
No this isn't Black Rock Beach. That's Black Rock in the distance where the palm and pine trees are on the left. To get to this spot take the next pull-off on the right past the 'parking area' for Black Rock Beach less than a mile up the road. It's one of those spots where you have to pay a couple bucks at the entrance. But it's worth the minor cost. After getting into the park look for the signs for Shoreline Trail. Take the trail to the very end and there are wooden steps that go down to the beach. Be prepared for a real workout though unless you are there at low tide. It was still on the high tide side when we were there. So we ended up climbing over, around and through the fallen trees you see. If you go at low tide, you can simply walk around the ends of the trees on the water side.
This fungus was growing on one of the trees nearest the bank.
This is how those trees fall down. Water action from the high tides and the action of waves on the sand bank causes erosion. As the sand is 'eaten' away, the tree roots are left exposed. Without the supporting soil, these trees will eventually fall. Seeing this gives one a new perspective of how deeply rooted trees are. For comparison, Dot stands 5' 2".
This is a pretty scenic section of the beach.
This was a very strange find. I'm no geologist but I have been to the Rockies and to the Shenandoah area. And I am pretty certain this is a piece of granite. The 'dark' bands are quartz crystal layers. The flesh and peach colored areas are feldspar if this is indeed granite. And it is very dense and weighty. So the question is, if this is granite, how the heck did it end up on a north Florida beach. To the best of my knowledge Florida bedrock is mostly limestone, especially in this area. Dot thought maybe it got washed up on the beach. But as I pointed out to her, as dense as this rock is, it would have settled into the sandy bottom and stayed there. A true puzzle.
This park and beach has signs stating that no driftwood may be removed as it is a natural resource of the area. To my mind finding a piece of granite here was like finding water on the moon. It just didn't 'belong' here. So I took it home with me. One of my website fans and friend is a park ranger at Talbot and if I have 'wrong thinking' about this issue I know he will let me know about it. But what a very strange thing to find on a Florida beach.
Because of the extremely high tide, most of the smaller pieces of driftwood got piled up.
Another 'find' ! A coconut ! It had just been washed up on shore on the high tide. Those are living mollusks. We could see them protrude from their shells, which were very thin, and retract back in again.
Pretty big dandelion type thing ain't it?
Dot loves my new camera. The autofocus (which my old camera lost long ago) suits her to a T. When you look at the bank behind me, you can see the vertical cuts. Here is a real odd form of erosion which we will see again later acting on another part of the beach. Those cuts are caused by exposed roots waving and jostling back and forth inside those furrows from wind action. Nearly every one of those cuts in the bank had a root inside it. I am teaching Dot to observe, not just 'see'.
What a tangle.
I like to tease Dot about being 'vertically challenged'. But sometimes, it is to her advantage.
As you can see Saturday was a pretty dismal day weather-wise. And the wind on the beach was pretty stiff at times. Because it was coming off the water it was wet which made it feel cold.
Here is some of the stuff that Black Rock Beach is made of. That dark red stuff at the base of the bank is hard clay. Very hard.
Here is some interesting 'layering' of the sand, which was laid down eons ago.
Layering effects in the clay. It would be interesting to know the age of this stuff. Seems like it has to be ancient. The sand bank on top of it is at least 12 to 15 feet high.
Another 'find' ! This is pretty obviously a piece of concrete. The metal rod has the appearance and coloration of copper. But if it were copper, I thought it would be 'green' by now from salt water corrosion. Maybe it's only bronze that gets affected by salt water and turns green. Dot found a penny on one of the clay 'banks', but it wasn't green at all. She took it home to see if she could get some of the accretions off of it to try to find a date or maybe see if it is a 'new' penny or an old one. But this is a pretty substantial rod, easily an inch in diameter. No, I didn't take it home. The concrete alone was over fifty pounds. Carrying the piece of granite was bad enough. It weighs about 12 pounds or so.
Here is the other example of erosion I was talking about. You can see where the fallen trees have rocked back and forth from tidal and wave action enough to wear grooves in the hard clay. This is a pretty fascinating beach as long as you observe what you are seeing.
What a day for 'finds'. Obviously this is a piece of a boat. As you will see in the next picture, the tire was a part of the boat. It is tied to the 'rail' and was used as a bumper, the likes of which you can see on any of the shrimpers up at Mayport. Again, obviously, this was no small boat.
No, not a part of the boat. This piece of rope has been here as long as I have been coming up here, years now. Only Heaven knows how deeply the rope is buried in the sand. It's one of those ropes they use to tie boats, big boats, to piers with.
Some of the wood you see here looks 'ancient'.
Another clay outcropping closer to the waters' edge. Dot noticed that the 'holes' in the clay extend down through the clay for some distance. See, she is learning to observe. We were at a loss to explain how the holes got there at all. Maybe one of my professor friends can enlighten us all.
This is where Dot found the penny. Dot has good eyes.
Driftwood.
We hope you enjoyed this little outing with us. This was Dot's first time to this beach. Needless to say, she loved every bit of it. Next time we will come up here at low tide and approach Black Rock Beach from the south where the trail goes to it. An added note on Black Rock Beach. Lance Taylor, Assistant VP and CIO, Information Technology Services, must have lived in this area for some time now. He told me he used to go to Black Rock Beach and find .50 caliber shell casings up there. And it used to be called Charley's Beach. As a matter of fact he gave me one of the .50 cal shells he had found up there. Must be a relic of the Navy base. Thank you Lance for that piece of history.
Bear in mind, I stand 6' 3" and do not have small hands.
Enjoy !
P.S.
If you want me to ADD your name/email address to my emaillist when I add new photos to this website, email me at the address below and I will gladly add your name and address. If your name is already on the list, no problem.
Email to Jack Woodward mailto: jackwoodward66@hotmail.com
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