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Courtesy of the University of North Florida
and Jack Woodward
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Well it has certainly has been quite a while since I have posted some new pictures. I almost forgot how to do this it's been so long.
I was down with the flu for a couple of weeks, Dot had some family issues and a bad cough to deal with, but we finally made it back out for a kayak float again. This time on our favorite river, the St. Mary's River. The water gauge at Macclenny has been broken for a while so we were hoping the water was high enough for a good float. As it turned out, the water depth (at Macclenny) was around three feet with a pretty good flow. As is our norm we paddled upstream first so we could relax and take it easy on the downstream return run. We put in at Stokes Bridge which is probably our favorite spot on the river. It is certainly one of the most scenic in our minds. It was around 60 degrees when we put in but we had decided to wear shorts under our jeans in case it got warm. We both went down to our shorts before we pushed off, but we did keep our flannel shirts on. For a short while. After about 15 minutes of paddling we both shed the flannel shirts. It amazes us how fast one loses 'strength' from not paddling on a weekly basis. I 'felt' it in my forearms, Dot was feeling it in her shoulders and back. The strong current wasn't helping any. We are both very happy I got the tandem kayak. With it, 'we can share the load', so to speak. And being out of shape and out of practice, we needed all the help we could get.
Since it was more like an autumn day than a spring day, we were both hoping to see a deer. We took a side trip up the Brandy Branch but didn't get more than 1,000 yards before we were stopped by some serious trees across the creek. And getting to that point we had to go over 4 or 5 big logs in the water. The kind where we have to back up, ram them at full speed, get part way over them, then have me leave my seat and get on my knees right behind Dots' seat in the front, and push off from the log. A LOT of work!! Sometimes it pays off, sometimes it doesn't. This time it didn't. After getting to the 'showstoppers', we had to turn around and repeat the whole process getting back to the main river. JEEZEL !! What a workout that was.
Even in the main river channel we would be paddling along and all of a sudden the boat would lift out of the water when we hit an unseen submerged log or stump. Needless to say, those are really exciting. If not for our lengthy experience doing this, or if we were less knowledgeable about what to do, most people would go for a swim at that point. We have learned to maintain our balance. Which is no small feat believe me. Believe me, it is pretty heart-stopping. And on this trip we had at least three of those experiences. At three feet the river is navigable, for a kayak. At least we didn't have to get out and pull the boat through any shallows. Although we did have to 'mush' our way through a couple shallow spots. But those were the exceptions. There was one spot in the river where we could have walked across the whole thing, bank to bank. As Dot put it, it was knee-deep to her. Which is shin deep to me.
Once again we were both reminded of why we like the St. Mary's river so much. The scenery is simply outstanding. No people noise, no car noise. Just the sound of water rushing though logs and branches. And the wind. It was quite breezy, but all the wind was above us. But we could hear it rustling thought the tree branches overhead. For Dot and I, this was Heaven on Earth.
This was starting out in the morning. We got on the water just a little before 10 am.
If you look closely, you will see Dot in the left side of the picture, videoing me while I photograph her. Another reason why we like the St. Mary's so much. There are literally thousands of places to get out of the boat for a leg stretch.
One of those 'artsy' photos that presents itself now and then. Nature is without question the greatest composer of pictures.
And as most of you already know, I LOVE sand patterns.
We figure these 'tracks' are left by some kind of worm or something, although we have never seen what makes them. Likewise the 'bigger' tracks are equally puzzling.
Here's Dot videoing where we came from. We both have some Canon Powershot A540 compact digital cameras that take outstanding videos with sound. One day I'll figure out how to get them on YouTube or something. As it is I have a modem dial-up internet connection, so uploading monstrous sized files is simply out of the question for me. The videos are great. We often look back on some of them since they bring back 'the experience' so vividly.
For me, this is the best shot of the day. Scenery-wise anyway. This is looking downstream from where we came. You can see 'Big Red', our kayak, in the distance. I think this was our first 'major' stop and leg stretcher. As is all the previous photos of the sand patterns and such.
As I said we had hoped to see a deer, but that wasn't meant to be. Seeing a deer is at Dot's top of the list, but for me seeing an otter is mine. I 'won', Dot 'lost'. In the center of the photo you can see an otter climbing onto the sloping log. These photos were taken from 70 or 80 yards away using the telephoto lens. This guy was VERY camera shy. Or people shy. As soon as he sensed our presence, he dove underwater. To get these photos, we had to wait and linger for about 30 minutes or so for him to re-appear. But it was worth the wait. We were pretty sure we had seen 'him' paddling upstream. But we only got a very brief glimpse of him. But both Dot and I were positive we had seen an otter. We waited around for 20 minutes or so on our upstream paddle searching the surrounding area for him, but we never saw him again. We were hoping to see him again on our downstream float. These photos are from our downstream float. Since we 'knew' where he was, we floated/paddled as silently as we could approaching the area. Our caution paid off.
At first we really weren't sure at all if we were looking at an otter or a turtle. The sun reflecting off its' back made it look as though it were a turtle. But its' movements 'said' otherwise'. I know that from the previous photo it is unmistakably an otter, but I was snapping pictures one after the other and it wasn't until I got home and was able to look at the pictures I had taken that one could see it was indeed an otter. And like I said, he was VERY camera/people shy. Which is a good thing. In the next photo you can see why we thought it could have been a turtle we were seeing.
I had given my camera (with the telephoto lens) to Dot so she could get a better look at what we were seeing and she managed to get this photo of the otter. We were pretty sure the brownish mound off to his left is its' home/nest. This is a pretty good head shot. This is a 'zoom in' of the original photo.
Dot noticed this pine tree on the way back to our take-out. She commented on the vast number of pine cones. And this tree was indeed laden with pine cones.
A view of some of the 'obstacles' we had to deal with. And there were a LOT of obstacles.
We had gotten out of the boat to check out what appeared to be a rain run-off path on the river bank. Well it wasn't. But as we walked back into a cleared out area, we spotted this hornets nest. And this is without a doubt the biggest hornets nest either of us has ever seen. It was easily over 3 feet high probably approaching 4 feet. It was absolutely mammoth in size.
On our way back downstream, I saw this 'shape' in the trees ahead of us and told Dot it was a bird of some kind. Initially I thought it was an owl. But as we passed it, it turned out to be a red-shouldered hawk. A young one I think. We can't imagine why it didn't hear us coming. It was almost directly over the water. I took these photos after we had passed it by.
And not more than 50 yards further downstream we came across another hawk. This one was much larger than the first one we saw. We also saw another hawk in this same area, so we assumed they were the mating pair that made the first hawk we saw.
Why we like the St. Mary's. Wildlife is far and few in between, but when it does present itself, it is such a treat.
Airborne !!
In this same general area we saw what we thought was another otter. We lingered for another half hour or so, but never got another glimpse of it. Darn!!
So ends this trip on the St. Mary's River. We covered 6 1/2 miles. As I said my forearms are hurting and Dot's shoulders and back are hurting. But the scenery and sights we saw are better than aspirin for that ache.
On the way home we stopped at Cracker Barrel on I-10 for some dinner. Dot had chicken and dumplings and I had a rib-eye steak. If that doesn't make your mouth water, nothing will.
We hope you have enjoyed our outing as much as we have.
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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