All of your wild friends evoke memories: the first boat I ever owned was a little rowboat so short it was almost square; I used to row it deep into swamps to fish for bass and pickerel, and muskrats were common companions. I never paddled on water with beavers, but often hiked in beaver pond territory in New Hampshire; we seldom saw them, but often heard the tail-swats.
Do your carp go into great orgies of rolling and thrashing in shallow water in every spawning season?
I remember painted turtles sunning 4 or 5 deep on stones and logs, dropping off with little plops as a boat comes close. We have many kingfishers here, blue, green, and orange, especially in the winter months, when we get migrants from Korea, Japan, north China, and Siberia. See them mostly on the whitewater rivers, but a few along the ocean coasts as well, at least on the forested ones. Some herons and egrets as well. No ospreys, but there are a few pairs of white-headed sea eagles around; beautiful, as are all the birds of prey.
I did do the kayak race, 16km over flat water. There ended up being 3 of us in real kayaks; a friend came up from Manila with 2, and I persuaded him to lend the second to a former protege of mine, a young local fellow who I introduced to paddling a couple of years ago. He guides now, and was going to be one of the race officials, but ended up rounding out our 3-person group. He also ended up beating me by a minute and 16 seconds; I hung on his tail all the way, figuring I'd exploit the faster boat by trying to sprint with him at the end, but by the time we got to the end there was nothing left to sprint with. Still, he's 27 and does outdoor stuff full time, I'm 40 and fading, with 50 hrs. a week or more in front of a monitor; two hours and a minuter isn't half bad for the distance, and the rest of the field was satisfactorily far behind, so I'm content. Pushing out some distance a little more frequently since then; they've convinced me to join a channel crossing race in mid May; only 14 km. but much choppier water. More dolphins in that area too, and if I run into some that want to play I will play in preference to racing. I've never been bumped, but they will come very close to the boat, and dodge around in circles. Got close to pilot whales once as well; almost scary. As long as the kayak, and much bigger. Running into one of the larger whales would be really awe-inspiring, they do come around now and then, so there is hope.
So your inaugural paddle for 1999 is coming up... enjoy, wallow in it, and report all.
Steve |
