Again, the August 2nd thru 4th gallery is up.

August 3rd — Friday, our last full day in town. Jessica had been interested in taking a kayak tour of the island, which sounded pretty cool to me, and Eve had also expressed interest. So, after getting some information from the marina, we decided to rent single canoes for 4 hours (a “half day”), for about $40. A pretty good deal, I thought, considering that a half day guided tour was about $75.

We set off from the marina up the intercoastal waterway, and went nearly to the ocean, and back down Morgan and Cedar Creeks. Here is a map of it from MapQuest.

Click on the MORE button to read the rest of it…
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Well, going up the Intercoastal Waterway, we had a pretty good headwind most of the way, which got more and more stiff as we rounded Pine Island, and nearer the ocean. As I paddled up the waterway, a jumbo shrimp jumped on my kayak! It was pretty big, as big as a hand anyway, and was clear and translucent. Pretty wacky. But just remember — Watch out for shrimp! It looked at me with its beady little eyes, and slipped back into the water. We continued on, despite tasty crustaceans. The winds got a little more stiff, and as we made our way up to the opening of Morgan Creek, we were struggling a little. The entrance to the creek is guarded by a long stretch of marsh, a thin outcropping of mud, which made for a reasonably shallow coastline. As I was continuing up the coastline, I noticed out of the corner of my eye something in the lapping waves next to the coast, about 20 ft ahead of me. I looked harder, and lo and behold, a shark fin! And a little dark tip, too! A blacktip shark, I think! He gals! Lookee! A shark! Eve flips out, and so does Jessica, and ben attempts to maintain composure (and rightfully so! I was more than a little concerned, but in retrospect, probably shouldn’t have been). Well, we then proceed to paddle like hell past that point, into the wind, I might add. It was rough. I made a large circle to keep myself off of the marsh, and landed on the beach. Eve did the same, but mostly because she was attempting to avoid the shark (yikes!). However, Jessica got stuck on the very outside edge of the marsh. As she turned, and the wind broadsided her, she was blown into the mud. About 50ft away was the beach where Eve and I sat — and Jessica was stuck, and couldn’t get off.

So I hop back into my kayak, and paddle to the other side, going to give her a pull off. As I reach her kayak, and she asks me what she should do, I see a fin pop out of the water (the size of a small child’s hand) about 2-3 ft from the tip of her kayak! “Oh, hold on Jessica, wait to push off!” — “Is it a shark?” — “Uh, er, uh no, NO! Not at all definitely not a shark!”. Well, Jessica managed to push herself off the mud island, and we made to the beach.

So, we sat there, feeling relieved, excited, and perhaps a little silly for ourselves, being so afraid of these sharks. I think that the water itself is generally scary. God only knows what else lurks in the deep! Sharks, shrimp, flying fish, oh my! As I was watching a guy fish for sharks on the beach, I saw yet another fin pop out of the water — about 6 feet from the guys leg!! I said “Hey buddy — there is a shark next to your leg!” and he responded “Alright! Lookit there!”. And casted his rod in the general direction.

He mentioned that there were some 4 – 4 1/2 foot Blacktip sharks caught right near were Jessica was stranded, and that “They’d only take a bite out of your leg or somethin’” — Hey! Sounds great! Just a play bite, right? Like your little puppy or something. Well, it was all very invigorating, and we pushed off down the creek, thankful to put the shark-infested intercoastal behind us. It was rather dreamy, really. Nothing but marsh on either side of us, the occassional jumping fish and the statuesque heron in a tree or on a dock. The rest of the trip was pretty uneventful, though I did get us turned around a bit at a confusing point on the map. Oh well, it was very serene, and really cool, though I think I’ll stick to river kayaking for the time being. Ain’t no catfish gonna bite me, that’s for sure. hehe…

We then retired home, shoulders aching from the journey — we got some pictures, by the way, though they were taken with a waterproof 35 mm camera. Scans soon!