Outstanding weather for early April in MA. Too warm for a shirt. It'll probably end up snowing again next week. Anyway, I got the boat out for the first time this season!
90% of this trip was in sheltered waters behind Plum Island, a 10 mile or so long, skinny island parallel to the mainland. Inside, there's ocean, marshes, and rivers.
Left a beach on the mainland:
After a couple of miles, I entered the marshes:
A LOT of ducks around. Especially at this time of year where we have a bunch of species who migrate here for the winter and few people scaring them away. I couldn't get close enough for any photos, nor do I know what type they were, sorry! There were some mallards for sure, then some of the ones which migrate with white bands on their wings. A lot of the land on Plum Island is supported by Ducks Unlimited. Here's what looks like an old duck blind not far from Plum Island.
Now's a good time to point out that when the photos look funny like that one, it's because there's water on my lens. This is what it looks like cruising through the marshes. A lot of very narrow passageways. It's a labyrinth! There are miles of these little twisty canals that have been carved by the sea. A lot of dead ends, some of them cut through to exciting places. This one turned out to be a dead end. Since you're so low to the water in a kayak, even at high tide (like today), it's often impossible to say where any one passage may lead.
A couple of mute swans. Pretty nasty creatures. They attack and kill smaller birds. Tons of birds today. Ducks, geese, gulls, cormorants, and even a couple of loons. The osprey were a highlight as well. There were a pair in a nest, too far away to get a photo. One of them left to fish towards grounds where I'd previously seen him or her catch some. Awesome animals. Speaking of fish, I saw a couple of schools of minnows. Both times they passed near my kayak and disappeared in a flash. No bigger fish sighted today and too cold to snorkel.
Photobucket has disregarded chronology beyond this point, so for the sake of my sanity, I think that I will as well. Here's a shot of me:
No girls with me this trip, sorry!
90% of this trip was in sheltered waters behind Plum Island, a 10 mile or so long, skinny island parallel to the mainland. Inside, there's ocean, marshes, and rivers.
Left a beach on the mainland:
After a couple of miles, I entered the marshes:
A LOT of ducks around. Especially at this time of year where we have a bunch of species who migrate here for the winter and few people scaring them away. I couldn't get close enough for any photos, nor do I know what type they were, sorry! There were some mallards for sure, then some of the ones which migrate with white bands on their wings. A lot of the land on Plum Island is supported by Ducks Unlimited. Here's what looks like an old duck blind not far from Plum Island.
Now's a good time to point out that when the photos look funny like that one, it's because there's water on my lens. This is what it looks like cruising through the marshes. A lot of very narrow passageways. It's a labyrinth! There are miles of these little twisty canals that have been carved by the sea. A lot of dead ends, some of them cut through to exciting places. This one turned out to be a dead end. Since you're so low to the water in a kayak, even at high tide (like today), it's often impossible to say where any one passage may lead.
A couple of mute swans. Pretty nasty creatures. They attack and kill smaller birds. Tons of birds today. Ducks, geese, gulls, cormorants, and even a couple of loons. The osprey were a highlight as well. There were a pair in a nest, too far away to get a photo. One of them left to fish towards grounds where I'd previously seen him or her catch some. Awesome animals. Speaking of fish, I saw a couple of schools of minnows. Both times they passed near my kayak and disappeared in a flash. No bigger fish sighted today and too cold to snorkel.
Photobucket has disregarded chronology beyond this point, so for the sake of my sanity, I think that I will as well. Here's a shot of me:
No girls with me this trip, sorry!
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. Very clay-like. A bit got on my kayak and dried a pale gray color, very smooth consistency.
