Selden

I started at Essex about a hour before low tide. It's sunny with a scattering of small clouds and a light wind coming down river. I head out from the North Cove through the breach, which is being watched by eight or ten Vultures.

I head upstream a short distance and then cross the river on the old Ely Ferry path. I find much more current than I expected, and crab at a 45 degree angle until I get into the shoreline eddies. What I was looking at when I decided to cross was the shade on this side. The shoreline here is a short steep forested hillside, much of it protected land. Osprey and Eagles are common sightings with excellent perches for them. But, I like paddling in the morning shade. As the sun warms the surrounding space, heavier cool air well steeped in the smells of forest plants, slips down the hill and out over the water, and the canoe. I'm being enveloped, wrapped in something from afar, even if "afar" is only fifty yards.

It is a slow paddle upriver, taking me an hour and quarter to get to Joshua Creek, and an hour and a half to get to the bottom of Seleden Channel. There is a usual amount of Osprey, Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets and Gulls. An immature Bald Eagle flies by. What is in unusual amounts though, is the recently hatched fish. Once I'm past the mouth of Hamburg Cove, there are thousands of minnow sized fish, and big schools of them, swirling and evading my nonexistent threat. It should be good fishing for Egrets and Herons.

I head up through the Selden Channel. It's the usual peaceful and scenic experience. But, it's still too shallow to check out the side channels. At the top of the channel I spot a feeding Green Heron doing an excellent job of snagging minnows.

Back in the river, I follow the edge of the island until I'm even with Eustasia Island, which is about 3/4 of the way across the river. I cross over and continue down.  There's a lot of motorboat traffic, but just as I think the rest of the trip will be...kind of a drag, the boats clear, and I have the river mostly to myself again.  The downriver run is not as fast as one might expect considering the tailwind. Unfortunately, today the tailwind is joined with some chop and waves.  Canoes tend to wallow some in a following sea, and it's busy paddling keeping the canoe on course. A mature Bald Eagle, and a large one at that, flies over.  

When I take  out, it has been a full four hour paddle.