Lost in the Time

I wear a wristwatch, and I carry a compass, which I know how to use. I have a hand held GPS unit, which works if you tap it just right - it doesn't get into the canoe very often.

I almost always check the time as I set out. And, somewhere in the middle of the trip, I forget what time it was when I started. My accuracy for knowing how long I have been paddling is plus/minus a half hour. Today, this happens again and I can't remember whether I set out at 9:00 or 9:30. But, it doesn't really matter. I know where I am, I know where I will end up.

It is cloudy, and somewhat humid, and cool. There is a light wind out of the south that is supposed to shift around this afternoon. The tide is about an hour into rising. I put in at Pilgrim Landing and just to mix it up, I take the long way around Goose Island. The 120 acre island is the last mongo-overgrown patch of European phragmites, a non-native invasive reed, in the cove. The island belongs to a local hunting club and I am forever puzzled as to why they have not eradicated the phragmites. The reed grows so dense that it is not habitat for Ducks and Geese. The island should have a thin strip of spartina grass at the waters edge with cattails, wild rice, and a mix of other native marsh plants. It's only claim to fame are the swallow flock acrobatics that occur about this time of the year.

I cut across Goose Bay and head up into the cove, hitting my usual route, but in a reverse order, more or less. Great Blue Herons, Great Egrets, and Osprey are about in equal numbers - maybe a dozen each during the trip. As I went across the bay, I spotted an Osprey parked on a dead fall that had ended up stranded in the center of the bay. Then, it took off...it was a mature Bald Eagle.   

I come out of the cove and need more time. I round the outside of Calf Island and paddle downriver as far as the big bridge before returning to take out.