Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Paddling Chincoteague...worth waking up early for.

    I typically guide in lower Northampton County, so any opportunity to paddle up on Chincoteague is worth waking up early and making the hour and a half drive from Cape Charles to our Island shop. The waking up before 7:00 am (yes, that's early for me) was a little rough this morning, but we're having an early September cool snap, so I was awake the second I stepped out the door and the air hit my face.
    I'm always blown away by the number of birds you see as you drive the Chincoteague Causeway through the marsh to the Island. Most notable are the great egrets and snowy egrets which stand out whiter than white against the cordgrass and mud flats, but there's a lot of everybody out there. The last time I came up, I saw a laughing gull standing on a sign that said, "KEEP OFF." Delightful. Birds can't read.
    My guests and I had spoken on the phone a couple of days earlier, and I already liked them. They'd come from Richmond to partake in Chincoteague's Second Saturday Art Stroll and decided to make a vacation out of it. She had done quite a lot of canoeing but not much kayaking. He had never kayaked at all and described himself as, basically, the lanky guy who could never quite get into his comfort zone on the water. I like it when people are honest. And, no, he didn't fall in. He really did a pretty good job...and he loved it! 
    Before we even hit the water, we saw a little green heron stalking along through the oysters. Little green herons (That's their whole name, by the way. I'm not trying to diminish them at all.) were our escorts in the marsh today. At almost every turn, we'd come across one. They make a seriously squawky ruckus when you surprise them, then fly off with the feathers on their head puffed out like you just woke them up on the couch, and they can't believe the nerve of you. One seemed sure that we were chasing him as he flew and landed, flew and landed in ten foot spurts along our path.
    This was a low tide paddle, another rare treat for me, and that almost always means loads of bird activity. I took us off the beaten path and down a relatively deep (maybe 1 1/2 ft) creek through the marsh in hopes of checking out some mud flat action away from everyone else who was on the water this morning. That paid off big time! We saw great blue herons, little green herons, snowy egrets and great egrets nearly everywhere we looked, many of whom were so intent on their fishing that they let us get pretty close before grumbling and flapping away. We even saw a belted kingfisher perched on a piece of pvc pipe that was marking who knows what. By paddling along the path of the visibly falling tide through the grass with the assumption that, if water is moving, it must be coming from somewhere, we triumphantly made our way out to Assateague Channel and were treated to a great view of Assateague Lighthouse.
    We were on the home stretch of our little outing, and, while my guests and I were thrilled with all the birds we had seen, I was secretly a bit sorry not to have come across a little blue heron. I love the contrast of their dark blue feathers against the bright green of the cordgrass, and they're such a pleasing size. It's wonderful how holding still out there and focusing on one thing will bring another into view and then another and another. As we were floating and watching an osprey circle on a thermal current high above, a little blue popped his head out of the marsh right in front of us. Then, as we floated and watched the heron hunt among the oysters and ribbed mussels, three herring gulls flew by with the first one squabbing at the other two while a small blue crab dangled tenuously from its beak. There was no question as to the translation of his squawks!
    All three of us were grinning by the time we got back to the kayak launch. It had been the kind of trip that was so wonderful we had to wrap up the morning with a group hug at the boat ramp. Then I headed off to wash our boats down, and they headed off to do whatever it is people do after an enchanting two hour paddle through the salt marshes of Chincoteague and Assateague Islands.
    -Margaret, 9/12/12
   

View of the marsh from the deck of our Chincoteague Island shop.