Out to See the Sea

The weather this October and November was some of the finest we have ever had anytime of the year.  I took advantage of that by getting out the kayak and getting onto the sea 3 times so far. 

The first trip was a shakedown cruise after having not been in kayak for a while (except for a test run several months ago while at a private island resort - more later!).

My "sit on top" sea kayak, ready to launch.

In the water again.

I had planned to make a short paddle heading north and sticking close to shore.  However, the perfect conditions seduced me and I wound up paddling out to and around Great Monkey Cay (pronounced "key") before coming back home.

The north tip of Great Monkey Cay is at the right.  Those are the Maya Mountains on the far horizon.

As I headed back toward shore, a light breeze picked up and I got a bit of a workout paddling against the wind.  It felt wonderful!

The Google Earth image below show the 3 trips I made.  This first one is in turquoise.

More kayaking to come.

What Lurks Beneath

This is the rainy season, but we have had some fabulous days that call us out onto and into the water.

Morning view across to Greater Monkey Cay, 0.8 miles distant.

Our new dock gate.

We had to put a gate on our dock.  You will soon see why.

Standing on the dock looking north.  Greater Monkey Cay is just of view to the right of this shot.  When it looks like this, the kayaking is great.

I have learned to get the kayak ready from the dock rather then on the beach, clipping in the seat, positioning the live vest, stowing water bottle, snack, and camera.  This is much easier without help from Barnie!

Poor Barnie can't come through the gate onto the dock.

It got worse for Barnie, too.  Before I got in the kayak, I put her on the chain in the shade of the seagrape so she couldn't swim out after me.  I could hear her howls of despair across the water as I paddled out.  Sorry, Barnie, until your new CFD (canine flotation device) arrives, you are not allowed to go so far from shore.

I had unearthed my old underwater housing for a little Canon PowerShot A95 camera.  My old and well-used PowerShot fritzed out some time back, but Dennis had found a refurbished replacement on eBay and squirreled it away for later.  As eventually happens, later became now.  I got it going with new batteries (thanks, Dennis!) and decided to try it out by just holding under the water.  What better place than the corals around Greater Monkey Cay.  I took the following photos by holding the camera down into the water while leaning over the edge of the kayak.  I basically shot blind and wound up with lots of worthless images.  But I did get a few keepers to show what lurks beneath.

Hard and soft corals near the cay.  The water is a little murky.

The PowerShot does OK.  It has a very small chip, so you can't crop the shots very much.  It does have an underwater setting that seems to work all right.  I still have to white balance the shots after the fact.

In bright sunshine and with minimal ripples on the water's surface, it does pretty good.

The fish moved too fast for me to get any good shots of them, but there were lots around.

Sea fans and brain corals. in dappled sunlight.

Now I must get busy learning the names and types of corals.

I was fairly pleased with the results.  I will take it snorkeling next.  This will be a good way for me to learn more about the local sea-life while getting more experienced with underwater photography.  Not sure if I will upgrade to better equipment or not; underwater camera gear is quite expensive.  For now, I am enjoying this setup very much.

My dog-loving blogging friends will be happy to know that after this trip I went back for Barnie and we spent about an hour paddling along in the shallows.  She is getting better behaved with each trip.

The First Adventure of Green Shank and Yellow Legs

Still on a kayak kick.  Today dawned just as calm and lovely as yesterday, so as I promised him, Nolbert and I went out to Great Monkey Cay.  He was ready and waiting for me early this morning.

Nolbert, ready to go!

 I had the kayak at the water's edge, waiting for Nolbert to arrive.

Getting the kayak in the water.

Some minor adjustments to the seat cushion and then we are off!

Getting settled.

Dennis took some photos of the start of the adventure.

Nolbert happy and stylin' in his sunglasses.

He was all set with his life vest and we both had bottles of water, hats, and sunglasses as we set out for the cay.  On the way, we decided we should name our kayaks.  I suggested Yellow Legs for mine both for the color and because of the greater yellowleg waders I had showed him yesterday.  Nolbert thought that was a great name and he suggested green legs for his.  I countered with Green Shank and after I explained that shank means leg and that green shanks are real birds, he thoroughly approved. We paddled on in Green Shank and Yellow Legs.

The cay is about 3/4 mile from our dock.

We were able to go around to the outside of the cay; the water was so flat that no waves were breaking over the shallows around the cay.  Nolbert spotted bunches of big orange cushion star fish and pointed out the sea grass and coral heads.  On the north side of the cay, Nolbert tied Green Shanks up to some mangrove roots next to a sandy spot so he could do a little snorkeling.  I paddled around while he snorkeled.  It was a little too shallow at that spot, so next time we will try a different place to get out of the kayaks.  We can't get out over the coral because that would damage the coral, so that limits the choices a bit.

Nolbert handles Green Shanks really well; he can back paddle to make a sharp pivot turn and knows which side to stroke on to move away from an obstacle.  And the kid has stamina!  After the little snorkeling, we decided to head up to the mouth of Pine Ridge Creek before heading back to Craig's place.

Our route is mapped in the Goggle Earth image below and it comes to 3.65 miles.  Not bad for a 10 year old boy and a woman, who may or may not be, 6 times his age!

Our place is in the bottom left corner and Craig's is almost directly opposite the north point of Great Monkey Cay.

Next time Nolbert is here and the weather is good, we will pack lunches and go as far up Pine Ridge Creek as we can.  We should be able to see at least 3 kinds of kingfishers and yellow crowned night herons.  That is also where I have seen my only ever Agami Heron.  I would love to see one of those again.  Nolbert and I are looking forward to further adventures with Green Shank and Yellow Legs.

A Three Hour Tour. A Three Hour Tour.

I took a tour today, a three hour tour, in my kayak.  Click here to listen to the theme music.  The sea was beautifully flat and the sky was beautifully clear; perfect conditions.

But let me back up to last week when  Dennis and I had rescued the kayak from its forgotten spot next to the back landing on Black Creek where, unbeknownst to us, it had become a repository for what ever crap the work crew or others felt like flinging into it as they came and went.  We found old fiberglass from boat repairs, rags from cleaning the boat engine, and glass soda bottles tossed into it.  It had also become a home for little crabs and termites had made a nest under the seat.  The hollow body of the kayak was full of water because the storage cover was loose and the rod sockets had cracked or missing bottoms.  What a mess.  We drained most of the water out, although the drain hole kept getting plugged with all the algae that was growing in the water, and then hauled the kayak back the cabana.  I hosed it down and tried, with some success, to spray into the hollow body to get the algae cleaned out.  Got the termites cleared out, too.  Pascal helped me get the rest of the water out and we hauled it to the front (sea-ward side) of the cabana.  Pascal helped me pick a convenient spot to "park" it when not in use.  So the kayak was ready and waiting for me when this perfect day dawned.

I hadn't planned on a three hour tour. I had thought I would just give it a little shakedown cruise, but it was so wonderful out on the water that I just kept going.  Perhaps my subconscious mind had been alert to that possibility because I did take a water bottle and sarong, and put on my wide-brimmed hat, sea worthy sunglasses, long-sleeved shirt, and sunscreen (not in that order).

Here is my 5.5 mile route.

Kayak route is in turquoise.  It starts at the little white patch that is almost in the center of the image.  The white patch is our place.  The orange line is the Monkey River Road.

From our beach I headed south and then out to Little Monkey Cay.  Saw lots of big orange cushion starfish.  The water is very shallow between our place and Little Monkey Cay.  From there I headed into deep water and then north to Great Monkey Cay.  The deep water was the most fabulous opalescent turquoise that swallowed the rays of the sun before they touched bottom.  I always have a little frisson of fear when I pass over the edge and below me the bottom gives way to nothingness ...

But with the calm sea and the brilliant sun the fear is quickly gone and I continued my slow strokes toward Great Monkey Cay.  The brilliant sun also prompted me to cover my bare legs and feet with the sarong brought along for just that purpose.  Wetted down with sea water, the sarong provides cooling protection from the intense sun.  Soon the bottom rose again to greet me - large and small coral heads nestled in turtle grass meadows with a scattering of purple sea fans swaying in the current.  Pelicans joined me in the shallows around Great Monkey Cay to feed on the schools of little bait fish.  I explored some really nice corals on the north side of Great Monkey Cay. The water was a little turbid, so I didn't bother to use the snorkel gear I brought with me.

As I left Great Monkey Cay to go farther north, I saw an occasional clear jellyfish languidly propelling itself along.  Back in the deep water, a small school of large fish surged to the surface with eye-catching flashes of silver.  I made my way slowly along a ridge of corals that come in close to shore on my way to Pine Ridge Creek.  The creek water was very turbid with visibilities of only about 5 or 6 feet.  I did spot some very small and delicate jelly fish just beneath the water's surface and also some needle-like fish.  I didn't see many birds, but did hear some back in the mangroves.

Finally I turned back to begin the trip back home.  I kept closer to shore on the way back and was rewarded with good views of an anhinga sunning itself and a shy immature yellow-crowned night heron.  I heard Craig out on his dock and paddled up to say hello.  Glad I did because the young son of Craig's friend John joined me in Craig's kayak for the last leg home.  I have a kayak date with him tomorrow morning if the day proves good and go out to Great Monkey Cay if dad permits.

My three hour tour drew to a close and I was famished.  It felt fantastic to be out in the kayak for the first time in almost 3 years.  Next time I will be sure to pack a snack to I can stay out longer.

Pouring Concrete and Pouring Rain

Back in November, Richard, Craig, Joe, and Lloydie had poured concrete in 2/3rd of the space below the cabana. It turned out great.  We left the last 1/3rd to do until later so we could move the water vats off the sand onto the concrete and then pour concrete where the vats had been.  This time Dennis was part of the crew and Seven took Joe's place.  In the photo below you can see Dennis shoveling the newly mixed concrete into the wheel barrow so it can be poured on top of the wire mesh between the forms just behind Dennis.  The concrete is all mixed by hand; it is actually faster than the little motorized concrete mixer we shipped down.  Live and learn.

Token photo of Dennis working.  :-)  Not true, he does his share.  Lucky for me , I am the photographer.

Seven and Craig are ready to go.   Note the tamper (4x4 with a 1x4 base) used to flatten the sand base.

It progressed very quickly; the guys were good. 

Craig floating the concrete.

 With everybody working hard, the work got done in just one day instead of one and a half.  

Richard dumping the next wheelbarrow load, Craig floating, Seven shoveling, and Lloydie at the ready. 

 The finished product looks great!  We'll have 5 vats across the front and 4 more along the side we just poured.

You can see the edge of one vat at the front.  Two more will go to the left of it and then 4  down the side at the left of the photo.

 It will be much easier to keep clean and dry now.

View from the front toward the back.

After finishing early, Dennis took the crew for some liquid refreshment at Craig's bar.  They got there just before the rain came.

There is a faint rainbow at the right of the photo.

The next few shots are all from the same perspective with different atmospheric conditions.

A boat is trying to beat the rain to Monkey River.

Great Monkey Cay (pronounced "key") is almost obscured by the wall of approaching rain. 

I got a little funky with the effects on this shot.  Great Monkey Cay is invisible.