Stellar day weather wise today. Sunny with hardly a cloud in the sky and temps perfect. Cool in the morning but with the bright sun, the day warmed nicely. Keith and I were industrious and put a coat of teak sealer on the outside decks in the morning. Then I took off with the kayak in the early afternoon for a paddle since it was so nice and the wind was very calm. The Pamlico Sound was "slick cam" (as they say here in Ocracoke). That means the water was very calm. As you can see there was nothing more than a ripple on the Pamlico Sound.
Hard for a "dingbatter" to get "squamish" with the water so "slick cam". Translation: Hard for a non-islander to get sick on the stomach with the water so calm. So now that those of you reading the blog have your language lesson in speaking Ocracoke, I will show you where I was kayaking today.
I left Silver Lake which is the harbor where we have the boat and went out the small inlet into the Pamlico Sound. This is the old Coast Guard station and current ferry docks.
The coast guard station was downgraded in 1996 and the building is now the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching. The ferry docks are used multiple times a day for the large ferries that come from Ceder Island and Swans Quarter transporting both people and vehicles to and from the island.
I paddled down along the island heading south. A ferry was making its way toward the inlet and getting ready to enter Silver Lake.
It is best to time coming and going in the kayak so as not to be in the narrow inlet into Silver Lake when the ferry is coming or going.
After about a 20 minute paddle I came into Teach's Hole. This is a shallow but wide area cutting into the sound side of the island, and at the north end of Teach's Hole is a small creek which I entered. The water is only about a foot deep in most places but the creek does go up in quite a distance.
I tried to sneak up on some wildlife. This heron and cormorant were wary of me but I got pretty close.
I use a small point and shoot camera in the kayak rather than my good Nikon just in case of a water calamity, but there is not much of a zoom on this one.
I also saw a pair of ducks but as you can see from the male's picture they were definitely not afraid of me for good reason.
The real ducks I saw would not let me get very close.
Several turtles were in the shallow water and easy to see beneath the kayak but the camera would not capture a good picture through the water and glare. I was able to annoy a small hermit crab for a portrait. There were dozens of these little guys in the shallow water as well.
After messing around for a while, I headed back to Southern Style. This is a picture of Silver Lake as I am coming back on the kayak. It is a nice little protected harbor.
And here is Southern Style with the pirate ship just in front of her.
Ended the afternoon with Keith and I biking up to Ocracoke Oyster Company for a snack.
Tomorrow is the big pirate take-over. Stay tuned to see if we survive the pirate invasion.
2 comments:
No that's a snack! Yum
Great snack!
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