Sunday, September 30, 2012 - Barge and Boat Wrecks
It's been a while since we've been kayaking. And it rained ALL DAY on Saturday, so today was the day.
We launched from Old Pungo Ferry Road. The water was REALLY low. (Notice how much "beach" is visible at the launch point.) But it was completely flat and calm when we started. Even the main river was glassy. There were lots of puffy clouds but no rain.
We dipped into the first oxbow and continued around and up Altons Creek. There were lots of red-wing blackbirds flying around and perching on the marsh plants. We saw a couple of blue herons flying, as well.
At one point, a teeny, tiny dragonfly landed on the side of my kayak right next to the front hatch. Tiny, tiny, tiny.
We continued up the creek to the cut-through and went back into the main river. Right before we got to the upper oxbow, we noticed a torpedo-shaped object on the edge of the vegetation. No idea what it was. Unexploded munition? Pontoon from a boat? Alien spaceship?
Then we tucked into the upper oxbow to check out the barge wrecks and abandoned boats. At this point, Sue called Kate and video chatted with her for a few minutes so that Kate could see what we were seeing. :)
Check out all the crazy (BIG) boats that have been abandoned here. I'm guessing that abandoning a boat in the navigable waters of the Commonwealth is not exactly legal. But if you are going to do it, this seems to be the spot. And it seems to have created great entertainment value from those who have visited the wrecks (as evidenced by what has been left behind).
When we exited the oxbow and entered the main river again, the wind had picked up. It was probably about 10 miles per hour directly out of the south which meant that we would be paddling into it for the last mile and a half back to Pungo Ferry Road.
There were very few boats out today which is unusual for this stretch of river.
2 hours and 35 minutes on the water. 5.5 miles on the GPS.
Great, great day.
