I love the familiar feeling of pushing into the water and holding my breath as I tuck my legs in and grasp my paddle. I love letting the current take me and then after a few seconds dipping the paddle in and surging forward, free to twist and turn around the bends of the river.
We headed towards the ocean today, down the river and in and around islands that are also bird sanctuaries.
We kayaked down the river and were paddling thru a group of small islands when we spotted this sandy peninsula and then as we turned the corner a beautiful sandy beach was in front of us.
It was a stretch of smooth, untouched sand and as our bare feet sunk in we couldn't help but smile. I love that no matter how many times we have kayaked down our river there are always new things to see and explore.
The only other footprints on the beach were from a goose.
Then we saw a larger group of footprints...
And as Martin innocently walked along the beach, a HUGE mama goose flew out of the brush and caused both of us to have heart failure. She was not in the mood for visitors.
She landed in the water and continued to squawk at us until we were far enough away that she didn't feel threatened. She was pissed...there's no other way to put it.
We continued along the shore, and came upon heaps of fluffy sea foam. It looked magical, shimmering in the sun and when a gust of wind blew it rolled up the beach and into the grass, disappearing as if it was never even there.
Around every corner there was another beautiful beach and we decided that it is the perfect place for a picnic...next time.
We stumbled across someone's secret meeting place in the center of the island. They had a huge fire pit, roughly made seats, and there were ropes strung up in the trees so that you could sit and swing. We talked about what kind of people they were, whether they were teenagers or adults, whether they've been coming here for years, and as we walked away we felt like we shared a secret with someone we didn't even know.
We roamed around the island, wading through the cool water, inspecting shells and soaking in the sunshine. We eventually got back in our kayaks and pushed off from the island, back into the water and onto explore the different coves and inlets of the river.
There were many bird stands set up on the islands, most of them with proud mama birds guarding their young. This hawk was swirling through the sky, diving at a goose that had wandered too close for her comfort, then went back to her stand and glared at us as we paddled past.
As we meandered through the water, there was a giant cloud of smoke billowing in from the ocean. We thought it was smoke, then as we got closer and it started coming towards us we realized it was fog. Clouds of smoke, rolling in, slowly engulfing the islands and creeping towards us. It's a funny thing, to be able to feel something you can't touch, but as the fog floated around us the air felt different, almost silky.
We could see the fog creeping across the bay. It looked like a fog machine had been turned on.
On our left there was fog, on the right there was sunshine and blue skies.
We had a wonderful day kayaking on the river and as the sun dipped below the horizon I felt pure happiness as I watched my best friend lean back in his kayak to take in the last few rays of sunshine. I felt so grateful for everything around me today. The beauty, the reminders of spring, the calmness, but mostly I am grateful for him.
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