We started out by the group having a salad supper. Each of us brought enough of some type of salad for at least 3-4 people to eat. And thank goodness someone actually brought some smoked ribs. Good eating!
It was a perfect day for the moonlight float at Lake Bistineau. The temperature was only about 87 and the humdity seemed to be down some. The lake is a typical Louisiana lake...full of moss, alligators, and lots of cypress trees.
We had about 24 people at the salad supper, and then 11 boats went on the moonlight trip.
I was the first one out on the water, so I took a picture of some of the folks coming out. There were 3 kayaks, including mine, and 8 canoes. I went ahead and turned my light on because once in the kayak I cannot reach the bow at all without falling out of the kayak!
The moon came out very early and was large and beautiful.
Becasue it got dark pretty fast I was not able to see much wildlife...except the spiders that fell into my boat as we went through the thick moss covered trail... so I only got a few pictures of egrets. I thought the one below came out pretty neat... blurred wings, but clear head...
It was quite scarry to me as we went on the trail. It was dark and if I got more than 10-15 feet away from the person in front of me, they were invisible. I was constantly fighting with the water plants. They were so thick in places that they seemed to grab the paddle and not want to give it back. When I put the boat back up on the rack the next day, I found a dead fish in the bottom of the kayak. I guess he was a part of the thick plant growth that kept coming into the boat from the paddle...
The trip took 3 hours and 40 minutes. I am not sure how far we went, but we paddled constantly at a pretty good clip. Most of the folks were in canoes with two people, so I guess that is why they went so fast. I really did not enjoy it as much as I would have liked to because I think we went too fast. I did not have time to enjoy the moon...I was glad that there were two people in the group with GPS'. Although from what I understand, we were not even on the trails a lot of the time. The trail is pretty poorly marked in some of the areas and the paint used to mark the trail does not glow in the dark. And I could not stop and take pictures, because they were moving so fast that I would have been left behind! This is a trip that I probably will not make again with the group! And they probably will be glad that I don't because I kept my headlight on once it got dark because I just could not see good without it. I don't see very good in the dark since I've had LASIK. So...maybe moonlight trips are not for me...
Well, even though it was a stressful trip I did still enjoy getting out in my kayak. And I proved to myself that I could keep up and paddle for that long without collapsing afterward! Of course my arms, shoulders and hands hurt for a few days aftewards... Made me long for those kayak paddle gloves or yakgrips that the Kayak Fishing place sells. I am glad that I invested in a good paddle. But the way my wrists hurt aftewards, maybe I should look into a bent shaft paddle.
Oh well...'til next time...Happy paddling!
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