Armand Bayou Moonlight Paddle
Oct. 27, 2012
by John Ohrt
photos by Natalie Wiest
It was a beautiful evening paddle. Sixteen paddlers in thirteen boats shoved off from Bay Area Park at 5:30 pm. A strong north wind earlier in the day made for shallow water, so we tried to stay in the old bayou channel. The full moon was already up and high in the eastern sky. We got a close up look at a perching osprey who followed us down the bayou and into Horsepen. We also saw several great blue herons, great egrets and numerous shore birds. A curious racoon poked its head out of the tall grass as we went by. We saw some anhingas, cormorants and kingfishers. All our group knew how to paddle and we made good time. We turned west into Horsepen Bayou and into the setting sun. We twisted around the narrow curves of Horsepen. Although we could hear automobiles it seemed like we were in a different world. At about 6:45 it began to get dark and we turned around. It was quite dark in Horsepen but everyone had a light. When we got back to Armand the moon was full and bright and it was an easy paddle back. We finished about 7:45 pm; earlier than I had expected. The temperature was a nice fall-like 60 degrees. The Bay Area Park stays open until 10:00 pm. On the way back we ran into a good sized group of sit-on-tops, some with glow sticks around their necks (which reminded me of nights at Astro World). They were headed outbound to where we had been and I was glad we had gotten an early start. I believe in coordinating trips that I enjoy doing. I certailnly enjoyed this one, and I hope everyone else did as well. Fall is a good time to explore the Armand Bayou area.
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| Group photo |
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Natalie Wiest, Christy Long,
John Ohrt, Dave Kitson |
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Just for fun – this is the downside of trying to take
night shots from a canoe bouncing on the waves;
the white squiggle is in fact the moon, red must be
someone’s light, but it gives some idea of what the
water and sky (without squiggles) looked like last
night. |
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| The author, John Ohrt |