Christmas Bay
May 27, 2020
by Natalie Wiest
With so many large gatherings on hold during the COVID-19 crisis, it has been totally pleasant to have socially distanced paddling opportunities. Wednesday May 27 was one of those and with Carl and Linda Kuhnen’s offer of a trip on Christmas Bay. I loaded my kayak and headed out to join them.
It’s always a good omen to see favorite island birds on the way to a putin, and five scissor tail flycatchers and a roseate spoonbill obliged. Willets and a ruddy turnstone greeted us at the put-in, and a magnificent frigate bird graced my exit.
We met at the Amigo Lane put-in at 9:30. Linda’s boat had a minor problem that Carl fixed before we took off.
(Click photos to enlarge)
The beautiful blue water had come in to the bay and along the beaches. Weather was perfect if a little breezy. Brown pelicans, Forsters and royal terns were fishing as were the humans, many of them also in kayaks.
Our path took us northeastward along Churchill Bayou, then east into Cold Pass then curving north.
There was hardly a cloud in the sky and the breezes were pleasant. Clouds were building on the horizon but forecast was no serious unpleasantness until late afternoon.
As we came to the eastern mouth of Titlum Tatlum Bayou opposite the San Luis Pass Park, we conferred on our next course. The original idea was a complete circuit of Mud Island. Even with light winds, but with the expectation of building in the afternoon, we decided to take the shorter Titlum Tatlum route. We paddled past fish camps perched along the bayou.
Carl assured us there are usually shell beaches near the fish camps but most were covered up with high water pushed inland by the southerly winds. At the mouth of Titlum Tatlum we found a nice shell beach just big enough for our boats and our lunch.
Notice the nice clear water. We followed up with a nice soak in the water and relaxed in anticipation of a long paddle into the wind to our takeout.
It was “only” two miles to the takeout, but what a two miles it turned out to be. The winds had definitely built up and records at Scholes Field in Galveston are 10 mph at 10 a.m. (we started paddling about 10:30), 12 mph at noon, and by 3 p.m., about the time we were paddling southward, 20 mph. It was a long hard slog across open water. We paddled past marsh grasses like in this photo, but I never once took my hands off the paddle to take a photo on the homeward bound stretch. There were whitecaps in the open bay as our kayaks bounded over and through the waves into the wind.
I am learning my way with GPS and GPS-like features. Next up is the map of our course from the Runkeeper app. I added geographic features. FWIW, I stopped it at our lunch stop so the run time of 5 hours is only for paddling time. Carl’s more legitimate GPS registered 8.9 miles – it seems to be a common thing that the GPSs don’t agree on mileages. 38 minutes per mile rate of paddling is surely an average. It took us at least two hours of hard paddling with only a short rest stop to do those final two miles. Carl gave Linda a tow assist to finish off and all three of us had a serious workout by the time we reached the takeout (same spot as put-in).
Our day wasn’t quite over after the lovely paddle. I was very happy with myself for adding end ties to my boat as I drove back through Galveston on my way home. Over my left shoulder a truly menacing looking front approached, and it unleashed its fury while I was in the city.
70 mph gusts were clocked at Scholes Field airport, and the rain was intense. I barely made it home in time to have a Zoom meeting with the canoe club board, but it was all-in-all a wonderful day of paddling and adventure.
Christmas Bay is a Texas Paddling Trail. For more information on the paddling trail, including GPS waypoints, go to tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/boat/paddlingtrails/coastal/christmas_bay
Happy safe boating!
Natalie Wiest
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The author, Natalie Wiest |