Dinghy Explorations

[Captain Smollett]

Got the dink out last week and went for a test ride to make sure the 2.5 HP Suzuki was still running good (had not run it since summer).

Earlier this week, we went out for about 2 hours...motored up the little channel to a boat ramp at a park.  It was a nice little ride, though I confess it was farther up than I thought (based on getting to that ramp by car).  Then we went up the Trent River a little ways and stuck our nose into an unnamed creek just off Hwy 70.  Saw a river otter about 5 yards from the boat, and knew we'd have to head back here with more daylight.

Yesterday, we went out for 3-1/2 hours of exploring.  Motored over to Duck Creek.  This was a pretty neat little creek, too.  As you wind up the marked channel (though none of the marks are on the chart), one finds a nice anchorage that has been dredged to 9 feet - at least that's what I've been told by locals.  A number of boaters use this spot as a hurricane hole and I will be keeping it in mind as well.

Further up Duck Creek, as it seems you are in the middle of nowhere, you come around a bend and there is a marina!  Filled with both sail and power vessels of all sizes and a travel lift/boat yard, it just seems out of place.  This facility is tucked back in a side basin off the creek.

The creek does not go much farther past the marina, but we did get up high enough to see some interested vultures and a flight of ducks.

With a couple of hours of daylight left, we then motored back up to that unnamed creek.  I raised the outboard and rowed up the creek, which proved to be a good strategy for spotting the wildlife living in the marsh grass.  We saw no less than six otters, two on land right at the shore, dozens of turtles, a few birds (I think I spotted a tern) and one raccoon.  All this, and we barely scratched the surface of that little creek system as once again we were losing daylight.  I think we need to go up there with a packed lunch, leaving in the morning and just planning to spend the whole day exploring that one little creek.

Sadly, there was also a TON of garbage along the banks in the marsh.  As I gently rowed, I pondered a trip over with bags to do some clean-up.  I'll have to get the children some thigh-boots, though, as the mud is pretty soft.   :)

I'm also thinking about cushions for the thwarts in the dink...after 3.5 hours, the old hams got a little tenderized.

[newt]

I bet your kids are almost having as much fun as you are! Grog to ya for insisting that they have quality time as they grow up. ;D

[AdriftAtSea]

grog to ya for trying to clean up the mess...and teaching you kids to be responsible boaters... I hope you're teaching them to fish too...:)

[jotruk]

Grog to ya , Best way to train future sailors is by demonstration of responsibility to the surrounding area. Besides having kids help can be a lot of fun

[Captain Smollett]

Yes, we pick up garbage just about every time out, whether hiking or boating.  The other day, we picked a nursing style cap out of the water (???) while dinghying.  Actually, it's gotten to the point that my son yells "GARBAGE" when he sees litter.

And yes, they are learning to fish as well.   ;)

[CapnK]

John -

A while back, I participated in a river cleanup, where our group were all in kayaks. Out of that experience comes a suggestion:

There isn't much room inside a kayak, obviously*. And you can only strap so much to the outside. So what I did was to "trailer" an empty kayak, and use that as the trash holder. It allowed for much more carrying capacity, and kept the nasties off of me and my boat, too. So I dunno if you still have that old inflatable dinghy or not, but that is a use you could put it to if you do. :)

I've found that commercial crabbers don't care enough for their traps to 'rescue' them when they get blown up onto the bank, either. Every once in a while I'll go 'save' a couple from out in the Bay and recycle them, giving the worse-off ones away when I get the new batch. Cleans up the environment, *and* puts food on the table... :)

------

*(Still, we "won". Our small group collected a BUNCH of trash, cause we could get way up into the shallows. When we came back to the landing, we had several car tires, a slew of full trashbags, and even a TV... ;D)

[CharlieJ]

Abandoned crab traps USED to be a HUGE problem in Texas. Not so much anymore.

What happened was Texas Parks and Wildlife made a new law- a certain two weeks in Feb ALL traps must be removed from the water or be considered abandoned. Then during those two weeks they had volunteers out picking up traps from everywhere. Those were turned in and destroyed. The first year they were swamped. Now after 4 or 5 years, they just don't find as many. Seems some of the commercial folks realized that TPWL meant business and got tired of buying new traps ;D

[newt]

Now I generally don't like government intervention but...I get really tired of old traps everywhere in Florida- down on the bottom, on on the shores, in the seaways with old heavily mossed over floats that just barely break the surface. I would be supportive of a law like that. (now let me DUCK and let the flames begin!)

[mrb]

 :) Points to the Captains Children for carring  :) and grog to the Captain for sharing

[Captain Smollett]

Got out yesterday and today again...boy, this gunkholing is F-U-N.

Yesterday, we were out for about 4 hours.  We rowed up a canal, but the wildlife viewing got spoiled by a couple of fishermen who came in on a bass boat.  Oh well.  Just the rowing time was about 1 hr 20 minutes.  We DID get to see one turtle sunning himself on a tree branch.  Temp was about 60 with 15+ kts of wind in the puffs, and I learned our dink can be a "wet ride" at times.

We then motored up Brice Creek.  Beached the boat at a ramp/convenience store called "Merchants" for potty breaks, drinks and snacks.  Headed on up the creek because I wanted to check out my wife's colleague's house from the water.  Interesting side story: last year, the were cooking burgers on their dock, and all the boaters stopped by to check 'em out.  They had a blast feeding folks just passing by.  Yep, you COULD call New Bern a small boat friendly town.

The only real down side to piddling along Brice Creek is the insane motorboaters who scream along at full speed, even in the oxbow turns.  I was twice 'surprised' by the fast moving image of white water flung aside by an approaching boat dead ahead (as dead ahead as one can be on a twisty creek).

Another caution for exploring this winding tributary of the Trent is the snags, deadfalls and knees ... sometimes IN the center channel.  Some are marked with "Danger" buoys, some are not.  A few would rip the guts out of our inflatable boat.  As I contemplate nighttime adventures up this creek, I am grateful for the daytime excursions to familiarize myself with the hazards.

Sixteen hunnerd was my turnaround time as we had somewhere to be back in "civilization." It took just over an hour to get back to the marina, but had an uneventful trip back. 

All the talk we gave about our explorations at the club house/capn's lounge got Jim interested in taking his dinghy out, too.  So, today, we met up with him on the water and together struck out to explore yet another creek.  This two-boat amphibious assault force made it's way up the Trent River to the target.

We nosed into the creek and we wound around; both killed ob's and rowed.  We continued upstream for a while, zigging and zagging around deadfalls and cypress knees until we were aground more than floating free in six inches of water or less.  Well, maybe I should say a-weed rather than aground.  On the way out, we got a good look at a kingfisher flapping into the breeze but stationary in our frame of reference; I had seen him alit in a cypress tree on the way in, but we had then scared him off.  I was too slow with the camera to get a shot of him, but I did get this picture of our creek as we turned one bend:



It may be hard to believe, but this picture taken along the waterway of a town of about 30,000 people.

Jim had not been up the canal we had explored yesterday, so on the way back to Bridge Pointe, we headed up there again.  As Jim slowly made his way up, we beached on the shore to take a needed break; motoring with the children requires the occasional "off the boat" time.  I was astounded by the tracks on that little sandy spit - multiple deer, my daughter found raccoon tracks and I saw a set I am convinced is bobcat.

After again floating, we headed up to rejoin with Jim.  As we both drifted lazily within sight of several houses near the developed end of the canal, we saw an osprey making off with his loot - a small fish.

Motoring back, we headed toward some condo's under construction to check on the progress, scoped out the very empty slips of the New Bern Grand Marina and got to wave at the engineer of a train passing the train bridge.  Jim could not believe we had been out for two hours.

"Time flies," I said, smiling inside.  Indeed it does.  Here's a shot of my 3 yo son doing his part rowing us back to the boat on one of our previous excursions.  With him on one oar and me on the other, we were making surprisingly good time.



When my daughter rows, we make good time, too, and I don't have to help so much...it's kinda hard, in a way, to just sit back and ride.   ;)

[Captain Smollett]

Yesterday, out two hours again.  Explored the water side of a neighborhood Becky liked from shoreside.  Interesting place and a possible hurricane hole.

Three+ more hours today.  In the morning, we dingied over to Union Park and the children played for a while.  The "town dock" was not really well built - fixed docks that are VERY high.  Standing in the dink, the dock came about shoulder height.  Also, the docks are ON the piles, so it IS possible for the boat to go under the dock.

Later, we headed over to Lawson Creek Park, beached the dink and spent quite a bit of time just walking the trails and playing.  After checking out the boardwalk over the marsh, the children found a place along one trail that was well saturated with snail shells...amazing how much entertainment that provides.  They got to keep one specimen each.

Leaving the park, we then motored over to where the Hwy 17 bridge meets the shore just to check things out.  Not ready to head back, we went up river a couple of miles, past town and beyond the old railroad bridge.

Motoring the dink in 15-20 kts with 2 ft 'seas' gets exciting if not a little wet at times.  The children like the ride - they both said dingy rides sure beat TV.

[Captain Smollett]

Mentioned previously the ride in 15 knots with 2 ft seas.

Here's a short video on our outing yesterday...this was AFTER it had calmed down a bit (daughter graded these waves "medium small" whereas the ones earlier were "medium big").

9 and half foot inflatable running about 4 knots, half throttle on the 2.5 HP Suzuki.

Believe me, the ride about 20 minutes earlier was a LOT wetter.   ;D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POVMr20Mp0s

[Oldrig]

Grog to you for that video. The kids deserve some, too, but they're too young.

The constant commentary and occasional giggles were the best part. Those little sailors will grow up to love and understand the water.

--Joe

[jotruk]

That is the only way to bring up kids, they will enjoy the memories of their yough more than we can believe

[Jim_ME]

Another great video.

I had to stop the video part way into it and put on my Sea-Band Anti-Seasickness Wristbands before continuing to watch.  :-[

You may want to add subtitles...?   ;)