Saturday paddle to JFK and back. Just what I needed after a rough week - a few hours to myself on a quiet bay. This is exactly what I picture when deadlines collide at work. Such a good feeling to point my bow out from under the Paedergat Basin bridge and know that I didn't have to be back by any particular time except when the sun goes dow. And that time constraint was just because I didn't bring my lights, otherwise there's a good chance this would've turned into a Broad Channel Island circumnavigation.
The mental jangle from the week took a long time to clear, but eventually quieted and I found myself just thinking how good it felt to be in my boat. I pushed along against the ebb, first hugging the shore then following the JFK security zone buoys until I got to the ruined pier that juts out into Jamaica Bay from JFK (not shown here, the structure in the last photo is the old pier at Canarsie Pol, which our resident ospreys will reclaim from the cormorants and gulls in mid-to-late March), then turned around and rode the current home to Sebago.
Once again, only 2 other boats all day - one motorboat, and one of the Sebago racers doing laps in the Paerdegat. No spring birds yet, and more soft grays than the sparkling blues of some winter days on the bay, but Manhattan still clear in the distance. A winter day that's quiet and warm enough to allow a jaunt like this is truly a gift, and it was just lovely to be out there enjoying it.
Here are some photos from the day - click on any photo for a slideshow view.
The mental jangle from the week took a long time to clear, but eventually quieted and I found myself just thinking how good it felt to be in my boat. I pushed along against the ebb, first hugging the shore then following the JFK security zone buoys until I got to the ruined pier that juts out into Jamaica Bay from JFK (not shown here, the structure in the last photo is the old pier at Canarsie Pol, which our resident ospreys will reclaim from the cormorants and gulls in mid-to-late March), then turned around and rode the current home to Sebago.
Once again, only 2 other boats all day - one motorboat, and one of the Sebago racers doing laps in the Paerdegat. No spring birds yet, and more soft grays than the sparkling blues of some winter days on the bay, but Manhattan still clear in the distance. A winter day that's quiet and warm enough to allow a jaunt like this is truly a gift, and it was just lovely to be out there enjoying it.
Here are some photos from the day - click on any photo for a slideshow view.
2 comments:
Some wonderful captures today, from (I assume) the A train crossing into the Rockaways (one day, I will take that train back to the area of my birth, which I've never consciously seen) to the plane taking off to the buoy. Ah, solitude! Exercise really does clear the head. Some of these pictures would be wonderful for the Skywatch Friday I participate in - not the greatest skies, but who cares with that scenery?
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