Setting Sun and Rising Moon

Temperature in the low 40's, sunny, wind SW at 5-10

After yesterday's 10-mile paddle around Eastern Neck Island, Dobbs and I felt sore and not at all eager to get right back to it this morning.  Instead, we puttered indoors for most of the day, waiting until 3pm to head down to the beach with our kayaks.  The air felt warm and the sun was bright.  We launched into the Northeast River and paddled toward Red #4 against a mild flood tide, the sun full on us and delightful.  At Red #4, we pointed our bows southeast toward North Bay Adventure Camp and arrived inside their breakwaters about twenty minutes before sunset.  North Bay is striking in architectural appearance, but even more impressive in its mission to "Challenge people through transformative educational and retreat experiences to realize their attitudes and actions have a lasting impact on their lives, communities, and the environment."  As we paddled through, we startled some Canada geese and mallards and they went flying and honking off downriver.  As we turned our bows back north, a full moon hung in the trees over Elk Neck.  Beautiful!

We kayaked back along the shoreline, surveying the terrain and beach-combing (by boat).  We came upon an abandoned decoy - a scaup - and added it to our collection.  Later, Dobbs found another decoy - this time a blue-winged teal - washed up in a heap of logs, and adopted it as well.  We saw a woodpecker, a red cockaded or downy one - we'd left our binoculars in the truck, regrettably.  As well, we happened upon small flocks of various ducks, but again, without binoculars, we couldn't accurately determine what we were seeing except for some goldeneye.  Astern, the sun set in a quiet blaze of pink and orange; ahead, the moon grew brighter in a darkening sky.  We landed on the beach at Red Point around quarter after 5pm and headed home for dinner.