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Posted by Jeff Weber on 19:08:00 11/09/08
Three of us headed out of Flamingo this morning in kayaks to look for Greater Flamingos in Snake Bight. Paddling north and east into a strong north wind, we saw just about everything else you could hope for, but no flamingos. At one point, we had about 20 Roseate Spoonbills wheeling just above us, and we also saw a dark-morph Short-tailed Hawk and a Peregrine Falcon. Big fish were feeding everywhere, and one of us caught a solid thump on the hull from a fast-moving something.
We continued east past Gibby Point and beyond before we ran out of water in a rising tide. One of us who shall go nameless (not me) decided to beach and exit his kayak just past the end of Snake Bight Trail, despite repeated warnings not to try this. He immediately sank thigh-deep in the muck, and when he struggled back to his seat, he brought about 50 lbs of mud aboard with him. That made it tougher for him to keep floating in skinny water, but we eventually found a channel that was deep enough for all of us. What a mess in that beautiful hand-made wooden boat!
What I found odd was that there were only about five hand-powered craft total on the Bay this beautiful weekend day. The many wonders of coastal South Florida were certainly not lost on us this morning, and we felt mighty fortunate just to experience them -- even without flamingos.
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