Morning Kayak

Saturday morning! Calm smooth clear quiet waters. A kayak. A paddle. Me.

It was a perfect morning for kayaking. The waters on both sides of Hayne's Point were glassy. This morning I chose the marshy side. Today I chose to opt for less exercise & more tranquility. I found it! It was bliss.

I paddled slowly, mostly just floated, and observed the life along the reeds & grasslands of Hayne's Point Provincial Park.

The sounds were enchanting. The call of a redwinged black bird, my favourite of all. Different types of ducks quacking around their nests. Gulls squawking on the shore. Big yellow sucker fish flopping & tousling in the shallows, making the reeds go wild.

The water was clearer than I've ever seen it. I could see every stone, ever single thing sitting on the bottom. When I quit paddling I would watch for the fish. Sometimes they would spot me first and I would only know they were there by the cloud of mud swirling beneathe me. Sometimes they'd swim along right beside me & then notice me and panic. More clouds of mud everywhere. And even one big silly fish bonked the bottom of my boat and I laughed.

No clouds. No breeze.

I heard some sort of water bird making all sorts of noise in the reeds. I paddle by. Hmm, do birds & big fish fight? I don't know. I paddle around the bend where the water gets deep fast. I don't like it there. It drops off like a cliff into blackness & seaweed. I hate paddling through seaweed. I go back to the shallows & hear another racket in the reeds. I see two masked eyes looking at me. The biggest raccoon I've ever seen. Probably stealing eggs or baby birds. I don't like raccoons. Luckily, I appear bigger to him and he gallops off through the reeds, leaving the bird nests alone, at least for a little while.

I paddle. I float. I talk to God. I think deep thoughts. I think nothing at all. I paddle some more.