11/20/2009 - Lower Escatawpa River

Launch: Moss Point City Docks


(1) Above left: Launching from Moss Point City Docks off the Escatawpa River. (2) Above right: Lots of industry around this area but not much trash was observed. This NOAA ship Ferdinand Hassler will be helping to update nautical charts. (Note the boom surrounding the ship. This shipyard cares for the environment. My compliments to Moss Point industries.


(3) Above left: At first it looked like a big train engine on the water but it is actually a dredging ship. (4) Above right: Never seen boats like this before. It turns out that Moss Point is host to Omega Protein Corp. Not sure how they work, but these ships, with the aid of airplanes, harvest menhaden fish. A Menhaden fish is also known as a Pogy and this fish is said to be the most important fish in the sea. Wow, I learn something new every day.


(5) Above left: Went around a sewage treatment facility and saw a bunch of turtles. No odor or signs of any sewage. (6) Above right: Golden Rod flowers still adorn the banks.


(7) Above left: Moss Point has a nice little park and fishing pier visible in the background. (8) Above right: Its lips were moving but I didn't hear anything. Anyone speak pelicanese?


(9) Above left: The popcorn tree may be an invasive tree, but it is colorful. (10) Above right: The seeds of the popcorn tree are three lobed and white resembling popcorn, hence it's name. The seeds remain on the tree after the leaves fall and may stay there all winter long before birds devour them and spread the tree seeds elsewhere.


(11) Above left: Hahahahaha. No thanks. (12) Above right: The 613 bridge over Escatawpa. Althought there is a lot to see, there is one drawback to kayaking in this area. Sadly, with the Hwy 613 bridge, the Hwy 63 bridge, and the I-10 bridge, the traffic noise never goes away.

11/19/2009 - Bayou La Batre

Launch: Bayou La Batre Public Launch

Had planned to paddle to Garrows Bend as the forecast called for calm conditions, but with whitecaps in Mobile Bay, I opted to kayak in Bayou La Batre since it is protected from the wind.


(1) Above left: I always forget how depressing it is to kayak in Bayou La Batre. Trash, trash, and trash (and some shore birds). (2) Above right: Great Blue Heron walking around the trash. I keep coming back hoping to see some change. Bayou La Batre never changes...


(3) Above photomerge. (Click on photo for larger view and scroll across image). Trash, Trash, Trash.


(4) Above left: There are five boats in this photo on the bottom. (5) Above right: When cars break down on the road or are involved in accidents that ruin them, the cars are quickly removed. One would think that our water is a wee bit more important than the side of the road. Why don't they remove boats instead of letting them pollute the water. (You can see a petroleum sheen in this photo).


(6) Above left: One of the first things I noticed on this trip is a petroleum sheen on the water and it was like that to beyond the lift bridge (miles of it!). (7) Above right: Not only is it visible, but it smells bad, too! But, I've already talked to the Coast Guard environmental response team and they don't bother doing anything about "petroleum sheens." They only deal with major spills. Don't kayak in Bayou La Batre unless you want to breath petroleum fumes.


(8) Above left: Gambling ships in for an overhaul. (9) Above right: The saga of the tree house continues. Once, it was a nice tree house. Then some hurricanes came along and damaged the tree house. No surprise here - over time the treehouse has fallen into the water as trash and nobody cares to remove the trash. Welcome to Trashy Bayou La Batre.


(10) Above left: Going upstream, once beyond the Hemley Road bridge, Bayou La Batre becomes less trashy. This man made canal can be followed for about a mile upstream of the bridge. (11) Above right: Sunset in the Bayou La Batre trash and petroleum dump.

11/18/2009 - Fly Creek

Launch: May Day Park boat ramp


(1) Above left: Winds were suppose to be calm today making it a good day for doing open water kayaking. That is a Hobie Mirage Adventure pedal kayak on the sandy beach at May Day Park. (2) Above right: Holy Hobie! Another Mirage pedal boat. Can you see it? He wasn't catching much.


(3) Above left: Waters, though nice and clear, were too low to go up into Red Gully or Rock Creek. (4) Above right: Went up into Fly Creek.


(5) Above left: What is a trip into Fly Creek without seeing the resident ducks? (6) Above right: Further up into Fly Creek near the bridge, it gets shallow and clear.


(7) Above left: Continued south a little bit beyond Fairhope Pier before heading further into the Bay. (8) Above right: Passed near this shrimp boat that was headed toward Fly Creek.


(9) Above left: The waters slicked off in Mobile Bay - perfect kayaking conditions. This is looking north toward the Causeway. Downtown Mobile is barely visible on the left. (10) Above right: That's me pedaling (exercising) to some classic rock tunes about 3 miles off the Eastern Shore coastline. Pedal kayaking is sure better than riding a bicycle on the road. Life is good!


(11) Above left: Sunset on Mobile Bay. (12) Above right: Back on land, this was taken from the May Day Park pier. This was a wonderful trip.

11/16/2009 - Bilbo Creek

Launch: Bates Lake
Route: Down Bates Lake to the Tombigbee, up the Tombigbee to Bilbo Creek and back.


(1) Above left: I've never been to Bates Lake. While river levels were up, I wanted to explore Bilbo Creek. This is the Bates Lake launch site and those trees behind the kayak are not usually in the water. (2) Above right: This man didn't seem concerned about his cars that were close to being flooded and the road to drive out on was under water. There are a lot of camps in the Bates Lake area. Despite the camps, Bilbo Creek is one of the most quiet areas I've ever paddled. No cars, no industry, no boats (weekday trip). About the only thing I heard was a plane.


(3) Above left: Saw some sort of tree growing along the banks with big leaves, a type tree not seen in the lower delta. I think it's catawpa trees. (4) Above right: The life of this camp called, "Cotton Mouth" near the entrance to Bilbo Creek is definitely slithering away.


(5) Above left: There were some beautiful moss draped trees along Bilbo Creek. (6) Above right: Despite the high waters, the creek was pretty easy to follow until it got close to the end. The only high ground was at the entrance at Tombigbee and near Laurel Shandy Landing. Saw some turkey and many ducks. There are a ton of "No Hunting" signs along the creek. This might be a good thing for kayakers.


(7) Above left: This shot was taken near the Laurel Shanty landing which doesn't appear to be a pubic landing. (8) Above right: Near the end of Bilbo Creek were several areas of cypress trees in their prime foliage state. It was beautiful. Time ran out before I could finish exploring this creek.


(9) Above left: When there are flooding conditions, the main river current is usually swift. Today it was running 3.5 mph. It took a while to go upstream at 1.5 mph. The return trip was a breeze at 7 mph. (10) Above right: Sunset on Bates Lake.

If you are ever looking for someplace new to kayak, consider Bates Lake which is about 45 minutes north of Mobile. There is a lot to explore up in this area. Within 2 miles of Bates Lake, there is Bilbo Creek, Bates Creek, Poll Bayou, Doctor Lake, Jim Burr Lake, Hals Lake and more. When the water level is normal, there are sandbars on the Tombigbee to camp on. Today, there were no sandbars.

11/15/2009 - Gravine Island & Briar Creek Tributary

Launch: Byrnes Lake


(1) Above left: Weather was perfect this weekend so I decided to lead a trip for the kayak club. As we were waiting for everyone to get underway, Morgan's kayak reflection presented a photo opp. (2) Above right: We are headed out Byrnes Lake to the Tensaw River - left to right, David, Morgan, Ken and Tracy.


(3) Above left: The current was predictably strong due to the flooding conditions up river. What was unexpected was to see a bald eagle (small dot on the top middle of the photo). (4) Above right: It is a rare treat around here to see such a magnificent bird. Only my second sighting of a bald eagle in the Delta.


(5) Above left: David glides across the Tensaw River (pun intended). (6) Above right: Ken prepares to take a photo of his son Morgan. While the waters on the Tensaw appear to be calm, the current was over 2 mph. If you stopped paddling, you were going backwards almost instantly.


(7) Above left: It took a while but we finally made the 3/4 mile trek across the Tensaw River to Gravine Island. The beach appears to have taken a pounding from tropical storm Ida. (8) Above right: Saw some pig tracks and these odd looking tracks which no one could identify. Anyone know what leaves this kind of track? Update: A search on the internet seems to show these are opossum tracks.


(9) Above left: I've always wondered why there aren't turtle skeletons all over. Today Tracy found a turtle (expired), and it appears the shells decompose very quickly by falling apart into dust. That's why... (10) Above right: This was taken in the Briar Creek tributary. We only saw one alligator on this trip.


(11) Above left: Ken paddles by some Bur-Marigold flowers up in the tributary off Big Briar Creek. (12) Above right: The tributary finally narrows down and gets clogged with vegetation.


(13) Above left: Shot of Tracy as we were headed back to Gravine Island for another break. (14) Above right: Having the current push us on the way back made the return trip go quick. Here are Tracy and David in Byrnes Lake as we near the ending point. Perfect weather, great group of kayakers, and an eagle? This was a great trip. Thanks go to Ken, Morgan, Tracy and David for joining the trip.