Jan. 16

I could hear the wind howling again this morning as I awoke and as expected knew we were going to have yet another day off the water.  We got a slow start. Breakfast in a Hampton Inn is the epitome of waste. All of the ready to eat, processed food is wrapped in cellophane or paper, served on plastic foam plates or bowls and has the same flavor.  At least it is predictable because all Hampton Inns are pretty much the same.  But, trying to live a green life, breakfast is a guilt trip.

The trash bins were stuffed with the wrappers, containers, and uneaten left over tasteless food.

We decided to drive out and check out the put in and landing that we would use if we can get on the water tomorrow.  We found the WSEG boat ramp where we had launched on Dec. 31, 2003.  It looked much the same and had little hurricane evidence. On the way back out to the highway we stopped to pick some wild oranges and tangerines on the side of the road.  I don’t think they are ripe because they were pretty sour and dry.  When we got to the Menard Park where we will launch to fill in this gap we left last year, the shore was covered with birds.  Heather took over sixty pictures and I discovered they were very interested in food. I held up a piece of cashew nut and it was snapped from my hand immediately.  The most interesting of these birds were the black skimmers that lined up facing the wind and moving as if they were one body.  Several types of gulls surrounded them as well. A few crows and pigeons had crashed the party but didn’t seem to belong.  I think they were all clinging to dry land to avoid the high winds that churned up white caps on the water.

The wind and current were both going the same direction and it looked like we could have sailed with it down along the shore to the WSEG ramp in a few short hours.  But the rain persuaded me we had made the right choice.  Tomorrow is supposed to be windy too but there will be some sun.

The tide will be coming in again and the wind direction will be perfect.  Alas, I think we might be able to get back in our boat!  Then we will have three days of TOTO meetings in Palm Beach.

On our way back to the hotel we took an excursion into the Merit Island National Wildlife Refuge.  We visited a wonderful visitor center and then took a drive into the bird hunting area where a small grass covered road followed a built up dike through the marshes and around ponds covered with Coots, White Ibises, Glossy Ibises, Blue Herons, Tricolored Herons, Great Egrets, Ruddy Turnstones, Moor Hens, Roseate Spoonbills, Black Skimmers and more I have forgotten. The road meandered for miles hardly above the water surface on both sides and at many times I thought we were going to get stuck in mud or because we had straddled something too high for the clearance of the car.  It occurred to me that I must have inherited one of my father’s tendencies.  He had an insatiable desire to see if he couldn’t “get through” roads that had become trails.  We did get through but there were times I wondered how we would tell the tow truck where we were! Our excursion had been well worth the time.