Sunday, July 13, 2008

Jaws, Scrabble, Crabs and Family


Sunday afternoon. Home again.



Mark and I spent Thursday afternoon through this morning at my aunt's home on a little harbor off the Mobjack Bay. We got probably ten or more hours of paddling time in. On Saturday, we had a family reunion with my sister's and brother's families. Then there were the guaranteed games of Scrabble every night....participants ranging in age from 8 to 80. Really lots of fun.



On Friday, our goal was to paddle the ten or so miles from my aunt's home to New Point Comfort Lighthouse. We tried this a couple of years ago but because of a constant headwind we gave up about half way there. The following year, my cousin and I tried again and got a tailwind. We practically surfed the waves the whole way. I think that put a burr in Mark's bustle and he was determined that we would have to try again. So we did.


It was one gorgeous day with lots of wildlife discoveries along the way. (And if ONLY I had carried a crab net and a basket........) We saw plenty of crabs just begging to be plucked out of the water.


The absolute highlight of the paddle for me happened right after we left the little harbor in front of my aunt's house. A pod of five dolphin were swimming right at the mouth of the harbor. So I paddled up in the middle of them. They were fishing and didn't seem to be bothered by our presence. Since I'd never heard of dolphin attacks, I wasn't bothered either.

Then, as Mark was taking photos of them, one appeared to charge his boat. I was laughing/screaming so hard it was a wonder I didn't scare them away. It sincerely looked like a scene out of "Jaws." Right before he would have hit Mark's boat with his head, he seemed to notice Mark and made a sharp turn to the right, splashing him. I just died laughing. I think the dolphin was concentrating on catching a fish headed in Mark's direction, not in really trying to scare Mark. Anyway, that was pretty memorable.

The next day my sister and her granddaughter came and spent the night. We did more paddling with them.

We treated my aunt to a dinner at my favorite seafood restaurant Thursday night. The next night we treated her to a seafood dinner in town. The next night we roasted hot dogs with the family and had a crab feast. There were kiddies running around and lots of noise. It was wonderful.

I'm pretty pooped after so many hours exercising in the sun. It feels nice to be laying on my own sofa too. But a trip to my aunt's is always a treat.

One more week of summer vacation for me and then back to school. I plan on making it a snippety week.


4 comments:

daysease said...

gorgeous lighthouse! How funny about the dolphins! sounds busy but full of wonderful memories... and exercise. :-)can't wait to see your next snips. and, what do you mean, "one more week of vacation then back to school"? school, already? woh! and, guess what! i am participating in my second swap with a Flickr newbie from England. Will share what i am getting on the blog... again i am excited.:-) have a great day...

ZenCrafter said...

Perfect!

Anonymous said...

This is what summer should be! Sun, water, creatures, food, family and friends. How delightful it all sounds!

MACMAN said...

All those years visiting New England shore line and I never saw dolphin swimming along the waterways. You sound like you had an awesome paddle. I know about that headwind, we have that challenge down here in Florida too. :)
God Bless,
John