At the end of a productive day of meetings with the Global Bycatch Assessment Project four of us dropped kayaks in Taylor Creek. And we paddled until sunset.
It’s been since 1992 that I paddled along the barrier islands in North Carolina as a Duke graduate student. In those days we’d kayak daily down Taylor Creek across to the lab from town, surf kayak out on the ocean, and ride the waves out at Hatteras.
Now I live in California. Such a different coast and ocean. Beautiful is its way. But the smell is different. The air is different. The land at the ocean’s edge is taller, steeper. On the east coast it’s largely a matter of moving sand, barrier islands, seagrass and marsh. Here in central California things at the ocean edge drop off severely to beaches and pounding waves.
I didn’t realize how much I missed the North Carolina coast, the Beaufort waterfront, the classic old captain’s homes, the marine lab, crab cakes...I’m glad we slipped the boats into the water...