After a long run of work, home responsibilities, and general busyness in my life, a Bull Island window opened wide: winds forecast for north at 15 knots changing later to northwest at 5-10 knots, low tide at 1:02 PM, and clear skies. It was a Monday, and the day prior to the winter solstice. The […]
Approaching a winter solstice Read More »
8AM at the Romain Retreat landing on November 20, I was looking at a glassy Intracoastal Waterway, and feeling the irritation of no-seeums. I set off with the outgoing tide (low at 12:40PM), without wind but with faith that the predicted light east wind would arrive. Paddling into Andersonville Creek, following the group of ibis
Floating on a fall day Read More »
I almost missed a fine day for a sail out to the Northeast Point of Bull Island on a day off from work. Over the weekend, another great adventure in plumbing had turned nightmarish. Thankfully, help came before I anticipated, and with hot water running again in the Raynor household I was free to set
I wondered if it was just a coincidence that the weather continued to be spectacular, carrying on what I had experienced the previous weekend in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Sunday was the annual special tour of Bull Island led by Rudy Mancke, and I was along helping as a board member of the Sewee
“The was-ness of the is” Read More »
I occasionally yearn to be in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GSMNP). Ever since camping trips with my family back in the early 1990’s, this national park has felt like home. Two college buddies and I hit the weather perfectly with a long planned trip last weekend: crystal clear skies, cool temperatures with no humidity,
Moving away from my home waters around Bull Island, I traveled into northern Georgetown County, not trailing Kingfisher behind me but sporting a canoe on top of my vehicle. I had been planning this trip – seemingly an inordinate amount of time for a half-day paddle –on one of the spectacular coastal rivers of South
On the Little Peedee River Read More »
The tide’s timing beckoned a trip out to Bull Island on Sunday before Labor Day. In contrast, the marine forecast of east at 10 knots was not panning out. With sail raised I paddled across the Intracoastal Waterway toward Andersonville Creek. The wind did not have an identity, and veered around during the long trip
What was it about that day, August 9, which gave me such a bounce in my step and oozing anticipation? A series of marine and atmospheric conditions had converged: the new moon, with the accompanying larger range of tides (spring tides), with a low tide at 1:45 PM; marine forecast for east wind at 10-15
Walking across the Bay Read More »
Cape Island called again, as it often has for me. Four nights were set aside for loggerhead program staff and volunteers to spend the night on the island monitoring the nighttime happenings of loggerheads: both females nesting, and nests hatching out. The daily daytime work of staff and volunteers misses the night action where turtles
Moments under a July moon Read More »
It had been awhile since I had entered the interior of Bull Island, and certainly not since the heat had cranked up in the Lowcountry. This Monday was a day off for me, and came on the days before the July 4th weekend. The conditions were favorable for a sail out to the Northeast Point,
I was off my usual track to Bull Island for a trip out to Cape Island on July 4th. I am an irregular volunteer for the loggerhead program on Cape, mainly putting in time each year to build the hatcheries. Having been offered the opportunity to get out during the nesting season, I used my
It was beastly hot, with the expectation to approach 100 again with high humidity. It seemed a bit early for this kind of blast furnace weather, only June 13. I had recovered from my early morning run with my running buddy Brantley Arnau to prepare for a sail around Bull Island, a circumnavigation of this
