Cr. Frank Quirarte
Where did this monster wave come from?
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Cr. Frank Quirarte Where did this monster wave come from? |
I'm mentally prepared for today's 17-plus miles to Red Hill Marina (map point 8). I'm aware that whether I reach there or not will depend on the wind and the waves. An hour after I leave Poe Road, I come to the New River. This river originates in Mexico and is reputed to be quite polluted. It is of no concern to me as the Sea is calm and I am in no danger of capsizing. Soon, the winds pick up and I find myself battling some good sized waves. One particularly large wave breaks over my head and almost flips me over. I'm not able to see very well either as my sunglasses are covered with salt encrusted water spots. It is less than three hours since I left Poe Road but I am fatigued. Why do these big waves have to pound me on my longest day, I wonder. There are lots of snow geese with the pelicans but I don't pay much attention to them. I pull onto a sheltered beach and empty the kayak. The spray skirt keeps the water out, but it is hardly watertight.
Dinesh's constant companions, the pelicans |
Cr. James Kuhn Snow geese |
I had asked Joy to meet me at the end of Lack Road at 11 A.M. She was to wait near a small cove just around the corner from a rock retaining wall. The maps of the area, all of them pre-1990, showed about three such walls. After paddling past many such levee walls only to find another one ahead, I was getting quite discouraged. It was already past noon and I was not at the Lack Road pull out. Worse yet, I had no idea how far it was. I can't describe how pleased I was when I finally spotted our Explorer.
Dinesh finally reaches Lack Road |
I had been paddling for five hours. I take a long lunch break and feel rejuvenated. Still, it is more than two hours to Red Hill Marina and I decide to go only as far as a roadside beach about an hour away. The water near that beach is quite shallow and my preference was for a spot about a mile before the beach. However, the spot, which I called "the hidden cove", could only be reached by driving on a Wildlife Refuge road posted with "no trespassing" signs and Joy was reluctant to drive on it.
It is almost 3 o'clock when I spot Joy waving at me from the beach. I am still 100 feet from the shore and the water is only about 8 inches deep. I stick my paddle straight down and it sinks about a foot in the mud. I continue moving by paddling with my hands but 20 feet from the shore, in 3 inches of water, I come to a stop. As I get out, I sink to my calves in the mud hauling the kayak ashore. I wipe the mud off me and the kayak with some twigs and we head for a motel in Calipatria. This was a tough day and I was glad Joy had suggested going to a motel instead of camping at Red Hill Marina where there was not even running water.