Friday

The Pelican


May 3, 2015
Quiet, beautiful morning. No wind, no boats, gentle tidal current carrying sand caressing Flicka as it flows by. Sitting in the cockpit having coffee. We hear the soft snorting of dolphins as they surface to breathe and the splash of least turns on early morning fishing expeditions.

Then suddenly a louder splash as a brown pelican on its own fishing foray hits the water hard. A remarkable bird. He flies laboriously along at fifty feet, stalls in mid-flight, falls out of the sky, tucks his wings to gain speed and in that moment becomes a thing of grace and beauty. He hits the water hard – beak first. It’s a wonder it doesn’t snap off. Seconds after he hits the water that long beak with the prodigious pouch (which can hold up to three gallons of water) comes up, the neck extends, the pouch filled with water and fish tenders, the bird swallows its catch and I swear smacks its non-existent lips.

From Cooper’s Creek we ran up Calibogue Sound past Hilton Head Island, crossed into the Chechessee River and Port Royal Sound, finally to enter the Beaufort River and pass Parris Island where many young men in the Marine Corps have vacationed in the past.
Continuing up the Beaufort River, we passed through Ladies Island Bridges and past dangerous sandbars at Beaufort, SC that were our undoing on the trip south last fall. Beaufort is another classy city with lots of history. We passed into the Coosaw River, through the South Ashepoo Coosaw Cutoff, then through the North Ashepoo Coosaw Cutoff, into the Ashepoo River, then through the very narrow Fenwick Cut to the South Edisto River where we anchored in 15 feet at mile 509 ICW after a sixty mile run.  Same anchorage as in the fall.

 

Ladies Island Bridge Opens for Us
 
 


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