Biking St Andrews

Most of the roads here are not bike-friendly, but if you go out early on Sunday morning on some of the less-travelled roads then it's fairly pleasant. I found some really nice smooth paved roads in St Andrews, and also really enjoyed the trip out Belle Fontaine Beach. I wouldn't have enjoyed it if I hadn't seen it already. Only a handful of houses are left out of probably well over a hundred. All I can say is it looks a heck of a lot better than it did in September of last year. It's really a pleasant area. Some of the best of coastal Mississippi, but seems tucked away; a little sliver between the gulf and the bayou. I sure hope no one puts a condo out there.

I went jogging tonight and thought, you know, I should carry my GPS with me, ha ha, showing 6 trips around the .8 mile block... OK, I won't get carried away. Though my biking and other exercise must be doing me good. Resting heart rate was 46 at a visit to the doctor today. The technician took it twice to be sure, then asked me, "do you exercise a lot?" :-) I'm feeling a lot better than in my most recent couch-potato days a year an a half ago. Since then I've been slowly building up to better aerobic shape and stronger muscles, and I haven't been sick a single time in well over a year. Not that I don't still have goals to attain, but I'm really happy with the effects of exercise. I highly recommend it... especially if you make it fun!

New Tracks in Graveline

It's amazing how many places there are yet to see through these bayou trails. Today was the first proof-of-concept of taking the kayak on the boat. We put me out on the beach at the gulf entrance on the right side of this track, and I went up some of the north bayou legs, meeting Dale back where we saw a nutria the other night. The tide was high but the fish weren't biting. I got back in the boat easily, too. I'm psyched about this!! Now now we have the option of anywhere we go in the boat, we just load up the the kayak also and I can take a side trip just about anywhere.

This picture of a skimmer was taken from the boat. Funny how the eyes are spaced so high up on the head. I've been trying to get a good shot of them skimming the water. They must pick up some tasty things in that beak as they cruise along. They're going plenty fast when they're skimming, too.

Deer Island; Summer Day

Saturday Mom and I did a trek to Deer Island in both of our kayaks. First trip there without Paul as a guide, and Beriniki's first trip in the open sea. All went well! Boat traffic was light and the bay was calm. Going across we saw plenty of jellyfish. Cute little ones without visible tentacles; they looked like button mushrooms. They clustered together near the channel, where there were dozens within view at one time, but then none closer to the island.



The birds still like this area. Like Round Island, which we visited last week by boat, Deer Island has hundreds of dead pine trees. I didn't see a single one alive on Round, but Deer has a few. In the picture you can see them showing green through all the dead brown.

















Armies of fiddler crabs covered all of the exposed mud. Tyler tells me only the males have the big claw... but they all seem to have a big claw. Are they bringing food home to the females?