Paddle: Pokomoke River

Monday October 4th marked the first "official" day of the Road Scholar program "Adventures in Coastal Kayaking". I had arrived Sunday night after a wet and dreary day to the campus of the Marine Science Consortium (MSC) in Wallops Island, Virginia, located in the Delmarva peninsula near Chincoteague Island!

This is their brand new LEED certified education center. Besides elderhostel programs, they have field trips and weekend/week long sessions hosting school children of all ages in all things coastal ecology.

The dorms were brand new also! Just opened in the spring. Very nice, comfortable bed, dresser ample space, super nice bathrooms! (By the way, these sunny photos were taken at the END of the trip!)

With Lake Superior getting the best of me, I was VERY leery about my selection for vacation, however, coordinator Parker assured me that this was easy paddling and that I would NOT dump out of my kayak! The first paddle was north into Maryland on the Pokomoke River near Snow Hill. To say I was apprehensive was an understatement. However, after about 20 minutes of paddling in a 2 person kayak with Bobbie (VERY experienced!) I was feeling quite comfortable and even felt I could take a few photos!

Cypress trees and knees!

The current was fairly quick, especially with the recent rains from Tropical Storm Nicole and the flooding that resulted, so paddling was not really needed, but was hard in congested areas to keep from bumping into others!

It was a damp and dreary day like yesterday, but not a steady hard rain, more like a drizzle. After finishing our lunch, the Pokomoke became quite a bit wider.

And then after we turned a corner, we came upon the town of Snow Hill, Maryland.....and a bridge. Fortunately they had phoned ahead to arrange for the bridge to be lifted so that we didn't have to portage the kayaks over the roadway...not sure how we would have even gotten out.

We were ALL SOOOOO EXCITED to have the bridge lifted just for us! I guess after a crummy weather day this was just the bright spot that we needed!

I wish I had known at the time how to work the video feature on my new water camera! That would have been cool!

Bridge back down and we are bunch of really happy campers!!!

Near the docks, we had to paddle through some Lilly pads. I HAD to feel them...not as slimy as I would have expected....

Anyway, despite the inclement weather, a good time was had by all, I did NOT overturn the kayak or end up in the water, and we were mostly dry (thanks to Gore-Tex). I wish this had been my first paddling experience! No worries!!!