7/06/2006

Long weekend unbridged to the mainland

alberto.pngSpent four nights on the Dog last weekend, with Nancy at the Co-op House with my sibs Paul and Susannah and their families. It was hot as blazes, but clear and dry for the most part, with amazingly translucent water for this time of year. Nancy saw dolphins leap, and I saw a few groups myself - including one individual with what looked like a damaged dorsal fin. Saw a few black skimmers, too; they always enthrall me with their exotic looks and specialized feeding niche, and they remind me of childhood boat trips off Mobile Bay.

Blue crabs were out in droves along the shore and could be easily dipnetted at night by the dozen. Awesome colors in their claws. At the island fish fry on Sunday night, someone brought a covered dish that consisted mainly of steamed bluecrab halves - mighty tasty though labor-intensive. We all got to know our island neighbors Brad and Ann a little, along with their gorgeous daughters, who were in turn captivated by Caiti, Ben, and Liam (sporting an outrageous mohawk lately). Turnout was good at both the Yacht Club barbecue and the fish fry; there is an enjoyable and a bit quirky sense of community out there, though one does always feel somewhat the hanger-on.

The island is recovering nicely from last year's storm surge, or so it appeared to me. Sea oats were in beautiful abundance and all the debris piles were gone. It was too hot to make hiking attractive, but I look forward to visiting the east end and the bayshore again come fall.

We also sat in on the Dog Island Conservation District board's quarterly meeting, always a small but interesting affair given the uniqueness of the island's circumstances. Issues included a replacement dock in Carrabelle, barging over limerock for island road repair, tiedowns for aircraft at DI Int'l (grass strip), and other details of island life.

The island was as crowded as it gets - seeing a dozen cars parked at any one place besides the harbor is a rarity, but the main road was lined with at least that many during the fish fry. And there was plentiful boat traffic in the harbor; we saw at least one large group coming in to the Pelican Inn, and watched a gaggle of people unload a pickup bed's worth of fireworks at the Yacht Club (for the fish fry finale).

Nancy and I rode over with Cap'n Dick on Friday AM's mail run. Ed brought Susannah and Benj over around 7pm then went back to Lanark for a second load, by which time the encroaching darkness and his unfamiliarity with the route caused him to get lost; meanwhile Paul & Jenny & kids were motoring down from Tally to make an after-dark run in a larger boat equipped with a Q-beam. After a bit of nail-biting and near-misses they ended up convoying over together around 11pm -- a trip both Paul and Ed said they never wanted to make again; despite the mild weather it was not a real familiar route and they ran aground twice in the dark. Fortunately they were moving very slowly.

The return was far less eventful and took place way too soon, as always.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

What, no pics?

Mischa said...

Wonderful entry!