Little Bay

Easter holiday this year looks like good times. I hope to start every morning by kayaking and then writing!
Today I celebrated Good Friday by walking over to Telegraph Bay with my little inflatable kayak. This is a sweet little bay for paddling. It's a good launch point for going along the shore to Gordon Head and farther on. But I like it even when all I do is stay inside the curve of the bay.
Inside Telegraph Bay there were no big swells today for surfing. It was spring -- the kind of "real spring" weather that not only had the birds singing but people walking around outdoors with the kind of dazed look that says they've been indoors too long. It was terrific weather for paddling... just cool enough that the summer paddlers aren't on the water. There was a family picnicking on the shore, and at the other end of the beach a heron stood hipshot and glaring like a moody, chain-smoking fashion model.
April is a good month for kayaking. The water is still clear enough to see the bottom on a bright day, in many places. Where the water was shallow I was delighted to see the rainbow-coloured kelp that Louise and I like so much. It looks iridescent in the right light... without the right angle of light this kelp just looks like brownish-green sheets.
I pushed the OK button on my SPOT device, to show my location. There were several purple starfish on the rocks along there. Ochre seastars, Alison calls them. One of them had only three legs! I assume it had survived some vicious struggle and was in the slow process of regenerating new limbs to make up for those missing.
I completed one circuit of the bay and ended up back at the beach. The great blue heron squawked and flew away, every wingflap conveying disdain.
Wonderful to take my time putting away the kayak, so that my sandals had dried in the sun by the time I headed toward home. Once again braved the holiday traffic jam as I made my way. Most people out for a walk that morning just took their dogs -- my companion was more quiet and less fuzzy.