Bennett's Creek Paddle 8/11/2015-Bruce

Watching and listening to the weatherman all day on Monday, I was expecting a few phone calls early Tuesday Morning. Well I was not wrong, about 7:30 the phone rang 2 different times and the persons on the other end had took to heart what THE MAN had said and was backing out of a great paddle. We had 19 sign-up on Monday morning and by Tuesday morning at 9:00 o’clock we paddle with only 12 Tuesday Groupers. Backing up to 8:00 A.M. some of us met at Hardees on High Street for our Tuesday Group Breakfast, with Bruce & Margaret, Bill, John, Richard, Ellis & Marti, Jack and Ron & Sue who had decided to skip the paddle and go shopping . We left here and headed to the put-in where we saw the rest of our group, Phyllis, Bob M. Jim H. and Gayle. The tide was on the way out, with high tide being at 8:00 A.M. so in order to do the paddle that I had mapped out we needed to get in the water and start paddling before the water got to low for our boats. We headed out about 9:40 with the tide and wind blowing with us and this made it very easy to paddle. We saw Egrets and Great Blue Herons as we paddle past some men building a new boat house. Since we had not been on this paddle since July 10, 2012 there were 3 or 4 new boat houses and where there was an empty field back then was now full of new homes. Paddling under the bridge at Hwy. 17 we passed the Bennett’s Creek Restaurant where we planned to stop on the way back for our lunch. Watching the clouds forming towards the west we were not sure if we would be able to stop, but we all had our fingers crossed. Reaching the small canal that ran alongside the power lines we turn right and headed towards the tree line. This is where we needed the high water in order to paddle the cut through, out to the James River. The tide was still moving very fast which made us paddle a little faster. Now it was a race to see if we could make the 1 mile to open water before it would get so low that we wouldn’t be able to paddle our boats. I had brought a hand saw just in case we had a tree down across our path luckily we had 3 trees down but there was no trouble going around all 3. If I had to stop and cut tree limbs I am not sure if we all would have made it to deeper water, but never fear the Tuesday Group made it with just a little mud where we poled our boats.

Out on the James River we paddle over to a nice long sandy beach where we took a well deserved break. Bill, Phyllis and Ellis paddle out into the James and around one of the Duck Blinds before taking their break. We rested here and enjoyed the view of Newport News Ship Yard and the James River Bridge for about 30 minutes. Then it was time to head back going the long way down to the mouth of Bennett’s Creek and paddling into the wind. As we reach the Restaurant the clouds were gone so we all decided to go inside and enjoy our lunch which everyone did. After being here almost an hour we got back into our boats and headed toward the take out which was about one mile. Beating the rain we all headed towards Bennett’s Creek Mkt. and had ice cream. It was another great Tuesday Group Paddle and as always everyone had a good time with good friends. Thanks to all for making another great day. Bruce

To see Bill's great pictures click on the link: https://picasaweb.google.com/117475145040031402609/TuesBennettsCreek78MilesAugust122015Bruce?authkey=Gv1sRgCLjesZXXqcehZw&feat=email#