A Sunday worth remembering

The easy thing to do on Sunday after church is to slip into my easy chair and watch a little football while I take a nap.  That happens sometimes but what I really enjoy doing is trying to make a few memories on Sunday.

If I can do that my week starts out on a positive note as long as the memories are enjoyable.

In Roanoke I had some great trips to Carvin's Cove, but I had the burden of loading up the kayak and driving on Interstate 81 and guessing what the water was like before I went.

Life is a little easier when the water is in your backyard.  Still this Sunday I did not start with the kayak.  First we headed down the beach and caught a glimpse of the last few kites at the annual Kite Festival in Atlantic Beach.  Then we made a side trip to see an oceanfront home with an especially nice porch for viewing the waves.

After a brief stop there we headed to the Iron Steamer beach access in Pine Knoll Shores.  I had a surf fishing rod in the back of the car and wanted to see if the waves had died down enough to do a little fishing.  The waves turned out to be more impressive than I expected.  Instead of fishing we walked the beach a little, and I took a few photos.

By then it was five o'clock, and I was facing the reality of fall's shorter number of hours of day light.  I decided to make a run for home.  We managed to get there in time for me to be paddling out Bluewater Cove by 5:30 p.m. 

My rod managed to get transferred to the kayak so I could pretend to fish a while before taking a few sunset pictures.  It took me about fifteen minutes to paddle out to green buoy thirteen which is close to a deep hole in the river where I had seen some fish on the fish finder when we were chased off the water on Friday by rain after a successful fishing trip in our skiff.

Unfortunately I left the particular spoon that I wanted to try in the hole so I was limited to the lure that was on my rod.  I made a few casts, but mostly I just floated in the current of the incoming tide and watched the day draw to a close.

It was as peaceful as it gets. I had the whole river to myself with the exception of several flights of Pelicans and a few ducks.  Usually there is at least one boat somewhere, but Sunday afternoon the river was mine.

The water and the setting sun combined for some fantastic scenery which I captured and placed on the web in this MobileMe album.

It was a good day for making memories on the Southern Outer Banks and enjoying the White Oak River.  As I paddled home I reminded myself of how lucky I am to live in such beautiful surroundings.

This is a map of the area which if you zoom down on a few times will let you orient yourself to my adventues on the river near Bluewater Cove.