December 12, 1999

Pomonkey Creek

Trip #71

Dec 12, 1999

15.1 miles

MAP

Water Temp: 46 degrees

Early as usual I had my kayak packed and my dry suit on, and was sitting on my tail gate just waiting...and waiting...and waiting. A guy strolling the shore said, "Bit too cold fer that, ain't it?" I told him it was just the way I like it - no boats.

Joan and Mardi rolled in and I pulled my dry suit all the way on and parked my truck. I headed into the water while they got ready. Before long we were underway across Gunston Cove and over to Gunston Manor. We headed further south to a beach next to a nice house. The spiral staircase wrapped around the giant Christmas tree in the front window. While stretching Mardi noticed an eagle sitting in the tree by the shore eating something.

After a few minutes the eagle flew off, and so did we. After I fiddled with my map compass for a while I just looked across the river and said "We're going over there."

So "over there" we headed. No boats in sight except for one barge that came by long after we crossed the channel. Pomonkey creek looked to be a bay with a tiny creek entrance in the rear. Great. The creek looked like it would be too small to explore. But in the back of the bay, after passing through a narrow gap, the creek opened back up.

We paddled further into the creek as some guys motored up to a duck blind with their dogs. No need to worry since today is Sunday and there isn't any hunting on Sunday.

Once beyond the hunters we worked our way slowly forward. The creek was filled with ducks and other waterfowl. White swans were even there. We probably flushed several hundred birds as we moved through slowly. Mardi and Joan knew the names of them all, but the swans and mallards were all that I could name.

We got into some mud and it made forward progress difficult. I was about to give up when I saw another duck blind further up the creek. There must be a channel. I pushed on and had to pull myself through the mud. I finally broke through to a channel. Mardi followed and Joan behind her. Luckily, I said, it was already low tide and if we had gotten stuck we would have shortly floated off.

A shot rang out. Isn't there no hunting on Sunday?

Now firmly in the channel, we continued north, flushing birds at every turn. The creek continued to narrow and we passed several more duck blinds before we found we could go no further. We turned around and after a short distance we stopped for lunch.

Mardi was going to get in the water in her wet suit when we returned, so our chat turned to self-rescues in cold water. Mardi said she expected a self-rescue to take 10 minutes, which I was surprised about. I've never timed myself, but I didn't think it would take anywhere near 10 minutes. But 10 minutes served as a good reference point for Mardi to see if she could stand the water for that long.

We head back after lunch. While passing the place where we had gotten stuck in the mud, we noticed that area was now six inches above water. It hadn't been low tide when we came through, but high tide! The good news was that the channel was now obvious, and we had little trouble getting out. We crossed the Potomac again and beached beside the nice house for our last rest break.

The final leg of the trip seemed to take forever. The sun was getting low on the horizon and the grey building on the far side we were heading for just didn't seem to get any closer. We eventually made it back, just in time since I was pretty tired. I tried a few Greenland braces to see just how tired and I managed to get back up each time.

Joan and Mardi loaded up their stuff and then got ready for Mardi's grand entry into the water. I wish I had a video camera for this part. Joan warmed up the Jeep and then tethered Mardi to a line so we could haul her out if needed.

Mardi and Joan inched into the water while I became the official timekeeper. At about 6 minutes Mardi had made it out a little past her waist and finally floated with her hands tucked in her PFD. It looked and sounded quite painful, but Mardi insisted on staying the full 10 minutes. Joan made note that Mardi was staying quite still and not flushing water around as if trying to get back in her boat.

After getting out Mardi changed into some dry clothes and we finished loading up for the trip home.