Since moving to N.C. from Florida, I’ve gone through a few painful adjustments and bouts of homesickness. I’m accustomed to “winter” lasting only six to eight weeks (usually mid-Dec to mid-February), and I’m used to very strong sun. I miss both these things, plus the big water birds I used to see so easily. I love Florida’s rare natural spaces with a passion. Before meeting my significant other, I would often throw my kayak on my car, pick a river and print off a map using my father’s chart software, and spend all day exploring the crooks and crannies of dark tannin-landed rivers hemmed by swamp cypress or crystal clear waterways bordered by bottomland forests. I’d bring my binoculars and watch snowy egrets, juvenile little blue herons, belted kingfishers — and once, even a reddish egret and a glossy ibis. Something about watching these big birds stalk prey or groom near the water while I floated silently by in my yak made me feel that “complete” natural Florida feeling. Sun on my face, nature doing its thing, and water and trees all around. Here are some of the pictures I’ve taken from my kayak:
Sunrise at Bivens Arm, Gainesville, Florida. (© DeLene Beeland 2005)
