Weeks Bay

Although it was threatening to rain and thunder today, I set out to paddle Weeks Bay. Saw a little rain on the drive out, but otherwise the sky was pretty calm. I haven't been down Rt 1 to the bay before...there is still quite a bit of Hurricane cleanup going on, far more than you see further up north in Fairhope, a function of elevation I suspect.

Anyway, I hit the boat launch and found a nice sandy spot just inside the bay to launch. After setting up the boat, I headed out across the bay to the mouth of the Fish River. You can see from the path below that I hit a nice current coming out of the Magnolia River about mid-bay. It was 2 3/4 miles across the bay...it was nice to be in relatively open water after all the bayou and creek paddling I have been doing lately. I ran under the hwy 98 bridge and cut out to explore one of the back bayous just after the bridge. There were a lot of herons out and I figured I was pretty much alone in the Bayou until an AL Marine Resource Enforcement boat lit off and came flying around the corner. Good thing you can hear them a ways away. They politely slowed down when they saw me. After running up the bayou, I popped back out into the river and hit the boat ramp for lunch where I found a 25' from STA Dauphin Island doing auxiliary training. They also politely slowed down as they went by. After a pleasant lunch, I kayaked back across the bay. The wind had built a little, and there was I was cutting into that and a little light chop, slowing my progress on the way back, but keeping me nice and cool.

All in all, a nice paddle, with two other good trips available down there...the Magnolia River, or the Fish River starting at the boat ramp just under the Hwy 98 bridge.