Paddle Day 47: Warmer, Windy and Barren

Delaware Bay or The Arctic?  Hard to tell.

It's almost like paddling in the Arctic.
Not hot.  Flat land that is mostly unoccupied.  Nothing to stop the winds.  Friendly people in little fishing villages.  Showing some of the most significant effects of climate change.

Leaving Bivalve near the Bayshore Center

I was all bundled up so that I wouldn't get chilled like the day before.  That strategy worked for the uneventful paddle to Money Island.  I had first read about these small communities on the NJ side of the Delaware Bay in the New York Times.  This is an area most effected by climate change, as the land here is sinking, and the seas here are rising more than elsewhere.  Some communities have given up and moved inland.  One I saw today still has the houses standing, but another had already been bulldozed, so all you see is some raised foundations.

It's a lovely coast with lots of oystering, fish and birds.  And the people are wonderfully friendly.  At Money Island were the first group of fishermen on the trip who saw I needed to come ashore through their lines, and quickly brought them in.  Thanks you!  The owner and manager at Money Island Marina were great, and they already put up a link on their facebook page with photos.  https://www.facebook.com/MoneyIslandMarina/photos/pcb.781031658628327/781031208628372/?type=1  Check them out!

Deb lands at Money Island Marina

Meg

Deb and Megan Wren at the Oyster Cracker Cafe

They gave me a ride to Megan Wren's home.  She is the amazing woman who not only started the Bayshore Center, but also swam across the Delaware Bay last year to bring awareness to the post Sandy plight of many, especially the community or Fortescue.  I'm concerned about making a 5 mile crossing my kayak, yet she did a 17 mile crossing swimming!  I am in awe!

Had a great meeting the next day with the Port Norris Rotary Club, complete with a local TV station recording my presentation.  Stay tuned!


Paddle Day: 47                                                         Date: October 14 2014
Start:  Bivalve                                                          End: Money Island
Distance: 17 miles                                                    Total distance: 622.8 miles
Max speed:  6.4 mph                                                 Moving ave.: 4.1 mph
Kayak storage:  Money Island Marina                          Host: Megan Wren, Bayshore Center at Bivalve