Yesterday morning I did a gym session and then took a light swim down at the beach.
I saved paddling for the afternoon, and the Gulf was much more placid than it had been earlier in the week. I wouldn't be doing any downwind practice this time. Somewhat on a whim, I found myself engaged in a longer distance paddle.
There are some natural gas wells out in the Gulf within sight of Dauphin Island. They look like oil-drilling platforms, and for all the years that we've been visiting this place I've wondered just how far offshore they are. So yesterday I decided to find out: I pointed my boat at what looked like the closest one, and started paddling. It had been my guess that this structure was at least 5 kilometers out, because earlier this week I'd been paddling out 2 kilometers to ride the conditions back in, and it hadn't seemed like I was much closer to it than I was on the beach. Well, yesterday I got 5 kilometers from the beach and still had some distance to cover. I continued on and finally, 7 kilometers (about 4.35 miles) out, I reached the platform.
I was feeling some fatigue by this time, and I knew the paddle back would be tough because the breeze that had cooled me off going out would now be at my back. Though the Gulf Coast has been spared the worst of the current heat wave that's gripping the nation, it was still uncomfortably warm, and I was fully exposed to the sun. The heat started getting to me, and every kilometer or so I stopped and flipped the boat to cool off for a minute. The problem with that was that once I was back in the boat, the water wasn't evaporating off my skin because of the high humidity here. I really could have used my camelback out there, but I didn't bring it on the trip because I hadn't planned to do any distance paddling down here. Not bringing it was dumb, but, well, sometimes I am dumb.
In any case, I never doubted that I would make it back to the beach, but it was a slog just the same. Back at the island at last, I carried my boat onto the sand and walked back and sat in the water for a while. Then I lugged my boat back to our rental house and drank several glasses of cold water and ate some snacks and slowly started to feel human again.
One highlight of yesterday's paddle was seeing a couple of dolphins while heading out. It was the second time this week I'd seen dolphins; I saw at least one Monday as well.
This morning I felt reasonably recovered from yesterday's activity, but was slow to wake up and had to sort of force myself down to the water with my boat. I hoped that once I warmed up and got some blood flowing I would muster some enthusiasm for paddling, but the heat and the beating sun made it feel like a chore for the 50 minutes I was out there.
And, I hate to say it, but when the conditions are calm like they were again this morning, paddling in the Gulf of Mexico is just... boring. I'm ready to be back on the Memphis riverfront, where there are trees and bridges and river flow and barge traffic and occasionally some people on the banks nearby. I'm reminded of people who do crossings of open ocean, and I just don't know how they do it. With nothing in sight but vast expanses of sea in every direction, I think I would lose my mind pretty quickly.
So, it's a good thing this is my last full day down here at the beach. Vacation time is great, but deep down I'm a homebody. I'm glad to be headed home tomorrow even though I've been hearing how much worse the heat is there.
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