Port Bay Paddle, Saturday, July 19.

Seven of us drove out past Sodus Bay to meet at Jean B's shoreline cottage for a picnic on this beautiful day. Then we all drove over to the end of Dutch St. to launch our boats into Lake Ontario. We had a variety of recreational kayaks, sea kayaks, and solo canoes. It was a little choppy and the waves breaking on the beach made launching awkward. A sea kayak tipped over right away after launching, but the water was warm and it was no big deal, although he and another decided to wade and pull their boats the 1/8-mile distance to Beaver Creek where we were going to paddle.

After what seemed like a long time we were all finally together, ready to paddle the creek. It was perfectly calm, quite a contrast to the lake! The still waters gradually narrowed and the Duckweed soon covered everything, making paddling seem like we were stirring thick soup. We needed to go single file. The connecting route to Port Bay was blocked so we turned around and went back to the lake. Wendy and I kayaked from there on to Port Bay. The others paddled back the 1/8 mile to their cars, hauled out their boats, drove to Port Bay to meet us, and relaunched. We explored part of beautiful Port Bay and then most people decided to return. We split again and everyone paddled back to their cars. Most of us went back to Jean's and had a nice visit and snacks. A few of us went swimming. We had a hard time deciding to leave. It was after 7 before we could tear ourselves away from such a beautiful and peaceful spot!
- Carl P.