Moonlight kayak excursion.

We heard about a "moonlight kayak" outing at a local preserve. We planned to go. With a cold front having moved through yesterday, the air was clear and there was no humidity. It was shaping up to be a good show.

Note: The photos are okay, but not the best. I took them with a phone through the waterproof pouch.

We headed out...

One cool thing we saw (that the others did not because they were dawdling), was two otters swimming. We waited and watched them for a good 15 minutes. It's hard to tell if they were fishing, playing, or just out for a swim. But, they're fun to watch. One came up fairly close to me, stuck his head up high out of the water, and gave me a serious look as if to say, "Hey, dude, what are you looking at?", then dove down and swam off. Wasn't able to get a photo though. :(

There were lots of birds, high and low. And mangroves.

_{Birds high...}

_{...and low.}

_{Mangroves make for quite a tangle, but are interesting.}

_{Low tide mangrove drive-by. Lots of barnacles and creepy crawly things to see. And fingers...mine is in the image, and mangroves have "dead man's fingers" which are little shoots coming up out of the ground for the tree to "breathe." Their name describes exactly what they look like.}

_{"Fighting conch." These guys usually flip out their flipper at you (trying to flop themselves over).}

_{More creepy crawlies. The guide person said this was "snail" egg pouch. I think she meant conch, but whatever. Is a conch a snail? The thing is crazy looking no matter what it is.}

We watched the sun set.

And the sky turned beautiful. It's fun to watch the sun drop into the ocean, but sunset experts know that the real colors come out after sunset.

It was beautiful, but, the outing was called a "moonlight kayak." The others in the group, the dawdlers, started heading in. It was rather breezy and chilly and they'd had enough. They left.

Umm...it was a full moon. On full moon days/nights...when the sun goes down, the moon comes up.

My wife and I looked to the east. We figured we should stay with the group to be courteous, though they were leaving. Now, we dawdled. We kept looking eastward. Then, boom...

_{Boom. Moon. It looked absolutely huge last night.}

We called the others back. They were completely surprised, somehow. Who would expect the moon to appear on clear evening on a "moonlight kayak" scheduled during a full moon?

Here's a 180 degree view, from West to North to East.

_{On full moon evenings...when the sun goes down, the moon pops up. Looking west, north, then east.}

On the way back, the moonlight on the water was amazing.

_{Moonlight on the water.}

_{Monet and his short, choppy brush strokes would have been pleased.}

_{That bright "light" in the top left is actually the moon.}

And one final photo on the way home, in full darkness.

A great night, under the moonlight.

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