Early morning put in at the Combahee (pronounced 'Combee' by the locals). The Combahee is the "C" in ACE Basin, the three river estuary of the Ashepoo, the Combahee and the Edisto, an 18,000 acre wildlife refuge.
We paddled upstream with a 20 mph headwind for about an hour. The day is bright and clear, cool (66'). I have a green kayak today, longer, sleeker and faster. The Combahee is a fresh water river with salt underneath and is effected by tides as it flows through the oak, pine and cypress forest. My brother, Buddy, has fished this river and tells me that even if you are sailing with the tide, you must go faster than the tide is moving and it can be a wild ride.
No alligators today. Ring necked King Fishers skim back and forth over the water. Turtles bask on fallen logs and suddenly, there is a flock of 30 to 40 white Ibis careening above us and alighting into the trees, then walking single file along the bank. These blueways (or more accurately black or brown ways) have been called "The Atlantic Flyway" or the bird highway in the sky as there are countless avian species living here or moving through.
After a picnic lunch, we continue upriver as far as the estate, "Auld Brass" designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and now owned by the Hollywood producer, Joel Silver. He has exotic animals living on the grounds and I remember about five years ago reading in the Waterboro news paper of his escaped rhino being hit by a car on a country road. We could see only the green roofed dockside gazebo also designed by Wright.
We turned around and paddled downriver, past our put in, under bridges and turn around again at Public Park. We have traveled 9.2 miles today.
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