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PORT CLINTON—BUG-ER!!...continued |
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romping along at a steady 7 knots. Once across the bar at the entrance, we decided to motor into the upper reaches of the estuary to explore an area we hadn’t been to before. |
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low-lying mud flats covered in impenetrable mangrove thickets. We were the only yacht there, and fishing is the attraction.
That night, while reading, we were startled by something crashing into the rigging and falling to the deck, with subsequent frantic thrashings about. We grabbed a torch and rushed outside to find an enormous dragonfly, bigger than my hand, stuck in the netting along our rails. It looked like something from a horror movie, or a small helicopter. Leanne did her usual wildlife rescue act but the creature was too aggressive, trying to bite and sting her. She left it until morning when it was more subdued, unhooked it from the netting, threw it into the air, and it flew off.
The wind dropped away to complete stillness. The sun set. Not a cloud, and no moon. It was deathly quiet, even the sounds of sea creatures and birds died away to nothing. I went outside in the middle of the night to have a look. It was breathtaking. |
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Right: Masala anchored in the upper reaches of Port Clinton |
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Like Island Head Creek, Port Clinton is a watery wilderness in the Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area. But unlike mountainous and compact Island Head Creek, the surrounds of Port Clinton are expansive and mostly |
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Above: a plume of smoke from a bushfire catches the sun’s dying rays, Port Clinton |