We had a full day on the water today. We drove into Maryland to put in on the Pokomoke. The creek end of this very long river is full of cypress. Especially striking were the “knees,” roots that grow up above the water, perhaps to give the roots oxygen since they are otherwise submerged. This river has the northernmost stand of bald cypress in the United States.
The color of the water is really, really dark. This is due to the tannins leaching from all the cypress. The tannins also make the water rather acidic. One story is that “Pokomoke” means dark water.
It was a glorious day. Blue sky, fluffy clouds, mostly wind at our backs. The river opened wide before and after lunch. We saw great blue heron, osprey, and a few bald eagles.
At the town of Snow Hill, a draw bridge had to be raised for us to paddle through. The second bridge of the day was a duck under, though.
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After about five and a half hours on the water, we reached the take-out. We drove back to the field station, had a quick change of clothes and headed into town for dinner. I’ve eaten more crab cakes in the six nights of this trip than in the whole rest of my life.
To my great pleasure, we spent the evening in the lab learning about marine organisms. This is not an area I had much coursework in. We observed plankton under the microscope, and then as a group, arranged a bunch of specimens into categories, before being given an introduction to the true taxonomy. We tried to correct our mistakes— it is tricky with marine invertebrates! We spent a little time with field guides trying to identify them. We were a hard working and intent but lively group! About half of us have a biology background, as it happens.
We walked back to the dorms under a rising full moon.
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