Butterflies at the Beach

And yet another steamy morning at the beach.  It was already well into its way into the 80s as we got to the beach.  However, a nice southwest wind, helped quite a bit without making the Bay rough.

Just one of those weird things.  In a couple of places we foundlarge numbers of Bay Anchovy (Anchoa mitchilli), washed up and being sun dried at the high tide mark.  Pushed up and stranded by predators?  Avoiding low oxygen?  I can't see an obvious reason.

Bay anchovy are one of the most abundant fish in the Bay, and form huge schools that often look like rain on the water, and are often called rain minnows.

A father and son out enjoying an inflatable kayak.

 Butterflies!  There were lots of Eastern Tiger Swallowtails on the beach today, and I do mean on the beach, as they seemed to be "puddling"; finding damp spots on the sand to sip water from.  All were yellow phase except...

 ...this one.  We must have seen over 20 swallowtails, today, and this was the only dark one.  It's marked very much like the one I photographed at home in the woods yesterday, which makes me feel a lot better about my tentative ID of it as a dark Eastern Tiger Swallowtail.

After I disturbed this one, she went over to the Coltsfoot to rest, and gave me another great shot.

It's hot! Can we go home now?

FUI

Floating Under the Influence

A Juneau man faces a rare DUI charge for allegedly having a 0.313 breath-alcohol content as he floated through Fairbanks on an inflatable raft Sunday night.

Alaska’s driving under the influence law applies to people operating motor vehicles, water craft and airplanes. The vast majority of charges are for terrestrial motor vehicles.

But when Alaska State Troopers received a report of a “heavily intoxicated” man floating down the Chena River near the Parks Highway bridge at 6:40 p.m. Sunday, a wildlife trooper boat responded and arrested 32-year-old William Modene.
...
Under Alaska’s DUI law, operating a water craft means to “navigate a vessel used or capable of being used as a means of transportation on water for recreational or commercial purposes on all waters, fresh or salt, inland or coastal, inside the territorial limits or under the jurisdiction of the state.”

Minor Changes and a New Link

It was time to do a little house cleaning.  Seeing as how Janie and Solje hadn't updated their blog in a year or so, I finally decided to "delist" it from the friends sites list.  In the meantime another friend just started his blog "Roaming Oldies Fly Fishing" (Fly Fishing Bums with a Touch of Gray).

Ken and Diane just completed retiring, and are off on their post retirement adventure:

W e are embarking on a long awaited “Bucket List” trip later this week; dragging our camper, the “Tin Turtle”, and fly-fishing our way west. There is no particular schedule and no final destination…just a long series of adventures exploring new rivers and re-visiting old favorites. If all goes well, the trip will wind through Ohio, Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Utah, AZ and New Mexico…maybe.

I've known Ken and Diane for a number of years now, and we shared the harrowing experience on the Bay informally known as "Horkfest."  (IIRC, that's Ken and Diane in the yellow rainsuits). Ken is a talented, actually professional, photographer, and of course, a dyed in the wool, ascot-wearing fly fisherman.  Diane also fishes, and is the quiet one of the pair.

They promise:

Where we’ve fished and what flies worked

Best places for DIY fishing

Fly fishing tips

Explore favorite rivers and streams

Photography

Recommended accommodations based on our experiences

What to see off the beaten path and in the cool out of the way places (not the usual tourist stuff).

I'm jealous, and I wish them well, and look forward to following their exploits.

Now, I just have to find something to do with the background; I'm tired of the fireworks.

Women and Children, Well, Whenever

'Women and children first' is a myth, shipwreck study shows

The study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was based on the premise that crew members and male passengers stood the greatest chance of survival in a free-for-all ship evacuation, owing to greater strength and knowledge of the vessel. If men chose to sacrifice themselves for the sake of women and children, however, their survival rates should suffer accordingly.

They did not.

In examining 18 shipping disasters dating to the 1850s, the economists found little evidence that men were inclined to surrender their survival advantage. Overall, the survival rate was 61% for crew members, 44% for captains, 37% for male passengers, 27% for women and 15% for children.

Each man, woman and child for him/herself, and the devil take the hindmost!

This study also suggests that women are more than ready to abandon their children to survive as well, a not so pleasant fact not commented on in the write up, with women almost twice as likely to survive as children (almost all of whom must have had mothers aboard).

However, there were some exceptions:

The Titanic stood out in that an unusual percentage of women escaped death — a result of the ship's officers making their safety a priority.

"On the Titanic, the survival rate of women was more than three times higher than the survival rate of men," wrote study authors Mikael Elinder ofSweden'sUppsala University and Oscar Erixson of the Research Institute of Industrial Economics in Stockholm.

The other aberration was the British troopship Birkenhead, which sank off the coast of South Africa in 1852 and gave rise to the concept of "women and children first."

The vessel was carrying hundreds of British military personnel and their families when it struck a rock and began to sink in shark-infested waters. The ship lacked sufficient lifeboats, so commanders ordered that they be filled with women and children. The men were ordered to stand on deck and not attempt to swim for the lifeboats as the ship sank.

So strong leadership by a captain can, in fact change the behavior of the crew and passengers. That's good to know.

National Park Service Plans Greater Chesapeake Access

More than 300 new boating, fishing or swimming sites

A new plan calls for increasing public access to the Chesapeake Bay by adding more than 300 new spots along the shore where people can fish, swim, put a boat in the water or just enjoy the view.

The draft "watershed public access plan" released late last week by the National Park Service lays out a blueprint for boosting by more than 25 percent the number of sites where the public can get to the bay and its tributaries. That was one of the goals in a 2010 bay restoration strategy developed by the Obama administration.

There are 1,144 spots throughout the bay watershed now where the public can launch boats, fish, swim or view the water, according to the plan. Of those, just 770 are on the bay proper or in tidal reaches of rivers. With 11,684 miles of bay and tidal river shoreline, they're about 15 miles apart on average - and much more distant in some places. Less than half can be used to launch or land boats, canoes or kayaks, the plan notes...

What do you think? Can the bay stand more public use?  Or will people care more for the bay - and take better care of it - if they get to know it better?
The park service is taking comment on the plan through Aug. 24. To learn more, go here.  Comment by email to ChesapeakeAccess@nps.gov

When we moved to Maryland from the West Coast (by way of a short stop in Florida), one of the things that struck us as very different was the paucity of public access to the bay. On the West Coast, the vast majority of the coastline has public access; even where the land adjacent to the coast is privately owned, and the most of the land in the west is publicly owned, there is access to the beach.  In Maryland (and much the same in Virginia), land is largely in the private domain, and people are relatively stingy with granting access through their property to the water.  It was one of the reasons we specifically sought out a community with beach access when we moved here, a decision I've never regretted.

Looking at the plan, and what public access sites they might add nearby, I see a few sites, most of which already have some level of access:

• Cove Point Lighthouse:  Boating fishing, swimming and viewing access is recommended.  Access is already available unofficially by the Calvert Marine Museum.
• Thomas G. Thompson Bridge:  Proposed "Paddlers Launch" at existing boat ramp.
• Patuxent River Naval Recreation Center:  Proposed Boating Access (the military, and civilians who work for the military already have boating access there).
• Jefferson Patterson Park: Boardwalks planned for better access to water for viewing; no plans for extending fishing, swimming or boating access.
• Sotterly Plantation:  Paddler's access and/or boaters dock or tie down is suggested.
• Benedict, Maryland: Benedict Waterfront Village Revitalization Plan. Parking, interpretation, fishing access, viewing and boat launch.  

I used to work in Benedict; a quaint village, which may have made it to the 20th Century, but certainly not the 2st.  There's already multiple waterside restaurants, fishing access, marina's, and private boat launch, not to mention the public (DNR) ramp directly across the river from Benedict.  If I lived in Benedict, this plan would scare me...

If the other 300 sites are like this, color me unimpressed...

Fishing with the wife

Actually, it's not like that at all. In the rare instances that Georgia goes fishing with me, she usually reads a book in silence, unless the fishing is red hot, in which case she will deign to pick up a rod and out fish me.

Thanks to Wombat-Soccho, who picked this up in generic "Rule 5 Monday" this week at The Other McCain, and to the Classical Liberal, who scooped it up with "Debt Bomb" and other Rule 5 posts.

New Improved Kayak

Catamaran hull for added stability, check.  Awning for sun and rain protection, check.  Improved, comfortable, self draining seat, check.  Perfect.  We'll take two.

Found at Theo's.

Fishing Report June 19, 2012

Trevor and I left the harbor about 6:30 PM, hoping for a little luck fishing.  We had only been fishing a while when these two ships appeared in the distance.  I don't know for sure, but I think the tall ship is Cisne Branco, from Rio de Janero, Brazil, at least the flag matches...

I don't know what the naval vessel was, but it was fast; it passed the tall ship in a minute, and sent a huge wake over to our side of the bay.

Location X

  Fishing, well, stunk.  We found a bunch of small Striped Bass, and we could have caught hundreds had we anchored, but we only found a couple of keeper sized fish on top water gear near shore and both of them threw the hook.  Oh well; next time.  Trevor also almost had a single Atlantic Croaker on a blood worm, but it too threw the hook just before it made it in the boat.

We did, however, have a very impressive sunset.  I had a hard time choosing the best shot....

Saturday Non-Beach Report

Yesterday morning, Alex, Kelly, Georgia and I went out on the boat to give Kelly the full "Chesapeake Experience." Unfortunately, the wind was up from the north, and after lumping up to Parkers Creek in a half hour, we ran home soaked.  Sorry, no pictures; it was unsafe for cameras.

To make up for that, we went wine tasting in the afternoon.  Our subject was Perigeaux Winery, over on Mackall Road, near St. Leonards Creek on the Patuxent River.

It has a very well kept vineyard, and a pleasant tasting room.  $5 each will buy you a sip of every wine they have.  We tried a good number, and settled on a bottle of desert wine.

Just a butterfly on some of their plantings.  I think it might be an American Lady (Vanessa virginiensis)

With some of the afternoon left to kill before the afternoon nap, we stopped in at the Battle Creek Cypress Swamp, a Calvert County park created to protect one of the the most northern stands of Bald Cypress in the United States. Bald Cypress are the classic swamp tree, with the large 'knees' that stuck out of the wet soil or water to help provide air for the roots.  They also shed their needles in winter, unusual for conifers.

The swamp itself was rather dry, so mostly the knees stuck out of mud and not water.  The Cypress are old growth, and so tall it difficult to see that they are conifers, all you see are the trunks and knees.  It was a pleasant shaded walk on the boardwalk on a sunny warm afternoon.  However, the displays in the visitors center were pretty sparse

Alex got a bit of a kick out of going back to where he'd visited many times on elementary and middle school field trips.

How Not to Handle Surf

Anyone can serve as a bad example, if they try hard enough.

Redundant Day at the Beach

Almost a clone of yesterday, a little hotter, and, if possible, a little less breezy.  We got started a little earlier to beat the heat, and only partly succeeded.

 Not an ideal day for a dog with a winter coat still...  She started out raring to go, and ended up dogging it.

Beer for brunch?  Hmmm. A little early for me, thanks.

 Aw, Mom, do you have to walk so fast?

 A nice day for a boat ride under a shady canopy.

A sailboat leaving the harbor after staying the night.  They asked if they owed any money.  Heck if I know. 

Yet another gorgeous day at the beach.  The weather is warm, in the 80 F range, with a slight breeze, and hardly a cloud in the sky.  By the time we got down there, several groups had already arrived.

This neighbor was playing fetch with the dog.  Well, the dog was playing fetch, while she played throw.

 After yesterday, I was on the watch for butterflies.  The usual little white jobs (that's about my level of taxonomic sophistication with them) were all over the little milkweed plants up in dunes.

 Then this one, a Zebra Swallowtail, (Protographium marcellus), landed right at my feet where it was probably sipping the salt water off the sand, and allowed me to photograph it repeatedly.  Unfortunately, it never opened its wings to the allow me to get a perfect shot.  The caterpillar for these butterflies live on Paw Paw trees:

This butterfly rarely strays far from its host plant, pawpaw, and is found in habitats where the trees grow. Such habitats include deciduous woodlands, southern pine woodlands, prairies, and savannas. The Zebra Swallowtail does poorly in developed areas, and prefers intact habitats.

It was a pretty high tide, and a poor day for fossils, which is sad, because Long Beach is having it's biannual fossil day today, and they are having a beach walk, well, about now as I write this. 










It's hard on a Siberian Husky who still has most of her winter coat (she hates to brushed), but at least she can take a dip to coll off.

There was a large group of 'yakkers out today.  We heard that Calvert County and the Chestnut Land Trust were sponsoring a paddle from Scientists Cliffs to Flag Ponds Park.  We talked to a couple of them who put in briefly at Calvert Beach.

No, the crab boat isn't that close to them, it's an artifact of the zoom lens that makes it seem that way.

 Just a pretty beach picture

And another.

Did a Little More Fishing

Since the day was so nice, I decided to chase the wily Croaker this afternoon.  I left the harbor (seen at the left) around 1 PM, and tried all my usual Croaker holes.  Straight off the Harbor

 Down around Location X.

Up the Bay by the sand bar, near the end of our walk.  Note the two poles out bouncing bottom.  I was using Fishbites and not live worms, but in most cases they seem to work nearly as well, and they are a whole lot more convenient.

While Rod Holder held the croaker rods, I bounced a jig with a 6 inch albino BKD off the bottom, and I was fortunate enough to catch one 19 inch Striped Bass.  Here he is cooling his heels fins in the live well.  Croaker?  Not even a nibble.

Raise the Concordia!

Costa Concordia Salvage Plan Revealed 

A little dated, from a couple of weeks ago, but it appears that they plan to build a submerged platform,

to roll the ship upright onto, attach floats (caissons) to the sides,

to float the ship, and tow it away to be turned into next years Toyotas...

Work should be getting underway shortly.  This is the largest project of this kind ever attempted.

I posted this picture and saying somewhere, and Hogsanta made a poster out of it.

Day at Sea

Yesterday, Friday the 18th we cleared Glacier Bay around 4 PM. The rangers and the native interpreter were last seen boarding their tender and heading for the Park headquarters near the mouth of the Bay.

Once out of the Bay, the ship swung to the North, headed for our final stop in Seward, and we got off of the tail of the Sea Princess, which had been roughly an our ahead of us since Juneau. She turned south, headed back to Seattle.

Once out of Glacier Bay, the sun made some effort to pop out, as we headed north, towards the open ocean. As Georgia and I did a few walking laps around the Promenade deck to try and work off a little of the fat we have accumulate at the Main Dining Hall and Lido Deck (the more or less permanent buffet and viewing area), we spotted a school of porpoises that looked like they were working a school of fish.

Last night as we were leaving the late show (an interesting musician who played banjo, saw and turkey baster, among other instruments), we noticed that the ship had developed a bit of a roll. This morning the sea is moderately rough, with waves up to maybe 5-6 ft, and a pretty wind. The skies are gray and misting a bit. Altogether a good day to stay inside and accumulate a few more calories.

Skagway

The ship pulled into Skagway, Alaska this morning before we awoke. After our usual lingering breakfast, all of us caught the shuttle into the town. Skagway is a town of 800ish full time residents on a fjord, nestled in a narrow valley between snow capped peaks. We were fortunate to hit it on one of it's rare sunny days:

The "main drag" in town is a half mile of tourist shops, mostly jewelry, but also the usual assortment of relevant and irrelevant souvenirs, and a few pseudo-period eateries.

Skagway is notorious for it's vaguely shady past. The main route into the Klondike for the Alaskan gold rush, Skagway was plagued by gangsterism and con men, personified by "Soapy Smith", now the town's most famous character. Of course, like all frontier towns, it was also host to a number of "fallen women."

These girls were advertising for a production on town history.

Alas, I could not stay for the show, as we had lost my parents temporarily, and we had to go on a scavenger hunt for them. It turned out they had gone back to the ship.