Busted while boating

I got out in my canoe Saturday morning for the first time this year. We left off my van at the Palmyra bridge boat ramp and then Clay dropped me off seven miles upstream at the Crofton Bridge on his way into work.


It wasn't an early start, there were several vehicles parked at both ramps from people who were on the river before me, so I wasn't sure how much wildlife I'd see. I wasn't very far downstream when I spotted a bald eagle sitting on a high tree branch that stretched out across the river. That's a fairly common sight but they usually fly off before I get can get a picture. This guy didn't budge, even when I floated directly underneath him. I made some noise when I got close hoping for a picture in flight, but he never did move.













Based on the number of vehicles we had seen parked at the boat ramps I was expecting to encounter other people on my float. There were two canoes and a kayak putting in where I did, loaded with a lot of fishing gear. I floated along in solitude however, spotting a hawk or two, an owl, and assorted ducks and geese.

When I was well past the half way point,I heard a motor up ahead, which surprised me. I don't think I've ever seen or heard a motorized boat on the Rivanna, it's just not deep enough for anything other than the smallest outboard motor on a fishing boat. What I saw was an odd looking kayak, in dull army green, with sort of a flattened out rear end. It held a badge-wearing and presumably gun-toting officer of the Virginia Department of Natural Resources. He was doing a Memorial Day weekend safety patrol in a motorized kayak, which I can only assume was an military hand-me-down. Apparently the militarization of American's police forces has spread to the park system as well.

He asked if I had a life preserver on board and then proceeded to issue me a citation when all I could produce was a flotation seat cushion. Apparently your seat cushion functioning as flotation device only applies to aircraft. I used to canoe with absolutely no flotation device at all. I picked up the seat cushion after my one and only experience on the James River, which made me think about the need for one. I knew it wasn't really adequate, but I also didn't really plan to float the James again unless I got a pontoon raft (which I'd still like to have).

I don't have a problem with safety regulations although I really didn't know if any applied to me in a canoe on the Rivanna. Mostly I found it rather funny, because the Rivanna is about two feet deep and much less in many places. Plus, if I was going to run afoul of the law, this isn't how I expected it to happen. I wasn't liberating a chained up dog. I wasn't protesting outside the Republican National Convention or some other right-wing hate group. I was floating peacefully down the slow-moving Rivanna River on the prettiest day we've had this year.

I had cheaped out and bought the flotation cushion because the cost of a life jacket had put me off and I didn't really plan to use it anyway. Now I've got a citation that will probably cost me $100 and I still needed to buy a proper life preserver. I plan to float again this weekend, so I went to Dick's last night and found all their boating equipment was 50% off. I'm now river-legal for the first time ever, and I also picked up a cup holder to replace one that I had somehow lost yesterday. I'm not sure which one is more essential, but I have a pretty good idea about which will get the most use.

 When I got back from the river I spent the rest of the afternoon mowing and puttering around outdoors. I set up this fountain (left) in a bird bath in my container garden, a gift from my sister's family in Montana. In the evening, after my trip to Dick's for the life jacket, I went out for a Guinness to celebrate the results of the referendum on gay marriage in Ireland. How nice that the majority of people in that country were able to throw off the yoke of centuries of religious oppression, ignorance, and fear to do what is right. I wish our primitive nation could do the same.