Weeks Bay Non-Paddle -
Nancy Ward scheduled a Weeks Bay Paddle from Pelican Point on Sunday, June 20th.  No one showed.  This report was posted as info on oil in the area (2 months after the Deep Horizon Oil Spill)

No one showed up. Don't know if Father's Day interferred or folks were afraid of possible oil. There was none. As I waited, four paddlers from Mobile Baykeeper returned from their scheduled patrol. Two had gone south into Mobile Bay and inspected (how much of?) the eastern shore. Two had gone north into Weeks Bay and inspected the eastern shore up to the Magnolia River. They said they'd found no traces of oil, sheen, or tar balls. There's quite an encampment of workers at Pelican Point. However, the boat launch is open. We'd have launched from the grass. There are booms which cover most of the mouth of Weeks Bay leading into Mobile Bay with a gap in the center. I'm told that they leave the gap open for boats to go in and out during low tide---when the tide is going out. At high tide---when the tide would be coming in---they fill the gap with barges. I saw lots of pleasure craft on Weeks Bay, including folks pulling kids behind their boats on those inflatable donut things. I wanted to paddle but didn't want to do it alone. I drove to the beach at Fairhope for a brief paddle. Later I swam. There were lots of people in the water and no signs of oil---same conditions I'd found on Saturday when I went to Fairhope Beach to spend the day swimming.




Nancy Ward

Paddle Report: Bob's Surprise Paddle, Thursday, 23 August 2001

Bob planned a good surprise for us. We put in at 6 p.m. at Lulu's at the north end of Weeks Bay. Eleven paddlers showed up: Fritz, Sherilyn, Terri, Jane, Bob, Carl, Lisa, Julie, Steve, Frank, Bruce. The boats were very colorful across the bay : green, red, yellow, white, even natural wood color ! Fritz was on point and led us east southeast around the left edge of the bay to stay clear of the motor boat traffic. The evening air was warm and muggy initially. We paddled towards the mouth of the Magnolia River taking a break to raft up near a point of land. I heard about four separate lively conversations going on at once.

At the mouth of the Magnolia, Fritz took us across the bay heading west toward the sunset. Some high cirro-cumulus and cirrus clouds decorated a patch of sky ahead of us. As the sun sank lower these clouds lit up with red and pink as the sun disappeared into a slightly purple cloud shield. A land breeze started up from the east which blew away some of the mugginess. We turned north toward Lulu's about 7:30 no longer playing follow the leader; we all know where the food is!

At the take out, some of us traded boats to try something new and different. By then the sun was gone and just a little twilght was left. The moon was just a quarter so the light from the restaurant was the biggest help in seeing where we were going.

The staff at Lulu's was very kind to us. We pushed three tables together to make group seating on the elevated deck. This deck was open to the sky last year, but now it has a peaked roof with open rafters and ceiling fans. Out the end of the roof we could see that quarter moon shining. Gene and Carolyn came to dine with us so we had more guests at dinner than on the paddle. That is something that has made me very happy with our club; folks can always show up to visit after a paddle and make merry.

I was glad to see y'all out on the water. Bruce