{"id":4912,"date":"2001-04-22T20:58:30","date_gmt":"2001-04-23T01:58:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=4912"},"modified":"2010-03-03T21:05:09","modified_gmt":"2010-03-04T02:05:09","slug":"%e2%80%9cwatson-the-games-afoot%e2%80%9d-%e2%80%94-22-april-2001","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/?p=4912","title":{"rendered":"\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Watson, the games afoot!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d \u00e2\u20ac\u201d 22 April 2001"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: justify\">Water temperatures have crept ever so slowly into the upper 50s, and finally today, spring sprung with a vengeance.\u00c2\u00a0 A fierce westerly breeze drove hazy warmth across the Outer Cape.\u00c2\u00a0 Briefly this afternoon water over the tidal flats registered 60\u00c2\u00b0F.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2001\/04\/04-22-1.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4914\" title=\"04-22-1\" src=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2001\/04\/04-22-1.jpg\" alt=\"04-22-1\" width=\"480\" height=\"640\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2001\/04\/04-22-1.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2001\/04\/04-22-1-225x300.jpg 225w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><strong><em>Warm Spring Temps and 30 Knot Breeze<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: justify\">So, despite 30+ knot gusts whipping across the bay and converting Blackfish Creek into a rodeo bull-riding event, the temptation proved irresistible to visit with our paludal pals, perhaps finally awake from six and a half months of winter slumber.\u00c2\u00a0 We hauled the kayaks across the tinkerytoy bridge to Lieutenant Island, and saddled up for a Disney \u00e2\u20ac\u0153E\u00e2\u20ac\u009d ride.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2001\/04\/04-22-2-480.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-4915\" title=\"04-22-2 480\" src=\"http:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2001\/04\/04-22-2-480.jpg\" alt=\"04-22-2 480\" width=\"480\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2001\/04\/04-22-2-480.jpg 480w, https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2001\/04\/04-22-2-480-300x206.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 480px) 100vw, 480px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: center\"><strong><em>Kayaks Ready<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: justify\">The tide flooded westward out of Blackfish Creek and slammed into bay breakers thrust eastward by prevailing gusts.\u00c2\u00a0 No need to paddle upstream; wind skipped the kayak like a flat stone across the wave tops.\u00c2\u00a0 But the game proved well worth the candle when a large, mature female terrapin surfaced 25 feet ahead, gulped a breath of air, scanned the horizon for predators, and then uttered a reptilian unquotable as she spotted Turtleman to windward.\u00c2\u00a0 She headed to the bottom and slipped over the rip into the deeper waters of the Singles Bar where adult terrapins gather during the mating season.<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: justify\">The paddle back to shore \u00e2\u20ac\u201d against 35 knot gusts \u00e2\u20ac\u201d took a bit more effort than the trip upstream.\u00c2\u00a0 But after a winter of terrapin deprivation, sight of our first turtle of the season made all well.<\/p>\n<p style=\"TEXT-ALIGN: justify\">So, Watson, get your gear in shape.\u00c2\u00a0 The games afoot.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Water temperatures have crept ever so slowly into the upper 50s, and finally today, spring sprung with a vengeance.\u00c2\u00a0 A fierce westerly breeze drove hazy warmth across the Outer Cape.\u00c2\u00a0 Briefly this afternoon water over the tidal flats registered 60\u00c2\u00b0F. Warm Spring Temps and 30 Knot Breeze So, despite 30+ knot gusts whipping across the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[402,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4912"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4912"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4920,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4912\/revisions\/4920"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.turtlejournal.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}