A few hours on the water with Justine

With Canoecopia over and a serious case of spring fever afflicting us, and Justine Curgenven visiting before returning home to Wales, we decided to get out on the water with friends Bonnie Perry and Paul Redzimski.

 Paul and....

...Justine stayed warm with a little frisbee.

Justine seemed a little disappointed that there was no more ice on the lake. (She had seen our photos in an earlier blog post.) But that certainly made the put-in easier.

 North Avenue beach, where we could now carry over exposed sand.

With the wind blowing out of the north, we paddled south along the shoreline to Navy Pier. It's calming to be on the water, with the sounds of the city muffled and so much open space around us. We always wonder how visitors like Justine experience our home marine environment.

 As we rounded the Pier, Chicago's skyline came into view.

 Paul explored the sea caves beneath Navy Pier.

We threaded our way through the remains of Dime Pier.

Realizing that we would have to paddle against the wind on our way back (and not to wanting to be responsible for getting Justine to the airport late), we turned around and paddled north. 

 Heading Northeast to the light house. We were the only people on the water.

We stopped to look at the remains of winter ice on the break wall. 

We landed and loaded up, a little colder but certainly happier for having gotten out.