Canoeing The River

 One of our last field trips was to go canoeing on the river right from the dock off of Bonita Beach road. I had been canoeing once at Koreshan state park when a couple friends and had a blast. I dressed in light clothes, a part of shorts and a t-shirt, for the class trip. The professor described a couple ways of canoeing and a couple tricks to help steer the boat, which I made sure were in my head. I had a rough idea of how to canoe, the first time we winged it but I got the hang of it by the end. We each grabbed a paddle and life jacket and made our way to the slip. We took the canoes off the racks and pushed them in water, two to three to a canoe. I decided to go with Kyle and Heather, our motley crew having only going canoeing once or twice. We paddled our way out of the dock and immediately had trouble figuring out our bearings. Kyle and I rowed the boat and Heather sat in the middle, enjoying the ride. We communicated well together and before long Kyle and I had it down to a science. We waited for everyone else to get situated then started our river journey. The professor led the group, pointing out wildlife, with one of his colleagues following behind to make sure we didn't get lost. There was a giant fish that pointed our direction as we left behind the houses on the river and entered the buildingless skyline, surrounded by the essence of the river. The river twisted and turned, never ending. The whole time though, people bumped into each other, ran into the bushes, and just when it seemed that they had the paddling figured out, lost it all over again. We started to finally pick up speed with the current as we got closer to the lake of the river, making the paddling a piece of cake. The riverbed became increasing shallow as we snaked through it but the professor seemed to know the way. There were oyster beds throughout, which made me feel positive about the river's future. Prior to leaving, we had talked about what was becoming of the river and how the opacity changed over the lifespan of our professor. The river itself overall was cloudy but when we got close to the sides, it was visible for about a foot deep. We approached to great lake of the river and it was easily detectable of the change in salinity of the river. The salt lingering in the air, we finally stopped on a bank to the side of the lake, the depth less than a foot deep covered in oysters. My arms burned from the first leg of our trip but I enjoyed the view. The professor held up a conch shell and talked about how it sucked the oysters from the inside out and what we thought was a safe haven for oysters was actually the oysters screaming for their lives. Condos surrounded our view from every side and we learned how businessmen wanted to make more. I was thankful when the professor said that they won't, the river was already desecrated enough from man. The sun baked down on us as we started to paddle back, the current slowing us as much as possible. The current really made things difficult for everyone, canoes ran into the vegetation more than before. Kyle and I learned the hard way that even the slightest degree changes from the being parallel with the current shifted the path straight into underbrush. My arms were screaming for relief but I wouldn't give in to the river's momentum. I keep telling myself, "one more turn, one more turn." Kyle and I were yelling out to each other, making sure that we wouldn't run into the side for the hundredth time. When the fish finally came back into view, I was relieved to be close. The great size of the river truly played a part on my being. I felt like I had become closer to the nature and that it had done more work on me than I had done on it.