“To see the world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower
hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour.”
William Blake
by Sophia McAllister
It is 7:00pm and the conditions are perfect.
It is dusk when I push my kayak away from shore
at the Kiawah River bridge. The red hues of the
sunset color the barely moving water. I paddle
under the bridge and head past Mingo Point for
Captain Sam’s Inlet located at the western-most
part of the Island. The section of river from
slightly north of the bridge to the Inlet is narrow
and winding. Looking toward land, house lights
wink through the leaves of the trees in the maritime
forest. Across from land is the marsh teeming with
an abundance of plants and animals that feed, breed
and shelter there. Creeks run through the spartina
and around marsh islands. Oyster beds abound
along the shoreline and in the creeks. Fiddler crabs
aerate the mud.
I continue my leisurely paddle. The squawk
of a heron precedes her liftoff into the air. Gulls
circle shallow pools among the spartina. An eagle
watches from a dead pine tree. Finally, the full
moon rises above the trees to the east and there
is light! Light that casts shadows and makes the
water on my paddle sparkle. As I approach the
Inlet, I hear the telltale snuffle of a dolphin. The
moon is now high in the sky and by its light, I see a
large pod of dolphins swim past me, some within a
couple of feet. Magical!
And magical is how to describe the view
of our Island home from the waters that surround
us. It gives us a different perspective from that of
the inland paths, trails and roads. Out on the water,
we are in the open with littl