Pat and Forrest made their first RiverKeeper patrol on November 12, 2003. Absolutely lovely day -- temperature right at 80°F with light and variable winds. They had never been into the smaller creeks that were in their patrol area; only Thourghofare Creek and Juniper Creek. Pat kept reading depths from the chart that in certain places were 6 and 4 so she was a bit nervous at first. (All went well as soon as Forrest learned to stay away from the North side of most creeks -- several places even scared him. The lowest reading on the depth meter on 'High Energy' was 2.5 feet. Presumably the scale is adjusted to read 'depth under the keel.' We plan to check this out. In any case, nothing scraped.)

We started from the Reserve Harbor Marina about 11AM and headed North toward Sandhole Creek.

The Reserve Harbor Marina Entrance.

Marker 66 near the entrance to Sandhole Creek.

The entrance to Sandhole Creek from the Waccamaw .

We went until the creek split into several small feeders.

Marker 65 near the entrance to Black Creek.

Entrance to Black Creek -- North side VERY shallow.

Marker 61 near the South entrance to Cow House Creek.

South entrance to Cow House Creek.

Wacca Wache Marina is almost opposite the South Entrance to Cow House Creek.

Marker 57 near the North entrance to Cow House Creek.

North entrance to Cow House Creek.

Fortunately, the waterways were very clean today. The only trash we saw was an empty beer bottle. Unfortunately, it was in the shallows and we were too chicken to go in and get it. There were nesting boxes for small birds along the banks of Cow House creek. One was missing completely. The rest had no top. Pat and I would like to replace some of these. We have plans from the National Wildlife Refuge and have built one replacement. We hope to use this as a pattern and make several more. Want to help?

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