Lochloosa Lake - East Side

On Lochloosa Lake today, I watched an osprey fish for at least 15 minutes. This one had a ritual: it would glide, take a practice dive but level off before entering the water, pull up to about 20 feet, then spear head first into the water, come up with a fish half the size of its body, drop said fish, and then soar back up, shake whatever ospreys have for shoulders, and then do it all over.

I was grateful to witness this, because there isn't much eye candy in the late afternoon on Lochloosa Lake. Houses line the eastern shore and the lake appears to be all water from edge to edge, no makeshift islands or coves. Clearly, I've become spoiled by the early morning. But these late afternoon doldrums forced me to enjoy the simple pleasure of locomotion and the wind the tall clouds brought in to whip up the water.

I put in at a fish camp--a fast retreating, old Florida-style business--and paid my $2 ramp fee to the proprietor. He was sincerely bewildered by my desire to use his lake just to paddle. I told him I wanted to put my boat in every waterway in Florida and he asked "why?" I don't think I was able to give him an answer, but when I pulled my boat back out and was carrying it to the car, he (drinking beer with his buddies now) called out "Just enough to say you done Lochloosa, huh?" I felt a little embarrassed, as if I had been accused of using the lake for less than useful purposes. So I muttered something about coming back some other time or trying it from the west side (which I do plan to do), racked my boat and headed home.


Tomorrow: Newnan's, the northeast part.