Boat Tours On Patagonia Lake - (Patagonia, AZ)

We didn't run the furnace overnight.  Since we stayed plenty warm under the covers while sleeping, we didn't see a need to warm the rest of the rig and use up valuable amp hours.  After the prior night's TV watching and computing, we were already at quite a deficit.  :)

I had completed the Journal entry the night before which is rare.  So, I didn't turn the inverter on this morning for internet access.  While Linda slept, I used the laptop's battery and prepared a very detailed analysis of our expenses over the last three and a half years.  I think you'll find the data interesting when I figure out the best way to present it.  :)

When Linda got up, she turned on the inverter and made her coffee.  When it was finally generator hours at 8:00, she cranked up the generator to charge our batteries.  The generator pumps in about 1 amp hour per minute in "bulk" and "absorption" charge modes.  However, once the inverter/charger switches to "float" charge mode, running the generator isn't efficient.  The solar panels have to take over from there.

The skies were clear, but it was a cold, windy morning.  We bundled up and headed for the visitors center for our 9:00 a.m. Avian Adventure Pontoon Boat Tour ($3 per person).

In addition to our guide and boat driver, there was a family of four and one other lady.

Along with our bundles of clothes, we all put on life jackets - which actually kept us warmer - and they had blankets for us as well.

It was supposed to be a birding tour, but our guide was a new volunteer and beginning birder, and our driver was not great at getting us good looks at the few birds out this morning.

The one lady and I were poised with our cameras and zoom lenses, but it was difficult to get good bird photos in the moving boat.  Of course much of that was due to the wind and beyond our captain's control.

I took shots of the lake and birds when I could.  This is the view to the west leaving the visitors center dock.

 

The buoys mark the no-wake zone.  The western half of the lake has no restrictions, but the eastern half of the lake from the visitors center past the campgrounds and to the end of the lake where Sonoita Creek comes in is a no-wake zone.  That makes it quieter for campers and nice water for kayaks and canoes - when it's not so windy.

The lake is only 2 1/2 miles long and great for paddlers and fishermen.  The dam, lake, and facilities were actually constructed by local citizens in the 1960s - the Lake Patagonia Recreation Association.  It is shocking to me that private citizens were given the permission to dam up a creek and create a lake.

In the early 1970s, it was clear that the association couldn't generate enough recreational income to sustain the facilities and pay their debt.  They approached the state.  The lake and surrounding land were acquired and it was dedicated as a state park on April 1, 1975.

We headed east first past the public boat ramp and the water treatment facility in the first loop of the dry camping campground.  Then we passed the swimming beach and the other loop of the dry campging campground where our rig sat by itself.

The wind was coming from the east, so we just got through it quickly and turned back toward the west to go with the wind.  Our guide didn't seem too keen on doing much in the way of searching for birds.  In fact, he never mentioned a bird unless we pointed it out.  :)

Still, our primary goal was to see how the tour went and how we might do it if we were asked to come back as volunteers.

We puttered along the rocky, northern shoreline.

It is not really accessible by foot as there are no trails to that side of the lake.  However, there are 12 "boat-in" campsites on the lake, and some are on that side.

There are a few small coves on the lake like this one - Hangman's Cove.

So you can get out of the main channel and explore a little.

This Great Blue Heron was standing sentry at the entrance to a small, rocky cove.

As it turned out, it was a popular place as we counted nine Great Blues hanging out.  We had never seen so many together in such a small space.

American Coots seem to be on every body of water we have visited since we've been on the road.  :)

And they aren't as skittish as most other birds, so they are easier to photograph - even on the move.  :)

But my clearest bird picture of the day was this one of the gorgeous Cinnamon Teals.

We also saw some Eared Grebes, Common Mergansers, Lesser Scaups, and an American Bittern in addition to some of the more common waterfowl we've become accustomed to seeing in our travels.

This shot is heading into the largest of the coves - Ash Cove.

But we didn't venture back into it as it is only a one-hour boat tour.

Here is a view of the dam as we came out of Ash Cove.

My former attorney mind kicked in for a moment.  I was still amazed that private citizens could build such a massive dam.  There are legal riparian rights for those downstream that had to be considered as well as all sorts of other legal and environmental issues.

Oh well.  I let it go and we continued.

This is a nice shot coming out of Deep Cove.

As we neared the visitors center, we went around an island.  There is a boat-in campsite on the island, but it is a little too close to the day-use fishing and picnic area.

The island was a spot for an educational moment.  High in one the trees on the island was a dead Turkey Vulture.  It had gotten some fishing line wrapped around its legs and then the fishing line had gotten tangled in the tree.  Proper disposal and clean-up of fishing line is crucial to habitat.

The visitors center sits on a point at the entrance to the marina cove.  We turned into the cove toward the marina where they rent kayaks, canoes, fishing boats, and power boats.  On the way back out is a great view of the tall bridge we were on the other day.

The citizens of the Lake Patagonia Recreation Association built this bridge so sailboats could go under to the marina.  I don't know anything about sailing, but we were told the lake is terrible for sailboats.

That was pretty much the end of our tour.  They had a Lake Discovery Tour at 10:15.  It was another hour tour of the lake and I'm guessing it wasn't much different than the one we took.  :)

We thanked our captain and guide, and we were back home shortly after 10:00.  It just so happened that Louisville was playing Villanova on TV at 10:00 our time.  I turned on the inverter to watch the game.

The solar panels kept the amp hours from going down and there was even some charge coming in toward the end of the game.  Louisville won, but played terrible down the stretch and got very lucky at the end.

We turned the inverter off and never turned it back on the rest of they day.  I continued to work on spreadsheets and Linda beaded.

I shut the computer down before the battery died.  I tried to go outside to read, but the wind was just too chilly.

I went back inside and picked up our main bird field guide - The National Geographic Field Guide To The Birds Of North America.  We always recommend getting it from the page linked with the Hummer/Bird Study Group.  It's a non-profit organization run by our friends Bob & Martha Sargent.  They have the guide spiral bound which makes it great for use in the field.  So we recommend getting it from them because it supports wonderful research and is easier to use.  :)

Linda wanted me to mark the new birds we have seen.  I did that and then counted our total number of species seen together.  We are at 363 - far more than I thought, but still a long way from the 888 species in the U.S.  :)

Then I started a book given to me by Jerry & Suzy at SKP Saguaro.  I read until time to go on the Twilight Pontoon Boat Tour ($3 per person) at 4:00 p.m.

This time we were the only guests on the boat.  The Twilight tour is a tour of the entire lake and was given by husband and wife team Adrian & Tom.

They have come back here three times for two-month stints the last three winters.  They live in their RV half the year and live on their boat back in Baltimore the other half.  More houseless people.  :)

We asked more questions about volunteering than about the lake.  It was a bit longer tour and took us deeper into some of the coves, but it wasn't much different than this morning.  It was a bit warmer but not much.  :)

We started to the west this time.

Here is another shot in Ash Cove, a little deeper in.

Here's a shot of Tom ...

and Adrian as we continued on.

After showing us the Black-Crowned Night Herons roosting back in the trees on the east end, we headed back west toward the setting sun.

Before finishing up, we went back into what we were calling Heron Cove.

We got a little too close for this one, and it took off on a short flight to another rock.

Finally, we ended our tour and headed back to the visitors center seen here.

Again, we thanked our guides and headed home.  We had a good idea of the tours.

Our solar panels got us down to a deficit of 82 amp hours.

Linda prepared some BBQ chicken and potatoes for dinner.  She played some Bejeweled and I continued reading using only the 12-volt lights.  Still didn't turn on the inverter, so we didn't watch TV or get back on the internet.

We were about to call it a night when we got a knock at the door.  Someone needed their truck jumped.

We had heard the loud music.  It seems the man's daughters had run down the battery listening to a CD.  I threw on some shoes, grabbed my cables and drove the Jeep over.

Not long ago, I wouldn't have known what to do.  But this is old hat now.  We had him running in a few minutes.  :)

They offered me some BBQ, but I politely declined.

We went to bed and read until we fell asleep.  Hope it's a little warmer and less breezy tomorrow.  :)

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Comments

[Teresa]

Please ask Linda if she finds playing Bejeweled is relaxing for her or if it winds her up? Maybe it's just me, but I get so determined to win that I'm wound up tighter than a drum by the time I am finished. I think I need to find another game to play :)