. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. Exploring the coastal backwaters by canoe Cypress dripping with Spanish moss, a Venus' flytrap closing on a un- suspecting insect, a river otter sliding down a river bank. . Nature has tucked away a lot of fine secrets along coastal North Carolina's rivers and streams. The best way to discover them? In a canoe. "What I like best about canoeing is that feeling of isolation," says John Anema, an avid canoeist and a mem- ber of the Greenville Sierra Club. "You're away from everything. For me, i
. Coast watch. Marine resources; Oceanography; Coastal zone management; Coastal ecology. Exploring the coastal backwaters by canoe Cypress dripping with Spanish moss, a Venus' flytrap closing on a un- suspecting insect, a river otter sliding down a river bank. . Nature has tucked away a lot of fine secrets along coastal North Carolina's rivers and streams. The best way to discover them? In a canoe. "What I like best about canoeing is that feeling of isolation," says John Anema, an avid canoeist and a mem- ber of the Greenville Sierra Club. "You're away from everything. For me, it's therapy no doctor could ever provide. "The quietness is great too. You make so little noise in a canoe that you blend in and animals hardly ever notice you. You see lots of wildlife that ; Anema says one of his most exciting canoeing experiences came last month as he canoed Lake Mattaponni in Virginia. He saw two bald-eagles perched in a tree. "It was just a very majestic experience that I can't find the words to express," he says. You might not see bald eagles in North Carolina, but you can see bob- cats, river otter, muskrats, mink, deer, beaver, various waterfowl, alligators and snakes, most of which are non- poisonous. Cecil Frost, a ranger for the Merchant's Millpond State Park in Gates County, says the stories of snakes dropping from trees into canoes are exaggerated. Frost says nonpoisonous water snakes do sun themselves in trees and bushes, and if startled, will drop. "But it's not like there are snakes hanging from every tree and bush," he says with a chuckle. "I've only had one to drop in my canoe in four ; Poisonous water moccosins are not tree hangers, but instead, sun them- selves coiled on logs in the river, Frost says. "What you have to remember is that most creatures are as scared of you as you are of them," he says. If wildlife isn't your forte, then the coast abounds in unusual plant life. In the
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