I'm glad someone asked. There is a picture at:

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...s/IMGP0990.jpg

The clear area the aerator has made has gotten slowly bigger. For
those of you who may have tuned in late, this pond used to be entirely
covered in duckweed. The pond forms the headwater for a creek that
flows into the Suwannee River in northern Florida, so I am reluctant
to use means other than mechanical (that leaves out any kind of
herbicide) to control the duckweed. Besides, I've got friends that
swim underground around here.

The pond sort of looks like if you rested the state of New Hampshire
on its side. The eastern edge (where it meets Maine) is kinda like
the southern edge of my pond, where I have my cabin. The western edge
is pretty much like the northern bank on the pond. The southern fat
part of New Hampshire is kinda like the west side of...(OK, OK, I'll
quit flogging this image).

Anyway, the northern bank of the pond is not actually the end. I've
spent hours in the cabin gazing at the other side and thought I could
see (duckweed covered) water through the leaves. I launched my
sit-on-top kayak into the pond, paddled to the far side, and I could
see that the northern bank of the pond was really a peninsula that
almost cut a much bigger pond in two. There is a narrow channel of
water (I couldn't get my kayak through) that connects the two.

Over the next several days I made landfall at a spot in the upper left
of the picture. It's not easy to find a spot to paddle close to
shore, and harder still to find a place where I can get out of the
kayak. (I'm a bit of a gimp, and not nearly as graceful getting out
of boats as I once was.) Unfortunately, the landing was west of the
waterway heading into the "pond beyond the pond," and I could only go
about ten feet before running into impenetrable jungle. Still, I was
able to see where the creek flows out of the pond (something I had
never found before) and I found another spot, farther east, that will
serve as a landing spot (with a bit of work). I may well get to the
"pond beyond the pond" this weekend. I'll be sure to crow about it
and post pictures when I do.

Like I say, I've spent hours watching the pond now and I've watched
the turtles eat duckweed lots of times. There is at least one (I'm
not real good at distinguishing between individual turtles, "they all
look alike to me") that likes to swim around the edge of the clear
water where the aerator has bunched it up. Others swim along below
the surface, poke their heads up, open their mouths, scoop in the
duckweed, and then disappear below the surface again. The problem
is, while turtles do indeed eat duckweed, they just don't eat much of
it. Turtles can be incredibly motionless, and when they do move, it
isn't exactly at the speed of light. I would guess that a single
mouthful of duckweed might power a turtle for an entire day, if not a
whole week!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention it is bitterly cold here. It is all too
easy to forget, being all warm and toasty in this cabin, but I'll bet
it doesn't even reach the sixties today.
..