Wow, a whole new year ahead of me and I can't wait to get started!
2011 was interesting, some say it was down right nasty and I will admit, it
wasn't my best but I did certainly learn a lot from it and what it brought to bare.
Now I'm going to try to apply those lessons to the year ahead and make sure
it's a good one.
To start off I, after a bit of an absence, I hopped back in my '82 Mercedes "Joon" and took a
nice trip up to Carpenteria to check out the local oil platforms up there. This has
been a trip I've been trying to make with some friends but missed out on
each time so decided to put it in my book of travels on my own. In all honestly
it was nothing spectacular, nothing wild happened. No night surfing or
shark attacks just a beautiful day on the water. I was amazed at how
flat the ocean was that day. It was like glass the entire day with absolutely no
wind and the surf couldn't have been more that 6" but still, I got out there
and had a great time. I do however have to be honest and say that I'm not
sure I would do it again as there are about 8 platforms within as many miles
of the beach and the smell of petroleum was a bit unpleasant. Makes one
hope clean energy would get a move-on.
Of course I had to add a shot of my kayak on the
beach before launching. Not sure why but I
always do this but you can see the three oil platforms
Hondo, Heritage and Harmony in the distance.
The four platforms I didn't visit. No idea what
their names are but they're out there pumping
away.
Hondo, Heritage and Harmony. Not sure which
is which. I think Honds is in the middle but
don't quote me on that.
Got a little too close to this one and the guy
on the loudspeaker yelled at me to steer
away. Ok, ok, I just wanted a nice photo. I
couldn't see the guy scolding me but I waved
and went on my merry way.
In the distance is Carpenteria State Beach. That
tan spot on the mountain to the left of center was my
landing marker. Things get awful small when your 5
miles out in the ocean so you need to pick out points
of reference so you can at least get close to where you
started when heading back in. I did check my compass
bearings first though and if the fog rolled in I just needed
to put my compass at a heading of 30 degrees and I
would have gotten close to home.
