Where I belong...

August 10th, 2012 was my last post and here we are staring hard

at 2014!  Where has the time gone.  I think John Mayer states 

it well with his song titled "Stop This Train" as time certainly is a 

train that will not stop for anyone.  Anyway, since it has been so long,

I felt it was time to update my blog.

Basic overview of the Drake's Bay area.

I've been up to my usual tricks paddling out of Marina Del Rey

and heading for my favorite surf spots. Mostly beach dump
but you can find some nice rides of you work for them. 
Seems best when there's a good southwest swell. 

To break up the pattern, I paid my second 

visit to Pt. Reyes above San Francisco and got in

some amazing paddling.  I know it can be constantly foggy,

overcast, misty, windy...you name it, but that week it was 

beautiful.  Water is crystal clear, about 52 degrees and 

adventurous!  (When it's time to head for home I find it a 

struggle to leave the place.) While I was there I was able to 

get in two great trips.  The first was from the east side of the 

Pt. Reyes peninsula in Drake's Bay, around the tip to the 

west side of it then north towards Sir Francis Drake Beach,

and the second trip was up to Hog Island in Tomales Bay.

Drake's Bay launch site.

At 6:00 am I launched from the beach at Drake's Beach 
Restaurant into a slight 7 to 10 knot head wind and 
after checking for return point landmarks fell into a nice 

rhythm.  A slight swell out of the south that gently raised and 

lowered the bow of my kayak kept me company as I 

paddled towards the tip of the peninsula.  I was once again 
surrounded by the silence and vastness of the open ocean 
where I feel very much at home.   All of which was quickly 

interrupted by the sight of a eagle with a fish in its talons 

flying northeast and so close to me so that I could see 

the shape of the gills on the fish!  I think my jaw hit the deck 

of my kayak I was so stunned!

Now I'm use to seeing tons of birds while kayaking but usually 

their Pelicans, Sea Gulls or Pigeons. (Remember, I live in Los 

Angeles.)  Did I get a picture?  Of course not and due entirely 

to the fact that two days before I was to leave, my waterproof 

Pentax "bit the dust" and all I had to bring was a point 

and shoot in a waterproof bag which was cumbersome at best.   
Still, I feel extremely lucky to have experienced it first hand 
and will never forget it!

First stop.

My first rest stop was on a secluded beach on the south face of 

the peninsula.  I often wondered how long it had been since 

someone else had been here.  It's only accessible by kayak or

some other small boat and it was really nice to find it had no trash

on it. (No foot prints either.)  I sat down here and had breakfast,
took a few photos, walked around a bit and moved on.

Some twins I found on the south face.

I found the south face of the peninsula provides refuge for a lot 

of wildlife.  It doesn't get that wild howling wind the west face 

does so it offers a bit of protection. Elephant Seals, Sea Lions, 

birds I'd never seen and of course tide pool after tide pool of 

everything one can imagine in a setting such as this.  It is just 

rich with sea life and one could explore forever!  But in order 

to stay on track time wise I had to say good-bye, settle in and 

paddle to my destination point so I would have time on the 

way back to explore all the nooks, crannies and caves I saw 

going out.  This was going to turn out to be a amazing day!

Once I passed the second "twin" I had a 3 mile paddle into 

15, gusting to 20 knot, winds.  Not unmanageable by any means 

but it pushed me back a bit and I ultimately had to cut my trip a 

tad short due to the worsening winds yet to come but I kept on

moving along knowing that anything I ran into here would

be far more fun, acceptable and beautiful than where I live.

Point Reyes Lighthouse lies ahead.

The far point of land that the bow of my kayak is pointing directly at 

in the photo above is the first of my destinations, the Point 

Reyes Lighthouse.  I discovered it last year on my first trip 

up to this area and decided that I had to to make plans to 

paddle this area in the future. It's a beautiful area for hiking, 

bicycling, kayaking and photography.  If you get a chance you should 

bring all your toys and definitely check it out.

    Point Reyes Lighthouse

In the image above you'll  notice that you can't see the beach 
even though I am quite close to it and it was simply because I was 
getting near the west facing shore where the wind was blowing pretty 
hard and the swells were quite fun!  It was no easy task getting this 
terrible shot of the lighthouse as I was fumbling with a dry bag
and a camera that hated water so it was "point and shoot and 
bag it"!

From here I rounded the corner and that's where you experience 
the winds so common to this area.  The year before I tried 
launching off South Beach and couldn't even get my kayak
off my car! It had to be blowing 35 plus knots that day and
today only seemed to be a bit milder but I braved on.  I 
really wanted to land on Sir Francis Drake Beach for lunch
but I was working hard to make headway.  And even though 
I was 3 layers deep in dry tops, pants, farmer john's and the 
kitchen sink it got a little cool so I decided not to put my 
neck on the line and turned back to the south tip of the
peninsula.  Once there I headed as close to shore as I 
could and started exploring the caves, nooks, crannies
and wildlife I had seen on the way out.

That is one big boy!

From a distance I saw the entire top of this huge rock moving
and it wasn't until I got closer that I saw it was a clan
of California Sea Lions.  Not wanting to spook them I
kept a bit of distance and took a few photos.  And since it
was the end of pupping season I figured tensions were 
running a bit high as that big boy you see there kept his
eye on me the whole time I was there.  Needless to say I
stayed only long enough to snap a few photos and move on.
I don't imagine anyone would want to wrestle with him
but he was in full bloom and was absolutely beautiful!

My next stop was at this cool little cave I noticed on the
way to the lighthouse.  I noticed some bright colors in it
and couldn't imagine what they could be so I stopped in
and had a look.  At first I thought perhaps it was pirate 
treasure and that I would suddenly become a rich and 
famous explorer!

The cave.

The "treasure"!

Well, if you think buoys and floats from fishing boats are
treasure, brother, I know where you can find a ton of it!

I could call this place home.

Anyway I explored as much of the cave as there was 
and when I turned around to leave I saw the little guy
in the photo below just bobbing around starring at me and
I immediately had one of those "MOM LOOK WHAT 
FOLLOWED ME HOME CAN I KEEP HIM" moments!
Immediately I had to name him and couldn't think of 
anything more appropriate than, of course, "Bob"!  He
was so cute I just wanted to swim out there and hug him!

Of course sadly enough he didn't quite think the same of me
as when he saw me launching my kayak he was gone.  Little 
did I know I was going to meet his tribe around the next bend.

Meet my new friend "Bob"!

Seal Beach, California.

Okay, so it's hard to see just how many seals there are on this 

small stretch of beach but believe me there wasn't much room

for too many more.  And I apologize for the photo but in cases

like this where there are a lot of pups mixed with adults and you

scare them some of the pups could easily be maimed or killed in

the stampede off the beach and into the water! There are laws 

governing this as well!  And being the animal rescuer type that 

I am I would never put a wild animal in danger.  But a 

curious thing happened.

In order to get this photo I parked in a kelp bed off shore, 

snapped a few photos and was getting ready to leave when

about 20 feet in front of my kayak a little seal head popped

up.  Hmm... As soon as I looked at him he popped back under

and popped back up to my left.  While this was going on

I noticed some of the pups on the beach gradually slipping into

the water and soon there were about 30 little seal heads all 

around me!  As soon as I would make eye contact with one 

it would pop back under water and pop back up somewhere

else.  I was totally enthralled with this game and felt like

I was playing the aquatic version of Whack a Mole!  It

was crazy fun!  I could have stayed there for hours but

knew I was staying too long for their sake and decided it

was time to go so I slowly paddled away waving goodbye

to my new found friends at which point they all at once

disappeared!  I wish you could have been there!

I explored other little caves here and there and played in 

the wild water that was now forming due to the increasing 

wind but decided it was time to head for home.  I still had

about six miles to go to reach my launch point and it was

getting quite foggy, the wind was building and I had been on

 the water for nearly 10 hours but the fun wasn't over yet.

I was paddling close to shore zig zagging my way through 

the rocks and spotted a slot that when a wave came 

through would lift my kayak just enough so I could slip 

through taking a little short cut and having a little more fun.

So I lined myself up in the slot, waited for a wave and off 

I went.  That is until right there, literally a foot in front of 

my kayak,  a Sea Elephant popped up!!!  Holy &^%$ I 

never back paddled so hard in my life!!!  It wasn't that I 

was afraid of it rather I didn't want to hit!  I couldn't live with 

myself if I hurt it!  And as soon as it appeared it disappeared.

I was stunned!  I swear my eyes were bigger than its and the 

size of its head was amazing!  

So there I sat in this slot.  I couldn't move until a 

wave came through and was left wondering if this 

thing wanted a piece of me!  Turns out it didn't as 

when the next wave pushed me through I carefully

and quietly paddle towards home and when I 

turned a corner I looked to my left and there, inside 

this cute little sandy bottomed cave, was the 

Sea Elephant and some pups!  It was so unbelievable!

I will never in my life forget that moment.

From here lay the stretch across the bay to home.  I

was a bit tired so I settled in to a slow cadence and 

reached the beach at 6:30.  Once there I sat for sometime

and replayed the trip over and over paying no attention

to the fact that it was getting dark and cold for something

held me on that beach for the next hour.  I just sat on the 

back of my kayak starring out to the ocean and where 

I had just come from feeling, as I told my wife on a earlier 

trip up here, that of all the places I have been in my life

this place holds something supremely special for me.  I

couldn't describe it on a million pages of text but there is

something here.  It's places like these and especially the 

Drakes Bay area that make me feel I am alive and truly 

at home. In her reply my wife said that perhaps in

another life I lived up here.  I can't tell you how 

true that rings to me.

Drake's Bay

A friend of mine who I taught to kayak said of the above photo,

"This is what heaven must look like." I think she's right.