Sunday, November 23, 2008

Paddling Saves the Weekend

My son Bennett and I set out early on Saturday, Nov. 18 headed for a Warriors/Clippers basketball game at the Forum in Los Angeles. We never made it. Due to fires, interstate 5 was closed and traffic routed onto State 126. We averaged nearly 4 mph over the next 4 hours. Having missed the game and detoured near to the coast, we opted to drive up through Santa Barbara and up to the coast house in Los Osos. Dinner from Noi's Little Thai Takeout and a Sunday paddle on the bay with good friend Mike Milanesi salvaged an otherwise inconvenient weekend.
Our thoughts go out to all of those who suffered real loss in the fires.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Morro Bay 11/8/08

This paddle began at the Morro Bay marina near tidelands park just after 1 PM. The tide had just turned and was coming in to fill a pretty low (1.5 ft.) tide that left a lot of exposed areas. I paddled across to the sand spit and followed it down to the harbor entrance at Morro Rock. The wind was mild, the sky intermittent gray and blue. What made this paddle noteworthy was the wildlife. Schools of bait fish (mostly smelt I was informed) were in the bay, and the pelicans followed them back and forth, diving from 20+ feet. Aiding the pelicans in the search and destroy mission were groups of 3 and 4 sea lions, who dove in and out, sometimes coming completely out of the water. I caught some action on my phone's camera, but you really don't want to see it.....
Down near Morro Rock, a family of sea otters frolicked 15 feet from the shore. They got plenty of camera time from everyone walking by. I kept a respectable 75 or so feet away on the water. On my paddle back, I was near the shoreline walkway when a young family walked by and a boy of about 8 said that he hoped the sea lions wouldn't eat me. So far, so good.