Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Sand Spit video July 20, 2010

This paddle was across the back bay in Morro Bay from the Baywood pier to the sand spit and back. It's about a mile across, and I paddled along the sand spit to a place I like to take out and hike up the dunes to get a 360 degree view of the Pacific Ocean and the bay. I was on a high tide of about 4.5 feet, and the trip was from around 5 pm until about 7 pm, with lots of down time to look around and play with the kayak cam. Here's a video that shows the landing on the sand spit, a view from the top, and my return landing at the pier. If the video doesn't load, you can view it on youtube.com by searching for kayaxeman.

Monday, July 19, 2010

Estuary, Morro Bay 7/18/10


Arrived this afternoon and got in the water at Pasadena Point just after 5 pm. The tide had been fairly high (over 4 ft.) and had just begun to recede, so I paddled north and rounded the peninsula, following the shoreline along Baywood and back to the Elfin Forest area. I took a small channel over into the main channel of the estuary and saw a group of about 30 white pelicans hanging out on the bank. I followed the channel almost to the bridge at Turri Creek, and turned around to head back before the water got too shallow to follow the same path back. A nice way to start a three day stay at the coast.

Monday, July 12, 2010

Back Bay July 11, 2010


I couldn't bear to leave early today, so I paddled out from Pasadena Point in about 2.5 feet of water and headed over to the sand spit. I met and spoke with a couple of other solo paddlers (Gary and Jim). We enjoyed each others company and paddled to the same take out on the spit, where we took paths to different locations but wound up leaving at the same time, standing on the dune and talking for a while. A leisurely paddle back turned this into 2 plus hours; every minute enjoyable. The picture is from the top of the dune looking toward Morro Rock.

Saturday, July 10, 2010

Shark Inlet July 9 and 10


Paddled from Cuesta on a rising tide (about 3.5) to Shark Inlet two evenings in row. The first evening was a bit cool and breezy, but the leopard sharks were really putting on a show. There were dozens of them cruising in the shallows and doing quick spins before jetting away from the kayaks. They would pop up everywhere, often startling kayakers who screamed and laughed. I tried to take photos with my phone, but it was next to impossible to predict when and where they would appear. The only photo (almost) worth posting only shows one dorsal fin from 12 feet or so. The leopards have (go figure) leopard-like markings on their backs, and range in length from 3-5 feet. They are quite slim and incredibly fast. It was such a great experience that I went back the next night with a video cam and only saw 3 sharks and got zero footage of any action. It was still a great day that began with body boarding off of 24th street in Cayucos where everyone was treated to 3 dolphin who lazed back and forth just beyond the break. They weren't playing today, or jumping, just cruising very slowly back and forth fishing for whatever it was that they were eating. There was also a juvenile (very small) seal out with us; one of the paddle board surfers told me that the seal surfed the same wave I did about 5 feet away. No doubt the youngster already is the better surfer.

Kayak surfing Cayucos July 2, 2010

Great friend and drummer Mike and I took our sit on top scramblers out for some surfing off of 24th Street in Cayucos. Pretty choppy from the wind and the surf was tight 3-4 feet. Some great rides and spectacular wipeouts. No pics of course; not taking my iPhone into the surf. Clarice shot some video from the beach with my flip cam, but all you can see are colored specs on the ocean. Tons of fun and loved my new wetsuit booties. What a difference warm feet make. Cowabunga, baby!