Just Plain Lucky

Sunday, November 18 began with rain. It rained for most of the morning, then began to break up. At the coast, it's hard to tell where the next weather is coming from, as the mountains and sea all have their own ways of surprising you with what comes next. As I did the previous day, I decided (rather spur of the moment) to go out paddling. I put in at the Baywood Pier, which was absent of the normal folks who hang out on nicer days. The restaurants were nearly empty, but the bay was full with an approaching high tide of around 5 feet. I set out in very calm, almost still, water and saw no other craft out. What was out (again) were several groups of jumping seals, followed by the birds. With no destination in mind, I floated and watched the seals, the diving brown pelicans, the floating white pelicans (I counted 36) and numerous cormorants, ducks, gulls, and more. I was watched pretty closely by a lone gray seal (was that its job?)and noticed that there was also a lone white pelican that was not with the rest of the group. I paddled around some more and headed back after an hour or so. On the paddle back, the sun was out and it was quite warm. What looked like rain turned out to be a glorious and entertaining paddle. Just plain lucky.

Rain or not

The forecast called for rain all day. Ron, Lorelei and I went out strolling around Baywood in a light rain, which came and went. The air was warm and the breeze slight, making our walk only slightly different than any other. With more rain promised, kayaking was put on a "probably not" list. We changed our minds, though, and Ron and I went paddling in the back bay just after the high tide. It never rained at all after we got in the water. We were treated to the usual sites of the back bay, paddling past Sweet Springs and out to the sand spit. We heard gun shots from duck hunters, but saw none. What we did see was a fine moving feast enjoyed by dozens of diving pelicans and breaching seals. Another perfect day.