Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Port San Luis February 22

Lorelei, Ron and I had a great day on the water. We put in from the beach ramp area at Port San Luis (just north of Avila Beach) and paddled across the bay to the lighthouse area, where we beached and spent a bit of time climbing over the seawall to watch the surf. Several groups of folks also made it to this area; more kayaks than I have ever seen there. From the lighthouse, we cut across the water toward Pirate's Cove, and spent some time in the kelp beds and rock gardens. We completed our triangular trip by heading north up the coastline, paddling through the oil company pier and back to our starting point. We were bathed in sunshine the entire paddle, and had only a bit of wind that never made for difficult paddling. There were numerous seals and sea otters to watch throughout the day.

Saturday, February 1, 2014

The Best Way to begin February

Another gorgeous winter day on the Central Coast. Blue sky and warm sun beckoned this morning, so I paddled from Pasadena Point in Baywood, with the tide still on the way in. Despite the direction of the tide, I paddled into Morro Bay and eventually over to the sand spit, where I hiked over to the ocean and watched the remaining surfers on the south side of the south jetty trying to catch some final rides as the wind came up and blew out the surf. The tide had reached its peak by now, and the wind on the bay started up as well. I paddled south along the sand spit and met Alice and Steve, who were visiting from Portland and enjoying the sites of the area. They were paddling a double Klepper kayak that they bought new and have paddled all over for the past 45 years. Canvas on a wooden frame, the boat was in great shape (so were they) and was in original condition except for one newer seat. What and advertisement for Kleppers! I've paddled my Necky Kayook for 14 years now, and it is still in great shape, but I doubt that it will have the longevity of that old Klepper. Wait and see....

Friday, January 3, 2014

Happy New Year!

A paddle on the first day of the new year is now officially a tradition! This is the 4th (perhaps 5th) New Year paddle, and this was a beauty. While much of the country was battling storms, we paddled in t-shirts on a windless high tide with sunny skies and temps around 70 degrees F. Our paddle took us from Pasadena Point to the bridge at the Sweet Springs Nature Conservancy (you can only paddle to the bridge on very high tides), on to a usually inaccessible corner of Shark Inlet, along the sand spit and back several hours later.