Don't fall in the hole!

Port San Luis 8-4-10

I spent the better part of a sunny but very windy afternoon paddling in and around the bay at Port San Luis and Avila Beach. From the beach access at the ramp in Port San Luis, I went out through the surf and cut a diagonal to the point near the light house, cruising around the tidal features. I came back on the south side of the pier and followed the coastline down to Avila Beach and then back to the ramp. Video footage includes some shots from the cliffs above Avila.

Morro Bay paddle June 27, 2008

Had fun today paddling with friends Jim and Linda Angelo. We paddled from near their home at the Cuesta Inlet and out to shark inlet; the very back corner of the bay. Plenty of water in the back bay today, with the tide rising from 4 ft. at start (approx. 4:30 PM in the water) to 4.6 ft. when we returned just before 6 PM. A nice easy paddle with a steady but light breeze from the west. We paddled across to the sand spit, then south along the spit to the corner at shark inlet. The day was warm, the scenery beautiful, and conversation among friends a defining feature. Not many birds observed; several egrets, a lone pelican, a few grebes. The lack of birds was odd, considering the numbers of small silver fish in the back corner.

Steve's Paddle on May 10, 2008

Location: Morro Bay
Route: From Pasadena Point, Los Osos to sandspit and south to Shark inlet, follow shoreline past Cuesta Inlet, Sweetsprings Nature Preserve, Baywood Pier, back to Pasadena Point
Time: 3 PM-5:30 PM
Tide: 2 ft. at 3 Pm and rising
Temp: 62 F, sunny-partly cloudy
Wind: 5-10 from the west
Birds: many grebes, several brown pelicans, shore cluster of egrets, 2 great blue herons, hawk (dining on dock)
Other: 1 seal, many silvery feeder fish (splashing, jumping but un-seen)
Notes: lots of algae on sandspit side of bay, 2 other kayakers, 1 sailboat, saw Marc Schulman leaving when I was exiting. He had 2 of his orchid outriggers in the water and was out with 2 scientists from Scripps Oceanographic

Reasons for starting this blog

While paddling today, I noticed a lot of algae, and couldn't remember if it was present at this time in previous years, so I decided to create a blog to keep track of some things in order to compare and to add to the knowledge base regarding the bay in Morro Bay, California.
I will attempt to keep track of observations regarding:
Times and conditions (tides, wind, temp, etc.)
Wildlife observed
Area paddled
Misc. observations

I would also like to invite other paddlers to add similar data, with the object being to compile observations that will assist in guarding the health of this precious area.