Monday September 2 2013 Jenner CA.
Just before dark, the fog cleared for stars
I decided to putter around the yard today and go down to Jenner this evening to check on the lumen action, one last time for this session.
I had some fixing to do first
My brother who lives next door came over just after I got up and said the hydraulic lift on the trailer I built a few years ago was just clicking the relay and not working. It’s electric and needs a good twelve volt battery to work.
That’s what I started out with this morning. I measured the battery voltage and it said it was good. I took the 12 volt starter type motor apart, cleaned it up and put it back together. Pressed the button and still the relay just clicked, but it still didn’t work? Hummmmmmmmmmm.
So, I did what I should of done to start with, pulled my car over to it and jumped it with the car battery and it worked. Hummmmmmmmmmm.
Must be the battery isn’t working right? What, the voltage is right? I looked at the water level of the cells and the plates were showing, which means it was real a low on water. I added water and put it on the charger and declared that problem taken care of and just puttered the rest of the day and did a little cooking too.
Time to go check on the lumens
I went on down to Jenner around seven PM. On the way, I noticed the fog was in Monte Rio big time and it continued all the way down to Jenner where it was really fogged in too.
This is what the fog looked like as I arrived at Jenner, looking up the river from the boat launch area. My green yak next to the other orange kayaks.
So, I dallied around at the boat launch area for awhile giving it more time for the sun to go on down. But as I was waiting there, I noticed the fog was starting to move on out, great.
This is what I saw looking down toward the river’s mouth from the visitor center boat launch area. The fog was starting to move on off, letting the sun break though.
Well now, maybe I could get some sunset pics, so I got in my boat and paddled on down to the river’s mouth, where the sun was just going on down.
Here’s a pic of my view as I arrived at the mouth area, looking west.
This was quite a change. The fog had moved off up the river and the stars came out with only a light breeze.
Seagulls flying around in the light just as it was getting dark.
As it got darker, the wind died to zero, the water went flat and the stars were all up in the sky shinning away.
This is what the town of Jenner looked like from the water just after it got real dark.
It’s dark, time to look for lumens and fish
It got too dark to take pics, so I put the camera away. Too bad I can’t take some night photos as it was just beautiful. But that’s isn’t easy to do from a kayak, as it’s always in motion on the water and for night shots, one needs to keep the camera real still, so that just doesn’t happen.
High tide was at 8:45 Pm. The river’s mouth was wide open and deep. No moon, no fog and the water was real flat, no wind.
I sat just inside the river’s mouth, drifting up the river toward the River’s End restaurant, then I’d paddle back to the mouth area, which I did quite a few times waiting for it to get real dark. I wanted it to get real dark to check for lumens near the mouth area, which it finally did do. Usually, I leave this area before it gets dark enough to see the lumens real good, so I wanted it to get real dark for a change.
I paddled around the mouth area looking for lumens and fish. I found a lot of nice lumens in the area, but almost no fish glowing in the water.
From there I headed up the river on the south side looking. Lot’s of real nice lumens in the calm water as I headed to the west end of Penny island, but almost no fish.
I paddled up the north side of the Island looking, great lumens, but almost no fish.
Paddled past the island and up the south side of the river, which seemed to be mostly fresh river water so no lumens until I got almost to the Eagles landing area, where I ran into lumens and some fish too.
I crossed over to the north side of the river and headed on down that side where I eventually started picking up a lot of lumens in the salt water and the fish started to appear a lot more.
There were a lot of fish in this area, maybe because it was more in the dark. I worked my way back to the take out area with lots of lumens and fish along the shoreline.
When I got to the take out area I felt like I had had it. I looked at my watch and it was just ten PM, so I decided to go look for some seals back at the west end of Penny island as I thought it might be nice to watch them swimming around in the lumens.
So, I paddled down the north side of the river crossing over to the west end of the island. I saw lots of lumens, only a few fish. I looked around in the water for seals, but they were all gone, I guess out in the ocean feeding or something. The lumens were real thick in the area though, as I worked my way back to the take out area at the visitor center.
No one else was down there as I took my boat out and headed on home around ten thirty PM.
An observation
It appears the fish like darker water, as there didn’t seem to be many in the lighted area from the lights from Jenner. Since there was no fog the lights were fairly bright, which shines into the water. I think it may be just like animals come out more in the dark for protection?
It was a fantastic night out in the calm water with the stars shinning above and lots of lumens to dance around the boat.
Had a great night out on the water looking for lumens and fish.