Friday July 5, 2013, Jenner, CA.
But I stayed home and did some projects first
With all the people about for the fourth of July, I like to get a late start on kayaking, as it gives the people a chance to clear out.
So, that meant I would do a project at home. The van headlight relay switch was at the head of the list. My last trip out, I found there were times that I did not want my headlights on, like in parking lots at boat ramps and in some back woods areas. That meant I needed to install a switch to turn off the relays that turn on the headlights when I turn the key on. I needed to do that and there was also something wrong with one of the new relays that I installed as the headlights weren’t coming on with the key as they should, but the dash light relay was putting those lights on, so something must be wrong with the headlight relay?
I set the tools up for the job, took a break and got started. I found the little relay wire inside had broken on the relay, so I got my soldering iron out and repaired that. Once I got that back together, I drilled a hole for the new switch and wired and installed that.
That took a lot of the day and of course some more nap time was in order after finishing that job.
Since I was getting hungry and I had some time, I cooked up a big pot of black beans and a beef broccoli stir fry dish that should hold me for a few days.
Of course all that eating meant I needed another nap and I rested up before starting off for Jenner around 7:30 PM.
I arrived at Jenner around 8 PM. No one in the parking lot and no one on the water. Easy access and I have the whole place to myself. The wind is down and the sun is out and it is cool, which I dressed for.
The boat was soon in the water and I slowly made my way down to the river’s mouth area.
The water was flat, but there was lot of ocean water coming in the river’s mouth, because it was going to high tide.
The picture below is looking back up the river, from just inside the river’s mouth, just as the sun is starting to go down and just as I arrived down there.
Looking back to the west, this is what it looked like as I paddled down to the river’s mouth area. Note all the birds in the sky. They took off just before I got down to that area. Mostly seagulls and a few pelicans.
Like I said, the sun was going down in the west.
More sunset while I sit in the turbulent water coming in from the ocean.
After the sun went down, I sat just inside the river’s mouth watching the tide come in. It was actually really calm out, but the water coming in from the ocean makes it look like it wasn’t. The ocean was real rough out there too, glad I was in the river where it was real nice.
When the cold ocean water comes into the warm fresh river water, it dives under the warmer fresh water which can be seen if you are sitting on top of it in your kayak.
Below, see all the foam, the ocean water is diving under me in this spot, while I sit in the river’s mouth.
I should warn, that I’m sitting in the river’s mouth and am not concerned about getting sucked out to the ocean because it is coming on high tide and ocean water is coming into the river at a fast rate, so I’m safe until the tide changes, which is much later.
Of course there were some seals on the beach down there and some in the water.
Seals on the beach.
Seals in the water.
I sat around for a long time in and around the river’s mouth. I wanted it to get dark so I could see if there were any pyhto phosphorous plankton in the water?
Here’s me sitting out there as it’s starting to get dark and the camera soon won’t be much good. If you look real close you can see dew spots on this one. The camera lens fogs up in the heavy moisture which is usually present at night down there.
It took a longer time to get dark then I thought and it never really did get that dark and because of the holiday, most of the houses down there were all lit up, was nice in itself as those lights reflect on the water. I got the camera out one more time to see if I could capture what I saw and this is the best I could do. It was real calm out as you can see, once I got away from the incoming water at the mouth.
It was about ten thirty PM by now when I headed in. No one was a the boat ramp, so no wait. It was a little dark, but there was just enough light for me to do everything without a light.
I did not see any Pyhto phosphorous plankton this time out. I also call this stuff lumens.
I was home by 11 pm.
Had a great yak. It was very nice out this evening at Jenner.