Saturday November 22, 2014 Jenner CA.
A pretty darn good day
I heard the rain again this morning before I got up. But when I got up, it had about stopped. When I looked out the window, I could see tree leaves blowing around in the wind.
The weatherman said most of the rain would be south of here by noon, so I headed on down to Jenner for the day. I would deal with the wind.
Yes, the wind was up a little when I got there, but it wasn’t raining. I put my rain pants on just in case and put my boat in the water and headed across to Penny Island. With the wind, there weren’t many other people down here. I did see three others, but watching them, I didn’t think they’d last long before going back in for the day.
Here is what it looked like as I crossed over to Penny Island looking up the river.
I met the three people in kayaks at the, out of the wind channel, on the east end of the island. They headed down river into the strong wind and I headed on up the river where I hoped the wind would be less and it was.
I cruised up along the south side of the river, taking my time and stopping often in the trees.
I noticed this little grebe was staying just ahead of me fishing as I went. It stayed with me for about a half mile.
Muskrat beach
I was headed up to Muskrat beach, which is a spot that is mostly out of the wind and the sun shines a lot. I’ve used this spot to sit and watch for a long time before I discovered the Muskrats like it too.
This is the the spot at Muskrat where I sat for a good deal of time, mostly out of the wind.
Is the mouth closed?
The water level was looking like the mouth was closed, but it was also high tide, so I couldn’t be sure. I was thinking I’d have to go down to the river’s mouth to find out for sure.
I crossed over the river to the north side to see what birds were in the area.
I could see a big flock of coots with some other ducks mixed in by Paddy’s rock.
And some cormorants on Paddy’s rock.
By now, the wind was up around twenty miles an hour and I was headed into it, so I had to work a bit harder, but I stay along the shoreline as I travel where the wind is a bit less.
Back channel of Penny Island
I cross back over the river and head down the back channel of Penny Island. As I neared the west end of Penny Island, I pulled in behind this big redwood stump where I was undecided whether to go down to the mouth in this wind or not.
Go for it
I was undecided so I paddled over to the very end of Penny Island and sat in this grass until I made up my mind to go for it. It’s good exercise and not really that bad. I find the wind is mostly a mind thing. Sure it’s nice when it’s calm, but the wind can be nice too if you set your mind to it and don’t let it bother you. Just have fun and enjoy it for what it is.
Birds in the water
I passed by these seagulls and brown pelicans in the water as I went. By now, the waves were making it hard to take pictures, as nothing would stay still and I had to watch my paddle carefully for the wind trying to take it away from me and maybe knock the camera out of my hands too.
River’s mouth is closed
The wind was a little less down by the mouth as I approached it. The ocean waves have closed it up again. Only higher high tides and or a rough ocean can get over it now. The sand behind the harbor seals was all pushed back into the opened mouth during the last rain storm by the ocean.
The harbor seals look nice and lazy today.
End of the river
I paddled past the closed mouth to the very end of the river and sat for awhile. This was my view from the very end of the river looking back up the river.
When I left that spot, I got back into the wind, but it was now blowing in the direction I was traveling, so all I had to do was keep my boat straight.
Brown Pelicans
I passed by these brown pelicans which were resting on the sandy shore.
A couple kids spooked the pelicans into the air.
I headed on in for the day, took my boat out and went on home for a nap.
Pretty darn good
I enjoyed the day, even with the wind. I always think what everyone else must be doing in the world right now, which always makes me think I have it pretty darn good.
Nice day.