Paddling Around the Russian River Estuary on a Nice Spring Day

Tuesday May 3, 2016 Jenner CA.

Time for a paddle

Time to get out kayaking so I was off to Jenner this morning once I got it going.

I put my boat in the water. It was a bit overcast, but the wind was down, so off I went headed across the river and down along this shoreline towards the lower end of Penny Island.

I stopped and watched the harbor seals frolicking just past the lower end of Penny island for a bit.

I went by this lone loon headed towards the river’s mouth area.

This was my view as I headed to the river’s mouth area, down where the white waves are.

On the way, I passed by this pair of geese, which moved out of my way as I passed on by.

I run into Dan

I was sitting in my boat down by the open mouth watching the harbor seals when I noticed some kayaks approaching off in the distance.

I recognized one of the guys. It was Dan out for a paddle. We sat in our boats and shot the bull for quite some time.

Eventually, Dan went to shore for lunch and he was going to pick up trash on the beach too.

I left Dan and moved over closer to the open mouth. I could see some birds sitting on the shore there. Most of them were terns with some seagulls too.

I sat in front of the open mouth here and watched the ocean waves breaking for a bit.

From there, I headed on back up the river to this spot which I call the slot and sat and enjoyed the day for a bit.

I headed up the island’s back channel when I saw this bird fly out and land a bit ahead of me. A green night heron if I remember correctly.

I paddled just past the upper end of the island and was sitting when this seagull paddled up to me.

I was watching these male mallard ducks in front of the old milk barn on the island.

As I passed them, they jumped into the air and landed a short distance in front of me where there was a female with little ones.

They appeared to have done that to distract me while the female and the little ducks paddled off into the reeds to hide, while the male ducks paddled right in front of me.

Here’s the momma with the little ducks headed into the reeds.

I headed on over to the boat ramp and took my boat out and went on home for the day.

I napped and didn’t do much for the rest of the day, except I puttered around the yard in the evening until dark.

And that was my day.