Tuesday December 29, 2015 Jenner CA.
I could see Ray in his boat in front of the boat ramp as I pulled into Jenner today. The wind was down and the sun was out. It was a bit cool, but with the sun out, it warmed up just a bit as the day progressed.
I joined Ray and we paddled across the river to Penny Island to sit and decide which way to go today.
This great blue heron was getting some sun by where we were sitting. It had some grass pieces in it’s beak for some reason. It finally flew off with a lot of squawking.
Open mouth area
Ray decided he wanted to go down to the river’s open mouth, so we headed down along the Island and crossed over the river to the mouth area. High tide was coming in and there were some swells coming into the river, which tends to make me motion sick especially looking through the camera, so we didn’t stay too long.
The river’s mouth was open wide and deep with seagulls and harbor seals resting on the sandy beach. The ocean was a bit rough too as you can see as a wave breaks over the jetty rocks.
Headed up the river
I indicated to Ray that we should move off before I got too much motion so we moved off heading for the Penny Island back channel.
We passed by some harbor seals doing something in the water making a lot of splashes, but that was all we saw.
Deer on the island
As we paddled up the back channel I could see some deer in the grass on the upper end of the island. They watched us as we paddled past them. The deer tend to like the grasses that grow in this spot as I see them here often.
We were paddling up along the south shoreline when we ran into this great blue heron that was sitting on the log. It took off and headed down the river. We will see the otters in this spot later when we return.
Enjoying the day
We paddled up river along this side of the river stopping here and there just enjoying the day. The wind stayed down and as long as we stayed in the sun it was warm enough.
We crossed the river to stay in the sun, paddling over to Paddy’s rock where there were some cormorants getting some sun.
Swamp Rock trailhead
Ray said he’d like to go for a little walk at Swamp Rock trailhead, so we paddled back across the river and down to it and got out for our walk.
We got out, tied up our boats and headed up stream on the Poison Oak Alley trail. Here Ray and I have stopped for a bit to check out the view.
We walked up the river a quarter mile or so before turning back and getting back in our boats.
We had just gotten in our boats when Ray says there’s some otters coming, up by the logs to Rays’ right, so we paddled over a bit closer.
River otters
The otter’s were diving and feeding as we watched. They’d come up on this little log to eat what they caught and then dive back for more.
We watched them for a few minutes before they swam in front of us and left the area headed up the river. There appeared to be three of them in this bunch.
It was time to call it a day, so Ray and I headed for the boat ramp going by these coots and Bufflehead ducks that were diving and feeding.
Avoiding ramp rage
When we got close enough to the boat ramp to see it, there was a truck parked on it with some people taking their time putting in and as we got closer it looked like they’d be there for quite some time, so instead of trying to pull out there, we went over to the other side of the visitor center and helped each other haul our boats to our cars.
The people were still hogging the boat ramp when we left, but at least we avoided a case of ramp rage.
Nice day
