Friday November 29, 2013 Monte Rio CA.
Monte Rio to the Vacation Beach Summer dam and back
Since the river’s mouth is closed, it backs the water all the way up to the Vacation Beach summer dam, so that makes it easy to get over the ripple below the Monte Rio bridge. Which means I don’t have to get out of my boat and can just paddle on though, as it’s now deep enough. and the whole thing is more like a lake.
That’s why I decided to kayak at Monte Rio today. I was on the river around eleven AM and headed on up the river. Not much wind and the sun was out.
This is the view I had just as I crossed under the Monte Rio Bridge going up the river.
So far, I hadn’t seen many critters or birds.
This is my view as I entered the bend in the river near the golf course heading up the river.
Just a reflection in the water as I continued on up the river.
I made it up to the local waste water disposal pipe and all of a sudden there were birds and critters all around.
This egret was sitting in a tree.
And so was this great blue heron.
And even this green heron flew in right in front of me.
And some otters were hunting around where the pipe water came into the river. I think the water may be warmer there from the discharge pipe that was flowing. At any rate, the otters seemed to want to be catching a lot of little fish and didn’t seem to want to leave.
So, I took a lot of otter pictures and here are a few of them.
This one was taken before they realized I was there in my boat in the water.
These guys see me, but haven’t quite figured out what I am yet.
This one is just discovering that someone is here besides them.
I kept busy taking pictures and watching them fish for about a half hour, before they left and headed down the river. I ran into these otters and others several times later.
I continued on up the river toward the summer dam.
This view is just a bit below the summer dam as I went up the river.
I paddled up to this point, just below the Vacation Beach summer dam. Note the dam is out for the winter. I turned around here and headed back down the river, taking my time.
I saw this bird high up in a tree and at first I thought it was a bold eagle. It’s an osprey which is sometimes also called a fish eagle, so I was partly right.
And way up high in a redwood tree was this egret in the sun preening itself.
Just some more reflections as I paddled on by.
My view as I started to pass under the Monte Rio bridge.
It was a nice day paddling on the river, with the sun out and almost no wind and lots of reflections.
I was off the water around four PM and went home for a much needed nap.