Sunday, Jan21, 2013, Jenner by the Sea.
Kayaking at Jenner by the Sea.
I got a later start today, being Sunday and all, had to sleep in, just kidding, I sleep in all the time, everyday is Sunday.
I arrived in Jenner around noon and put my boat in the water. Headed across the river, up along the island and up the river about a half mile, just taking it easy, as usual. Not much going on today, compared to all the sea lion hunting around a few days ago.
Hiked around Penny Island.
I spent some time up there and headed back down to Penny Island where I went ashore, about in the middle of the north of it. The goal was to try and hike around a bit on the island. It’s not easy as it’s all, mostly covered with brush, a lot of it being berry bushes, so ouch on the thorns.
Spent a good deal of time on the island, about two hours, just poking around, it was a nice day, sun was out and just a little wind. Being Sunday, there were lots of people about, some on the water in kayaks and a lot of them on the beach by the ocean, but only me on Penny Island. Nice to have ones own island.
There’s been a change in the river’s mouth.
A couple days ago, the river changed down here. The river’s mouth moved a bit north, from high tides and rough oceans, that will usually do something with the sand down there. This action caused the mouth depth to decrease, which causes the river to remain at a higher level in the estuary, which is nice, as the water at this level gets the shore line over any mud along the banks, so it’s easier to get in or out of your boat at this time.
Headed to the Russian River’s mouth.
From the island, I put my boat back in the water and headed down toward the river’s mouth to see what was going on.
Below, you can see what the river’s mouth looked like as I approached it. The river is going out to the ocean, around that big rock on the right. Lot’s of birds and seals down there.
You can see the water draining into the ocean in the picture below.
I stuck my boat in the sand right near where the river was going to the ocean and shot some pictures, as you can see below.
Lots of birds and seals down there.
There are a lot of seals and birds beached near the river’s mouth most of the time. Below is the river’s mouth, looking out toward the Pacific ocean.
And the ocean was real rough too.
You can see the ocean was real rough in the picture below.
Some People were sitting out on the sand, maybe not such a good idea with the ocean rough like it was. See the sea lion in the water by them.
There’s almost always some harbor seals down there.
Below, is a close up of some of the harbor seals and birds beached at the river’s mouth.
The sea lions weren’t as active today, as a couple days ago.
There were a few sea lions and a some seals hunting in the river’s mouth. I didn’t see them eat any big fish, could be they were eating smaller ones, such as the younger fish that go to the oceans from the river’s and streams every year. Young steelhead and salmon have to start somewhere. They start as trout like fish in fresh water before heading out to the ocean to become big fish, if they survive.
Below, you can see a sea lion and some seals out in the ocean where the river’s mouth dumps into it. They seemed to be actively hunting out there.
Nice day, but time to go home.
I spent about an hour at the mouth and headed back in. On the way, the picture below shows what kind of day it was, looking back at the town of Jenner.
And one last shot of the sun low in the sky, as I headed back to the take out at the visitor’s center……………
Had a nice day.