Sunday I met at Elkhorn Slough with a group composed of Joshua Teitelbaum and his wife and two friends, on vacation here on the left coast. You may remember Josh's notes here about their rolling classes at home in Israel. Also paddling were Vicki Basham, a new friend from Western Sea Kayakers, and her friend Nina, both local in this area. Three of our paddlers were first timers so we adopted a fairly leisurely pace as we pulled out of the MBK area about 10:00. Turning left under the Rte. 1 bridge we encountered a pretty noticeable tidal current heading inland, the product of a 6.6 foot incoming tide. We stopped at the beach on the right near the bridge for readjustment of clothing and gear and then went on. The pelicans were there in multitudes, both browns and whites. We would frequently get buzzed by a fleet of them who would approach about 12" off the water, looking as tho' they were kamikaze pilots, only to have them swerve slightly to one side or the other, tho' once the went over my head so close I'd swear I felt the wind from their wing beats. I experienced another close encounter this trip, with a sea otter. I saw him/her come up directly in front of me about 100 feet away and instead of turning to go around, I just stopped. The otter rolled over on its back and starting working on a _big_ clam on it's chest while swimming using its tail. I started talking to people so it would not be startled when it noticed me, but it just kept right on coming, beating on the clam with a rock, totally engrossed. It swam right by on my port side about 4 feet way. That was the closest I've come since one tried to steal a sandwich from me about 25 years ago when I was eating lunch in a Royak off of where the Monterey Aquarium is now. We explored one of the side channels for about 200 yards, but then turned back as I didn't know if it went thru' and backing out of one of the narrow channels for a long way can be a pain. I have to make a couple of leisurely explorations of the side channels with my GPS in hand so I can relocate the thru' channels when I want to. We also paddled down a fairly straight channel on the right side of the slough, going in, about across from Rubis creek E. end. We spotted a couple of large white herons on the bank between us and the main channel. This bank is quite narrow and in some places has eroded away letting you peek thru'. The bank was also frequented by the little digger crabs that make the mud banks look like the surface of the moon. On the way further on towards the park we spotted a 2 foot diameter jelly of a species I've never seen before. It was an orangish brown color. Could this have been one of the Egg Yolk jellies I've seen people talking about on the diving list? It was wide and not very deep and could have been thought to resemble a fried egg if you squinted a little. We made it to Kirby Park about 12:15 and hung out 'til just after one, schmoozing and eating, and restarting the circulation in our nether portions. While we were at the park we were visited by a middle sized sea lion which appeared to be floating with both rear fins and one front fin sticking out of the water and slowly looking around at all the ungainly creatures at the water's edge. It was often not more than 15 feet from us next to the shore. S/he hung out with us for about 20 minutes and then moved on. As it left it kept one front fin sticking up out of the water, waving lazily. Most of us waved back as it swam away. On the way out to the harbor the wind came up for about 1/2 hour and then died out almost completely until we were back at MBK at 3:30 or so. There were a few moderate sized open ocean swells to be felt starting just above Rte. 1 bridge. Some fun rollercoaster sensations to be had paddling into them. For me the day was a very pleasant time with good company, nice weather, lots of animal companions, and some fine atuning of the soul to the environment. (A note for the first timers, don't be discouraged if you felt worn out afterwards, we did a total of about 11 miles and that's quite a long way for your very first paddle. My first couple of paddle trips were about 3 miles, out and back from MBK to the Aquarium in Monterey harbor area.) Oh yes, I really like my new Cobra Tourer SOT. It's much faster/easier to paddle than my Explorer, and quite stable too. Not as much splash in oncoming chop as the wider boat, either. I think it'll make an excellent free diving vehicle/platform. Fair winds and happy bytes, -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave Flory, San Jose, CA. daflory_at_pacbell.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Speak softly and study Aikido, then you won't need a big stick. ©2000 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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