[Paddlewise] Great Expectations

Jack thinks he knows everything about rock gardening, but Lenora and I 
proved him wrong today. With the mild conditions, he told us we were in 
for a boring paddle, but it just meant we could push the envelope that 
much more and we all ended up having a great time! We'd hoped to lure 
some fence sitters over to the dark side today, but it ended up just the 
three of us. Short boats are a whole lot easier to haul down the long 
path down through Terranea and they're more fun to play in.

After warming up in the slosh of the cobble beach, we headed south. 
Lenora and I wanted to have another go at the area we'd played in a 
month or so ago. But even though the same rocks were there, the 
different tide made for a completely different experience. An while 
things seemed mild when we launched, we still had some bigger swells 
come in to make things exciting. We took our time playing at every 
feature we could find as we made our long slog down the coast. After an 
early break, Jack and I got a couple really nice rides on some waves 
breaking a bit outside, but as I remembered seeing some submerged rocks, 
I was worried I'd find them again at the end of a ride.

We came around to a cave and Jack warned me as I got close to the mouth. 
There was a guy on a tiny ledge right above the cave opening waiting for 
enough water to come in so he could jump! It took a while, but after he 
was safe in the water, we moved in. There was a spit in the back making 
for some ominous rumbling and the opening was just enough to lodge a 
kayak in, so we didn't get too close. We headed next door to another 
cave with an opening in the back. The cave roof was pretty low, but by 
hugging the left, we found a keyhole to make our way through.

It was a day of drops and bumps and bridges and jams. Finally, we found 
our way into a pretty pool and got our for a break. The nice thing about 
wearing all your RG gear is you can get pretty comfortable napping on 
the rocks! We had a quiet break until a group of about 50 people started 
making their way our on our reef! Turns out it was a MeetUp.com hiking 
group. We launched again and gave all the photogs in the group something 
to shoot at!

I can't remember what happened next. We played a bit more, but my dogs 
were barking cramped up their in the front of my boat. We started the 
long, choppy, breezy, noisy, wet slog back to Terranea. We crawled up on 
the large cobble beach 5 hours after we left. And I know I must have had 
fun--every part of my body hurts!

http://www.sandmarks.net/GreatExpectations/RGExpectations1.html

Mark Sanders
www.sandmarks.net
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