Kayaking Tomales Bay Day 2

The night was cold but bearable, I've spent much colder nights in a tent. In the middle of the night I was awakened by what I assumed was the sound of a raccoon scrambling around in the cockpits of the plastic kayaks. I don't know why he was so interested in the boats, we didn't have any food in there. Sure enough in the morning the seat of my kayak was covered in sand tracked in by the nighttime visitor. We awoke around 7:30 to a cool morning, which quickly warmed as the sun rose, bathing the campsite in a serene orange light. Eggs and bread made up our breakfast along with a cup of tea.

The tide was going out in the morning, so about 9:00 the Kayak Guy and I climbed into our boats and headed out for the mouth of the bay. The water was mostly calm. We passed several boats of fisherman, some pulling up crab traps. The seals, loons and grebes were out in force again. The Point Reyes shore to our left was made up mostly of rocky cliffs, which eventually become Tomales Point, which sticks out into the ocean to form the entrance to Tomales Bay. There is a shallow spot in the middle of the bay not far from the mouth where the waves break, but nearer to the shore the water was calm. Closer to the mouth larger waves break all across the bay so we pulled our kayaks out on a beach before we entered the rough water. We had paddled for about two hours. While the KG set up a fishing line, I walked along the small beach and scrambled amongst the rocks when the beach gave way to rocky coast. Not a lot going on in the small tidepools, a few sea stars and crabs but little else. We ate the rest of our bread with peanut butter and a small package of Chips Ahoy cookies for lunch. Another group of kayakers pulled their boats out down the beach from us.

The tide had gone out farther in the hour we spent at the small beach and was about to start coming in again. We decided to paddle out a little farther toward the bay entrance and rougher water before heading back to our campsite. As we launched the kayaks the KG asked me what I would do if the wave caught my kayak broadside. Lean into the wave I replied, confident in what I had learned from last year's surf zone class. We headed out toward the tip of Tomales Point, but the water quickly became too rough and we turned around. The waves were now breaking all across the bay, not just in the middle. The KG headed out into the middle of the bay to surf the larger waves while I tackled the smaller waves closer to shore. The waves were larger than I had paddled in and it took some effort to keep the boat from getting swept broadside. I glanced over to see the KG had capsized, I thought about going over to help but I had my hands full with the rough water I was in and where he was it looked worse. A wave did catch me and spin the kayak broadside I remembered the conversation we had before launching and I leaned into the wave which carried my boat along and set it down in the calm water after the wave broke. By this time the KG had gotten back into his boat, amazingly enough he managed to hang onto his hat, but was not so lucky with his sunglasses.

On the way back to camp we made a brief stop at Hog Island, which is very small. A lot of seals haul out on one side of Hog Island so you must land on the west side. The rest of the paddle back to camp was uneventful. The quail returned to our beach shortly after we did. Some soup for dinner and another fire by the beach completed our day. Again the dark and cold came early so we retired to our sleeping bags for a long night's sleep.


Kayaking Tomales Bay Day 1; Kayaking Tomales Bay Day 3

Click here for the flickr photo set