Flying the Flag

I don't worry too much about fitting in, but a sense of community still feels good. Among the communities that have made me feel good, I have to rank the beachside parking lot full of divers fairly highly. I recall how my buddy Keith and I did our (old-school) diver training back in the late 70s and we went diving up and down Northern California, but we wouldn't put stickers on our cars or wear dive t-shirts until we felt we earned the right after a year or so. Then, we each put a modest diver-flag on our bumpers. (I think my dad gave me one that read "Think Deep.") And, we kept diving fairly frequently, at least for a few years before English grad school and law school distracted us. Nowadays, I like walking up the beach, in a soaking wetsuit, pulling that kayak with the rocket fins and weightbelt and other gear secured properly, getting and sharing the nods and smiles of like-minded souls in pursuit of salty experiences. I shoot my fish and creatures with a camera, but I still can talk abalone and spearfishing, and I like hearing those stories.

Seal-Bird Island and the Rocking Zoom

That sort of fringe on the top of the rocky islet?  Can you see what I mean?  (Move a little closer; enlarge the shot, perhaps.)  I am fairly sure those are birds, standing tall in the wind.   Or, a good many of them are birds, though some are seals, noses held high.

At first I thought they were all seals, a whole lot of seals providing that visual fringe effect, and in fact the creatures on the rocks closer to the water are seals, dozens of them.  

(What do you call a whole lot of seals?  A salvage of seals? A savory?  A soiree? A sea?  A season?)

Now, I'll give you a sequence of shots that illustrate the difficulties of attempting to use the zoom on my amphibious camera -- a camera better suited to close-ups and arm's-length captures -- while balancing in a closed-deck kayak.  I love the motion, myself, but the results are a bit up-and-down in quality.

Off Bodega Bay on a very sunny day.

Happy paddling.

Shadow of a Man

"Whirl is king."  --Aristophanes

The Gate From The North