1. At Rodeo Beach today, the surf was churning enough that I kept getting pebbles dropped into my snorkel. The first time, I swallowed one or two rocks, but managed not to choke. (Frankly, I was laughing hard enough to endanger myself.) After that, I kept to proper snorkel etiquette, not relying on the blast-at-the-surface method, but purging while returning to the surface, using physics, expanding air bubbles, and a vertical tube to clear the debris! Rocks in my snorkel! (I'm still amused.)
2.I went to bed with some ambition and a Monterey plan, but I ended up sleeping in and going to Rodeo Beach in Marin to practice beach landings and rough water-work with the kayak. It was near high tide and rough enough that I swam instead. I put on mask and fins and swam for about 40 minutes, and then decided to try with the kayak. While I was getting ready, the swell subsided and I could have launched. Then, the swell picked back up, the kayak launching seemed too unwieldy, and so I swam instead. Repeat again. Surf-cycle.
3. Yesterday: beachcombed Drake's Bay and McClure's Beach in Point Reyes. The offshore wind kept me from kayaking; I didn't want to fight the wind getting back to base or fail and drift off into the Pacific. Lunch in Bolinas. Scrimshaw at the Pub; late swim workout at the pool. Laundry. Full day, all told.
4. Drake's Bay yesterday morning: closeouts with feathery whitecaps. Only one line of surf at a time just up and dumping at about one foot of depth. Pretty, but not rideable. Not even a whitewater rush for a boogie boarder. McClure's Beach was a cauldron; I wanted to play with my kayak out there, but it looked a little scary and the portage from the parking lot was too demanding. Lots of energy in the water, but not much length to the rides. I should have swam, otter-style!
5. Drake's Bay can be weird because the steep bluffs block the wind on most of the beach, but once you move out beyond the shelter of the bluffs, then you are at the whim of the wind. Looking back to this morning, there weren't many whitecaps out beyond the surfzone, so maybe the funnel effect of this break in the bluffs fooled me into thinking it was too fierce a wind for paddling. Maybe. At the other stops, the wind helped me into a jacket . . . and Sofia, my Ocean Kayak Scrambler 11, is built for diving and rough water, not for cutting or cruising. I was tempted, nonetheless.
6. The photo illustration? Actually, that's Monterey Bay, further south, and I'm in the kayak, though today and yesterday off Marin, I never quite ended up in the kayak out on the water. Tomorrow I will pick up the film I shot this past week, so perhaps there will be a more fitting photo.
