Mendocino Pleasures

Paddle, paddle, paddle.

Feeling Surgy

Surge

Triton: sculpture mix; nutmeg/brown and blue glazing.

Photos: 2012; Pacific Grove.

Berkeley Kayaking (Waterspots Included)

Windy, choppy day; good workout.

Cold & Rough: Kayaking Mendocino

The Adventures of Kelpman

Close-up: Kelpman in the surge.

Kelpman:
chicken wire figure (1996);
kelpflesh (2015).
Bodega Bay surge channel.

Sand-Encrusted Creatures As The Tide Falls Away

Barnacle and sea anemones anchored to the wall of the surge channel.  

The tide was dropping.

Two small sea anemones tightly closed and covered with sand.

The eye of the abyss . . . .

An unlikely, but definite, beauty.

Some sea anemones are still partially opened as the tide is dropping.

Surge channel.

Surging water fills the channel and covers the creatures . . . until the water recedes, drawing back for the next wave.  High tide won't occur again for hours.

Flow in action.

"Whirl is King" -- Aristophanes

Quick Dip: Four Shots

The last two shots are not quite in focus, but they capture the actual visual experience of the dive rather well.  Slightly murky water with dark skies overhead kept me squinting, attempting to see better and more.  Cold, cold water too . . . though I was wearing a 4/3 surfing wetsuit, not fully zipped, and shouldn't complain.  Proper gear makes for longer dives . . . .  I need to find that good 6/5 surfing wetsuit, I guess.

Larger context:
Yesterday, I slipped off the kayak into the water off Mendocino for a short free dive.  I intended to play with (and shoot photos inside) a surge channel between a rock and a small island off Van Damme State Beach, but the surging of the swell circling around the island and then being squeezed into that channel shot me out precipitously.  After the such second cannon blast, I moved into quieter waters just to the side of the surge channel and took a few shots there.  I've often swam into such channels -- there's a great one on the east point of Lovers Point in Pacific Grove, for example -- but this particular one had a combination of seeming innocuousness and irresistible force that I will be back to try again.  Often, I've found the largest sea anemones in such channels.