Monday January 11, 2016 Jenner CA.
A cool day
It was overcast with a little wind as I put my boat in at Jenner this morning. I was thinking it’s a bit chilly and was thinking maybe I should have gone back to Monte Rio to kayak as there is usually less wind there.
Rough ocean
I crossed over to Penny Island and looked down to where the ocean was and I could see the ocean was real rough with big waves coming over the sandy beaches and into the river. Of course the ocean was making a lot of noise with all the crashing and pounding of the waves.
This is what I could see from the side of Penny Island looking down towards the ocean.
With all that action, I headed down that way going past these bufflehead ducks.
Crashing waves
As I got closer I could see the ocean waves crashing over the jetty and the sandy beach. The water is really plowing into the river there on the left side. That would wipe me out in my boat if I was in the wrong place. The open mouth is off to the right, out of the picture.
Here’s a bit closer shot of the ocean water washing over the jetty and the beach, coming into the river.
There were some seagulls and brown pelicans bathing in the water.
Open mouth
I paddled over in front of the open mouth, but I stayed back a long ways today as there were waves and swells coming in the river and I get a bit motion sick looking through the camera in these conditions.
Some of the swells where about six feet high so I had to pay attention and was thinking I better not stay here too long.
Waves move sand
This photo shows a big ocean wave, brown with sand, crashing over the jetty and beach. The ocean can move huge amounts of sand around this way. This sand movement is what makes what goes on at the mouth so unpredictable.
Headed up river
I left the area before I had any motion sickness effects which is always a good thing because you feel better when you do.
I paddled back up the river along the north side of Penny island where I ran into this great blue heron hunkered down, I think it knew it was going to start raining soon.
Guy in the bushes
I paddled up to the upper end of Penny Island and was sitting in my boat by that electric pole when this guy in a wet suit pops out of the brush and says, I’m sorry to interrupt your solitude, but I’m from the local power company and am checking out this pole. I talked with him a bit, then I paddled over here to get a picture of the guy and where I sitting by the pole there. We were the only ones out today.
Light rain begins
I paddled on up the river. It started to rain lightly. I didn’t have my rain pants on, but I had them with me. I can’t put them on in the boat, but I can drape them over my exposed legs to keep me dry. Dry is warm so it’s not good to get wet in the winter time.
I was looking for a place to pull in to let the rain pass, but there wasn’t anyplace until I got up to here which is what I call Eagle’s landing. That’s my hand in the picture to cover the lens from the light rain.
The rain spits
It kept spitting, the rain I mean, so I continued on over to Paddy’s rock where I could see some birds on the rock and in the water. There were a couple geese in the water honking away giving the alarm that I was near. they sure can make a lot of noise.
Something’s over there
I paddled on down the river on the north side and was going by here when I noticed something moving in the grass.
It turned out to the wild turkeys feeding in the grasses. They were very quiet and seemed to be really into their feeding.
The rain was still spitting on me so I headed on down the river to the boat ramp at Jenner down this way.
I took my boat out of the water and went on home where it was cool outside, just like Jenner was and the rain was spitting here too.
That meant I was going to spend the rest of the day inside, so I had a little nap then put a loaf of yeast bread together and set it to raise.
That was my day.