It is that time of year again, when the gray whales are migrating up the coast. The Point Cabrillo Lighthouse was having their annual Whale Festival and I volunteered to do the usual stint as parking attendant. For a day of directing traffic I would be allowed to stay in the Lighthouse Keepers House, get a private tour of the Lighthouse, and get to paddle the beautiful coastline of Mendocino County.
Maryly Snow and Doug Hamilton were car-pooling up on Friday. Maryly talked me into taking half of Friday off to join them. We could arrive in time to do some surfing at Caspar Beach. I figured 2.5 hours of driving starting at noon would get us there after the high tide, but with enough water for surfing for a few hours. I forgot to figure in “road trip” time, time to transfer gear between trucks, time to stop and eat lunch. I would have left right at noon and eaten on the way and made it by 2:30 PM. We got there by 4:30 PM.
The tide was way out and the waves were dumping over the outer end of the sand shelf. We got in our gear anyway and braved the rough water. I tried to suggest that we go for a paddle instead and try to get behind the reef on the north end of Caspar Anchorage. Maryly said no. But after braving the dumping waves to battle her way out into the cove a few times, Maryly found the thought of surfing back in daunting. She started canvassing us to go on the paddle instead. She did manage to brace and broach on one big wave and stay upright.
Doug and I tried to surf a little longer and got a few wild rides. On one ride I fell over and had to roll up twice on the way to shore! The first time was falling over the edge of the steep wave as it broke over the edge of the sand shelf. I rolled up and the wave picked the boat up and surfed it towards shore. Half way there the boat twisted out of control and fell over in the soup, requiring the second roll to get back upright again.
We finally collected together and headed out the north side of the cove. As we approached each of the entrances to the water behind the reef we saw at least one large set break all the way across. None of these looked safe to paddle in. When we found ourselves out at sea we gave up on the idea and turned back towards the beach. We crossed over to the south side of the cove and here I was pleased to discover that the water was calmer behind the rocks. We were able to get very close to the end of the cliffs. If the water was deeper we could have made our way farther behind the rocks off the point. But the tide was too low for this and we turned back to try our luck surfing a few more times.
We hauled our gear out, stopped by the lighthouse to pick out sleeping spots and went to Mendocino for a great dinner. The next day we were signed up to volunteer. Maryly had “graduated” from directing traffic in the parking lot and was working with kids down by the lighthouse. That evening we had our private tour of the lighthouse and a huge pot luck dinner.
On Sunday morning our host Lisa Weg had the day off and arrangements for a baby sitter. This meant that she could go paddling with us! Unfortunately we wanted to get an early start and Lisa could not join us until 11:00 AM. Perhaps a little later. So we made plans to paddle from nearby Russian Gulch Cove, past the lighthouse, and meet Lisa at Caspar Beach at 11:30. But when we got to Russian Gulch we found the park was closed for a month for road maintenance! So we decided to launch at Caspar, paddle south to the lighthouse and paddle back up to Caspar Beach to meet Lisa.
The swell was so mild that there were no waves to speak of at Caspar Beach. This made launching easy. The tide was still low so we did not get to paddle behind the rocks at the south end of the Caspar Anchorage cove. But once we got around the point we went close to shore and were able to go into a few caves and arches. When we got to Point Cabrillo we were able to get behind the reef and close to shore. We put on a show for the whale watches on the cliff top. Roger cannot resist demonstrating his roll when there is a group of people watching and I had to match him roll-for-roll or risk getting behind on “Roger’s Rule”.
Just south of the point is a “fjord”, a narrow crack in the cliff that leads to a round body of water next to the lighthouse. Years ago I paddled in here and could see just the cupola of the lighthouse from inside. Then they took the cupola off for repairs and I missed the light when I was in there. Now the cupola is completely restored with shiny new curved class windows in shiny black frames. The roof is bright red and the glass and brass is polished inside. A beautiful and welcome sight from inside the fjord again!
Just a little farther south there is another fjord that has a spectacular set of caves and arches. We paddled into these and wove our way back and forth through the caves for a while. Then it was time to head back to meet Lisa. We ducked inside the reef in front of the lighthouse again then cut straight across the water from point to point to get back quickly. The water was rising, but we went the long way around the south point of Caspar Anchorage and headed in towards the beach. Lisa was there, still getting ready and we were exactly on time.
Lisa asked me about our plans. We had been thinking about continuing north for a while before returning to Caspar. Lisa was a little disappointed because she had a camera and wanted to go south to take pictures of the crowds of whale watches in front of the lighthouse. I told Lisa that this was her day and we should do what she wanted. When Lisa balked at this and suggested that she didn’t want to monopolize our time, I turned and shouted to Roger: “Roger, Lisa wants to go past the Lighthouse!”, his immediate answer was “OK let’s go”. I turned to Lisa and said “See? No argument.” I’m not sure I should tell Lisa this, but for the privileges of staying at her house and getting private tours of the lighthouse we would do anything. Work two days instead of one? Forego paddling? Jump off the cliff into the water? Paddle to Hawaii? Just say the word Lisa, we’ll do anything! Paddle past the lighthouse and into the fjords again in one day? That’s still fun! No arguments!