Just before Stillwater Cove, the shore is apparently all privately owned, because there are a lot of "dream houses" right on the shore. There is a series of little coves here, and one of the points between them had a house built way out on the tip. The house was made out of indiginous rock, weathered wood, and lots of glass. I was able to paddle around it and view it from most angles. Another cove had a house up on the cliff looking down on the cove. This house had a long thin deck cantalevered out over the rock and water. The end of the deck had a plastic sheet instead of railings to give an unobstructed view. Unfortunately, there was a colony of Turkey Vultures camping on this deck, and from the look of things they had been there a while. Although Marty and I refer to Turkey Vultures as our favorite local bird, their guano must be particularly vile. The owners of this house may not get much enjoyment out of their deck when they come to visit here.
In this stretch, there is a little town called Timber Cove. This town has a boat ramp, privately owned I'm sure, that is used by many abalone divers. I happened to do this trip on a weekend, and the ocean seemed to by dotted with Zodiak boats as far as I could see north and south. I had seen the boat launch from the road, and wondered if it was a "dog hole", a cove where boats were winched down from the cliff to the water on steel cables. But when I paddled up close to see how the operation worked, I saw that there was a road cut up the cliff to the town. The cables visible from the road was a rig for picking up power boats and swinging them out to deeper water.
