Roger Lamb had someplace to go Saturday afternoon, so we planned a short trip to get us back into our cars before 3:00 PM. He suggested launching at the Spud Point Marina in Bodega Harbor and I countered with Campbel Cove. If we were going to launch in Bodega Harbor, we might as well launch as close to the entrance as possible. We could paddle out and around Bodega Head and land for lunch at the little cove (called Horseshoe Cove) under the UCB Marine Biology Laboratory. Roger agreed that this sounded like a nice trip so this is what we did.
We met at Campbel Cove at 9:00 AM and were ready to launch in record time by 9:30. The ebbing tide helped pull us out around the jetty and we turned and headed towards Bodega Head. The Point Arena Buoy was reporting 3.6 foot swell and continued to report mild swell under four feet the rest of the day. I have noticed, however, that Bodega Head is always a little rougher than the reports would make you believe. I’m sure the submerged portion of the point focuses the waves into the point to cause this effect. So we were not surprised when we got to the first group of rocks off the point and watched waves breaking between them.
We figured that we would not get very much rock gardening done on this day However, we came to one section of coast with a cave in it and turned closer to shore to check it out. The cave had waves breaking into it occasionally so we had to forgo that pleasure. But the water to the left of it looked well protected by a group of rocks and we turned in there to a nice little cauldron of choppy water. Rather than retrace our steps, I paddled towards the waves slamming between the rocks. I slowed down as I paddled behind the roughest white water and then zoomed out from between the rocks during a mild set of waves. Roger followed close on my tail and the calm set of waves lasted long enough for him to follow me out as well. Roger is actually a much better kayaker than I but he has smashed up his boats too many times lately. He has decided that I am a sensible guy and that he can stay out of trouble by following my example. Unless he sees me get in trouble first! We both felt that this trip into the rocks and back was enough to satisfy our desire to go rock gardening in this rough area. I would really like to explore Bodega Head more thoroughly but it is going to take a dead-calm ocean (two foot swell) to make this place navigable.
When we came to the UCB Marine Biology Laboratory we turned into their cove and made a calm and easy landing on the sandy beach. It was too early for lunch so we went tide-pooling on the beautiful stony reef that lined the north side of the cove. We found the usual array of sea anemones, hermit crabs, and one kelp crab that was missing several legs. Then Roger wanted to see "what it was that the guy was diving for last week" and I went on a search for some spiny purple sea urchins. I soon found a collection of small ones to show to Roger. During our search I found something AMAZING that I have never seen in shallow water before: A full-grown eight-inch red abalone! It was crammed in a small shallow crack full of water and we could touch the black side of its foot. This is what it used to be like collecting abalone at low tide along the California coastline! It would have been a simple matter to pry this abalone off with an abalone iron, and only a little more work to remove it with our bare hands. But of course it was not abalone season. Even if it was this cove is in the middle of a marine sanctuary. The sanctuary status of this section of coastline is probably the only reason that this abalone was up in shallow water like this.
It still wasn’t lunch time, so we jumped back in our boats to explore the last section of the Bodega Head area. We paddled past some rough waves breaking onto Mussel Point and then turned towards the extreme southern end of Salmon Creek Beach. Roger reported that the last time he was here the end of the beach was protected by Mussel Point and was dead calm. We paddled close enough to the sand to find out that this was not true on this day. The waves were breaking very close to shore and were larger than Roger expected. It was actually a very calm day for Salmon Creek Beach and we probably could have made a landing easily. But Roger wanted the seclusion of Horseshoe cove so we turned back and landed there a second time to sit out of the wind and eat our lunches.
After lunch we headed back south again. When we had gone north through this area we had traveled so close to the cliff that we didn’t see the rows of cars and people lining the cliff looking out to sea for gray whales to go by. But on the return trip we saw the whale-watchers up there. The air was cold and a gentile wind was blowing, so Roger had decided not to do his usual kayak rolling exercises. When he saw that he had an audience, he couldn’t resist showing off and giving the watchers a thrill. He did six rolls while we were in the area, the usual number that he does to keep in practice for emergencies. But then as we came around the point and headed towards the jetty, three guys in a Coast Guard zodiac came by. Roger rolled again in the hope that they might think he needed rescuing. They weren’t fooled and I suggested to Roger that he does it too fast, rolling over and coming back up on the other side in one corkscrew action. If he wanted to give the "coasties" a thrill, he should have rolled over and hung upside down for ten seconds. Long enough for them to start to wonder. So Roger rolled one more time, this time falling over on his right side, hanging upside down for a few seconds and then rolling back up on the same side. See, I told you Roger was a very good kayaker. The "coasties" were to far away to appreciate it. We paddled back in the jetty, out of the water, and into dry clothes an hour earlier than Rogers 3:00 PM time limit.