Tag: Bay Area Sea Kayakers

Lunch at China Camp

Paddling towards the Marin Islands. Thursday BASK Paddle. Lock Lomond Yacht Harbor to China Camp.
Threading Grindel’s Needle at The Sisters. Thursday BASK Paddle. Lock Lomond Yacht Harbor to China Camp.
Lunch at China Camp. Thursday BASK Paddle. Lock Lomond Yacht Harbor to China Camp.
Lunch at China Camp. Thursday BASK Paddle. Lock Lomond Yacht Harbor to China Camp.
Mt Tamalpais rising out of the bay. Thursday BASK Paddle. Lock Lomond Yacht Harbor to China Camp.

 

I joined a few of my fellow BASK members for a paddle from Lock Lomond Yacht Harbor to China Camp where we had lunch. At the launch the weather was looking a bit chilly with the potential for some wind. By lunch time thought, the weather had warmed up and the little wind we had seemed to have disappeared. We paddled out from Loch Lomond going between the Marin Island and then altered our course for The Sisters. There where we took the opportunity to “thread Gridel’s Neddle” a slot in the rock on one of The Sisters that one can paddle through.  Once through the Needle, we headed for the beach at China Camp where we broke our our lunches. After lunch we had the current with us for a quick trip back to the Yacht Harbor.  Clear skies and calm water for the day’s paddle. We get some of our best paddling weather in the fall and winter.  Our course covered nine miles. You can view the GPS track here.

Monterey Bay with BASK

Paddling on Monterey Bay

The weekend of January 13 found us in Monterey, with our kayaks, for a three-day weekend. We drove to Monterey on Friday arriving at Monterey Venterans Memorial Park at 2:30. Our plan was to get there early in the event the campsites filled up. Camping is first-come and there is no reservation system. We were happy to find that there were plenty of spaces available when we arrived. By Saturday evening though there were few if any sites left. The three-day weekend with Martin Luther King day and to good weather may have had an impact. One of the camp maintenance people told me there is always room this time of year. On Saturday we had hoped to launch our kayaks on Monastery Beach in Carmel with our fellow Bay Area Sea Kayaker (BASK) members, but the surf looked a bit intimidating so we opted to launch from the Municipal Beach in Monterey. From there we paddled to the beach at Lovers Point where we landed for lunch.

Paddling on Monterey Bay. Landing at Lover’s Point.
Paddling on Monterey Bay
Paddling on Monterey Bay

On Saturday we repeated the paddle, paddling out along Cannery Row, past the Monterey Bay Aquarium and on to Lovers Point. There’s always plenty to see in Monterey Bay with sea lions, sea otters and birds. On Monday we took advantage of a very high tide to paddle on Elkhorn Slough, paddling through Rubis Creek and up the slough to Kirby Park. Kirby Park is currently closed to vehicle traffic but open to kayakers arriving on the water.

Paddling on Elkhorn Slough