Tag: Marin Islands National Wildlife

Geezers Go Paddling

At 73 years of age, I’m the youngster on today’s paddle. The five of us range in age from 73 to 81. Never mind that Alan tapes up his hands with duct tape before climbing in his boat. Our launch point is Jean & John Starkweather Shoreline Park near the west end of the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge. We were on the water at 10:30 launching on calm water under blue skies, a welcome change following several days of rain.

Our course took us out past the Marin Islands, padding by several barges and some dredging equipment. We paddled on to Point San Pedro. From there The Sisters looked quite inviting. Two paddlers decided to head to our designated lunch site at Loch Lomond. Three of us paddled out and around The Sisters, stopping to play in the slot in the rock called Grendel’s Needle. We had a high tide and very little current. Sometimes there can be some dynamic water here. Today it was quiet.

Then it was time to head for Loch Lomond Yacht Harbor for lunch, landing on the boat ramp and carrying our boats up the ramp and out of the way to keep the ramp clear for other boaters.

After lunch it was back on the water. Alan had acquired a unicorn figurehead for his boat. Then it was back across San Rafael Bay to our launch site.

We were back at our launch site at 2:15 pm having logged 9 miles. More photos available in an online gallery. I had to look up the definition of “Geezer,” Vocabulary.com says “A geezer is an old person. It might hurt your grandfather’s feelings if you refer to him as a geezer, since he thinks of himself as being youthful.” So, apologies to my paddling buddies; paddling keeps us young.

Four Islands

There are 18 islands in San Francisco Bay. On December 15, we visited four of them, The Sisters and the Marin Islands, all off limits. Our adventure started at China Camp Village Beach. Four of us were on the water at 10 a.m. We paddled out to The Sisters where we “threaded the needle,” Grendel’s Needle, a narrow slot in the rock on the west side of the west Sister. With the ebb current, it was simply a matter of lining your boat up with the slot and letting the current woosh you through. From The Sisters it was an easy paddle with the current to reach the Marin Islands.

We adjusted our ferry angle to compensate for the current which would have caused us to overshoot our goal without correcting. Sometimes you have to paddle in what seems like the wrong direction to compensate for the current. The islands which constitute the Marin Islands National Wildlife Refuge are named after the Coast Miwok man known as Chief Marin. We recently learned that not only are the islands protected, but much of the water to the north of the islands is also protected.

Once around the islands we headed for Loch Lomond Yacht harbor where we took advantage of the new kayak dock to disembark from our kayaks. After lunch we made our way back to China Camp, taking the most direct route. We logged 8.5 miles over the course of the day, landing back on the beach shortly before 2 p.m. It was another very pleasant day on the water.

More photos are available in an online gallery.