Tag: Monterey

Kayaking Adventure in Monterey Bay

In January our kayaking club, BASK, makes an annual pilgrimage to Monterey for a weekend of paddling. This year on Saturday, January 11, we congregated at Del Monte Beach just north of the Monterey Bay Kayaks for a safety talk and to organize into pods. There were about 30 of us. We broke up into three pods, the “long pod” that had a goal of paddling out to the buoy off of Point Pinos, a “fast pod” that intended to go as far as Lovers Point, and a “slow pod” that would follow the same route as the “fast pod.”

We opted to join the fast pod. We were on the water shortly after 10:00. There was a little bit of wave action getting off the beach. I felt like I got a bucket of water thrown in my face as I punched through a wave.

Once on the water we paddled out past the harbor, along the shore, and past the Monterey Bay Aquarium, keeping a distance from the white water surging around rocks. We saw what must have been hundreds of sea otters.

Off of Lovers Point Beach we stopped briefly to observe the surf, noting that conditions were not conducive to landing for lunch. We continued paddling out past Point Pinos. As we left the protection of the bay we started to feel the swell. These 8– to 10-foot waves would roll under us as we paddled. It felt like we were paddling up and down hills. Up one side and down the other, or as one paddler suggested, an elevator ride up and down. After getting a sense of ocean paddling, we turned around and headed back.

Track of the Monterey Bay paddle.

We stopped for a few minutes to break out our emergency snacks since we wouldn’t be landing on the beach for lunch. One paddler who felt more confident in the conditions ventured closer to shore and managed to surf a few of the waves. Then it was back to our launch point. You can see the track of our paddle above.

I had hoped to have a smooth landing, but my timing was off, and a wave caught me. As my boat broached, turning parallel to the waves, I was able to brace on the wave and side-surf into the beach without getting dumped. We were back on the beach at 1:00 having logged 7.4 miles. More photos are available in an online gallery.

Monterey to Lover’s Point

BASK members landing at Lover’s Point Beach. Pacific Grove

With a three day weekend last weekend, Monday being a holiday, honoring Martin Luther King Jr., we decided to join our fellow BASK members for a weekend trip to Monterey. On Saturday morning we congregated on the Municipal Beach for a safety talk after which we launched our boats for a paddle to Lover’s Point Beach in Pacific Grove. Our paddle took us out past the harbor. We passed hundreds of Sea Lions on the breakwater and a number of sea otters on our way out towards Lover’s Point. We paddled past the Monterey Bay aquarium and around Point Cabrillo where we kept our distance from the crashing surf. Turning into Lover’s Point Beach we found the beach quite protected from the swell which made for easy landing. The clear, turquoise water at Lover’s Point Beach reminded me of something out of the Mediterranean

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