Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Exploring with a Buddy



Guest Blogger Cindy
October 19, 2008
(Editorial comments in blue)
Our morning started out today with a meeting time of 8 a.m. at La Jolla Shores parking lot. The sun was just starting to peak through the marine layer when I arrived.

We unloaded our kayaks and gear and set toward the water. The morning was warming up, so I cast off my wind-breaker before we launched. It was going to be a beautiful morning.

We headed south toward the Marine Room restaurant. I was very pleased to see my first (Leopard) sharks in their natural habitat. Sea World and aquariums don’t really count. The water was very clear; I saw approximately 10 individual sharks. It was very exciting.

We then set toward a little beach that is only accessible by the water. We had plans of having a place to slide on the kayaks into the water. The seaweed and contours of the beach were not conducive to our endeavor. (A lot of seaweed washed up on the beach obscured the normally smooth grade of rocks. Makes for a fun slide into the water.) I did however find a partial fossil ammonite that was embedded in a rock on the beach. I always enjoy finding something special like that.

The sea caves were next on the route. Conditions were great for gliding through the Emerald Cove cave. The ocean smells great in there. The combination of the water, air and rock is wonderful. On the way just a touch south of there, I seem to have disturbed a few seals when I got a little too close to take a photo. A couple of them stared in barking at me. I scurried away quickly after securing my camera in the watertight case.

I was then a little sad to see a bobbing "dead" bird nearby. I went in a little closer to see what kind it was. To my delight it was a very small, very cute sleeping baby bird. It woke up and started peddling its little feet and raised its head. I’m not sure what kind it was, maybe a grebe or some type of loon. Anyway, it was Cute, with a capital C.

We then ventured a little further south, encountering some seals, fellow kayakers, kelp, watched some waves crash on the sea wall, water birds and too many Garibaldi to count.

All in all it was a nice excursion with great weather and water condition.

2 comments:

Very Anonymous Mike said...

I'm sorry, but this has too many words. Could you condense it down to a one-sentence summary? How about getting one of the dead guys from Dexter to do an audiobook on it?

Kayak Kevin said...

...Said Voracious Reader Mike, with tongue loosely planted in cheek.