Hans and Carla are friends of Roger and Konstantin. I have paddled only once or twice with them even though Carla lives in Bodega Bay. I tried to talk Konstantin into going paddling with me this weekend but he was unable to get away. Instead he told Carla to call me up and suggest a trip. They suggested paddling from Goat Rock to Bodega Harbor and I said sure. Hans drove his and Carla's boats out to Goat Rock where we met and Carla offered to do the shuttle in her truck to take me back and to pick up Hans' truck.
We launched with no troubles at Goat Rock and started going our separate ways. Hans, like me, preferred to go inside and do some rock gardening. Carla preferred to paddle outside and go touring. Hans and I went through the arch offshore from Goat Rock. "The Guys" got to talk while paddling inshore. On the sandy sections of shore we paddled out to talk to Carla.
There is the big arch offshore from Goat Rock and then there is a smaller arch at "Arched Rock Beach" a little farther south. This arch is close to shore and usually to rough or shallow to paddle through. This trip was no exception and I went around the outside of this arched rock. As I got to the other side I saw a shallow rocky area I thought I could slip over on a medium sized wave. The ocean, infinitely perverse, provided a LARGE wave instead and it rose steeply as it went over the shallow rocky area. This wave grabbed my boat and surfed me around the back side of the rock and tried to pull me into the arch! Fortunately it let go of my kayak before banging me into the rock and I paddled out to safety.
Past the 7 kilometer stretch of Salmon Creek Beach we reached Mussel Point. Here we saw the gray whale hanging out at Bodega Head that Roger and I had seen. I stayed close to shore and went inside the rocks at the little play spot that Roger had found on our recent trip here. Hans passed it up to "mosey on towards home". I did a roll for the whale watchers looking down at me. Roger would have been proud of me!
I had not realized that this trip was 26 kilometers long! When Hans described it to me I recalled doing the section from Goat Rock to Duncans landing and back, also from Grandma's Beach to Duncans Landing and back, and around Bodega Head and back. All trips I had done recently, twice each as a matter of fact since they had been round trips. Even adding the long stretch of Salmon Creek Beach I figured doing it one way should be easy. But all the sections added up and this turned into a REAL paddle!
We rounded Bodega Head, paddled straight to and into the arms of the jetty. Floating in the water there I found a float attached to a bundled up cord that held a practically new crab net above the bottom. It was drifting out with the tide. I stuck it on my deck to take home! This turned out to be a bit of a bummer because I had to stretch my forward stroke around the big hoop for the last long mile across the harbor to the "beach" in front of Carla's house. When we entered the arms of the jetty, Hans and Carla told me that the local name for Campbell Beach is "E-coli Beach" because it is often closed because of too much sewage runoff collecting there. They didn't recommend doing rolling practice here. Then when we got to the beach in front of the road to Cala's house, the water was very dirty and covered with scum blown across the harbor by the wind. I wasn't tempted to practice my roll here either so I didn't do my 6 practice Eskimo rolls like I should to follow "Roger's Rule".