In my continued effort to get in shape for paddling around Isla Angel de la Guarda, I planned a trip down Tomales Bay. I started near the south end of the bay early in the morning with plans to meet Kate DesLauriers later.
There is a State Park and “conference center” called Marconi on the east side of Highway One that I have never been to. On the other side of the road near Marconi there is a hook of land and a sandy beach that is used by fishermen, wind surfers, small sail boaters and kayakers. This beach, called Marconi Cove is part of the thin strip of land between the road and the bay. This strip has many houses, some tumbledown, and a few restaurants on it but since this is Marin County and waterfront property I assume it is very expensive real estate these days. Apparently Marconi Cove is not part of the State Park property and recently the owners put up a barbed wire fence and KEEP OUT signs. Then some irate users of the cove pushed over the thin steel poles of the fence and stomped on them with their 4x4 trucks. Since then the remains of the fence has disappeared and the public has returned to our normal use of this beach.
I paddled north on a sunny calm day and quickly covered the 5 miles to Miller Park where I was supposed to meet Kate. I had worked hard, training for my Baja trip, and made it earlier than I had originally planned. So I had to stop and take a short nap waiting for Kate. When she arrived and was ready to launch we paddled across the bay, around Hog Island, and up the wild west shore of the bay. We had lunch on Avalis Beach and headed back. I managed to avoid the temptation to try surfing in the waves on the other side of the mouth of the bay.
My original plan was to drop Kate off at Miller Park and complete my round trip back to Marconi. That would make this a 20 mile day for me and an excellent practice run for some of the days I would have to log in Baja. But when we paddled back to Miller Park I got lazy and let Kate shuttle my kayak on her truck back to Marconi Cove.