Kate and I waited around until Roger Lamb arrived so he could join us, then we launched and paddled out to the southern point that defines the cove named Caspar Anchorage. The tide was high so we were able to go behind the rocks close to shore here and avoid a long paddle around the outside. Roger said that he has never gone this close to shore here before!
Despite the small wave forecasts and the pitiful waves at Caspar Beach, there were some pretty scary looking waves breaking over the outer rocks of the points. I guessed, and verified the guess later, that although the waves were small they had very long periods. When a long low wave comes into shallow water it slows down, compresses itself into a taller wave and surprises you. This is often true with swell from the south in this area, but I don’t recall having it happen with a swell from the northwest before. This made all the rock gardening we wanted to do more challenging for Roger and I and a little scarier for beginners like Kate.
Kate was a trooper and followed us almost everywhere we went on this weekend. We lead her behind the rocks off Point Cabrillo and into the fjords there. The second fjord has a beautiful cave with several entrances. Kate followed us through this even though rough waves were breaking in through one of the side holes and pushing her up against the side of the cave. We were ready for lunch by then, but this fjord had the rough waves breaking on its beach. So we went back to the fjord closest to the lighthouse which is much better protected. Tourists walking by the lighthouse waved and took our picture while we ate sitting down there.
After lunch we headed back, going behind all the same rocks, or at least the ones that had enough water behind them as the tide went out. When we got back to Caspar Beach the low tide had exposed a huge amount of sand. The waves were even milder at low tide with no hope of getting a surfing ride on a kayak. We got of the water at what seemed a very early time, and went to the campground to set up our tents. We lazed around in the afternoon talking with other BASKers arriving for the Mendocino Campout weekend, then went out to dinner at our favorite local Thai restaurant with a bunch of other people.