The forecast was for mild swell but a small craft advisory due to winds over 20 knots. (Small craft advisory means “It looks like fun, you are advised to go out in your small craft!”) But as I expected, the wind did not come close to shore behind protective points north of Stillwater. As I have noticed before, the bull kelp is incredibly thick this year. I hope it is not because of some other disaster like a die-off of abalone or sea urchins. There was a clear path out the cove into the open ocean but I wanted to go rock gardening so I pushed my kayak over the kelp to stay close to shore.
The sky was clear and we had beautiful golden evening light on the cliffs to our right as we paddled north. We escaped from the thick kelp and paddled clear water across in front of Ocean Cove. On the other side I led my friends back through the kelp to get to a nice rock garden there. They objected to the kelp and turned back after the first tick, missing the best passages behind larger rocks farther north. Don caught up with me just before Shipwreck Point but “The Girls” had already decided to start back. With no rush to get to a restaurant this time, I was in no hurry but turned back with everyone else. The sun started to set and the horizon lit up with beautiful colors. The sky was still spectacular when we arrived back at Stillwater. We came in through the open channel between the kelp for a mild landing and packed up our gear in gathering darkness.
Dinner at my place was very nice. Maryly reminded me that I had some abalone in the freezer, so we had abalone pasta with abalone sauce for dinner, a vegetable salad, (I was all out of lettuce), wine and good company. Trying to schedule an evening paddle around the hours of restaurants has been a major problem. I think from now on I’m going to announce these as pot luck dinners on the beach after the paddle. Or do like the Thurseve Paddlers and have dinner around a campfire on a beach somewhere.