Well, we had hoped that the May entry would be a kayak voyage on the Aegean Sea or the Sea of Crete, but we never saw any kayaks for rent, purple or not. Business opportunity there.
We’ve been having a heat wave in the Bay Area so we checked the weather report for Newark. At 10am on Saturday it was already 93 degrees. So though we prefer to kayak on Saturdays, we decided that it was unwise to go out that day particularly as the forecast said the heat wave was going to break that night. On Sunday, again at 10am, we checked the Newark temperature–72 with an expected high of 76!
After eating a good meal, we loaded up the car, slapped on the sunscreen, and hit the road. The guidebook stressed the importance of going out an hour or two before high tide and keeping an eye on it to avoid getting stuck in the mud. High tide was approximately 5:15 so we first went to the visitors center of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge (of which Newark Slough is a part). The visitors center is on a hill up above the slough so we got a look at where we would be going and got a sense of what wildlife we might see. After finding a ranger who could tell us where the boat launch is we headed down, arriving about a half hour before we were supposed to go in.
Finally, though we could see the tide was still coming in, we decided it was time. As we took stuff out of the car and stowed it in the kayak we saw our first wildlife. Bat rays! Rather we saw the “wingtips” and noses of bat rays as they circled around in the channel of very muddy looking water. After that excitement, we had to get on the water. Trying to get the boat down the ramp and ourselves into the boat, we discovered just how slippery and sticky the slough mud is, but eventually we succeeded and were headed out.
It was very pleasant out on the water. Going out we were paddling against the wind and the tide was still moving, but both were mild. We continued to see the bat rays every now and then, guessing that they hang out in the transition zone near the edge of the tide. We also saw a number of egrets though they all seemed to be hanging out at the top of vegetation, probably waiting for the tide to go down so they can fish.
Part way down the channel we came upon a family of ducks. When they noticed us, one of the adults flew off a short way and started this whole spastic routine–flap, flap, splash–flying but not flying away. Ignoring that I watched the others and saw the other adult shepherd the smaller ones into the reeds and then dive away. We’re guessing the splashing routine was a lure. Unfortunately, the lurer continued the act for a long way, nearly to the footbridge, so we had an anxious duck as company for a while.
About a mile out we passed under the first footbridge and a half mile after that was the next footbridge. The swallows have built their nests up under the bridges and some were flying about, but there were others just peeping out from their mud homes at us. The Refuge has a system of trails so even those without kayaks can enjoy the setting (actually, from the reaction of the rangers, kayakers are rare, most users are on foot). We then continued out for another mile or so ’til we were running along by 92 and the Dumbarton toll plaza. We stopped paddling a few times and drifted backwards while we watched some Foster’s terns hovering and diving though they didn’t seem to catch anything.
Turning back we saw more of the same plus a great blue heron taking off from another channel. On the return the wind and the tide were with us so we didn’t actually have to paddle. Towards the end we determined that we had plenty of tide and went up a side channel ’til we reached a sign that indicated the rest of that channel was closed to private boats. The trail came very close to this channel and we were of great interest to a dog that was being walked. For a moment there it looked like he might leap into the water to come check us out more closely.
Returning to the boat lauch we discovered that the higher the tide, the less mud to contend with and we got out with no incidents. Over all it was a good paddle. We got to check out John’s rudder repair (excellent). The only lesson learned is that we prefer to kayak on Saturday so that we still have a weekend day after and do not have the distraction of thinking about what needs doing at work tomorrow.