Independence Day on Richardson Bay

Hello Tennessee Valley, you beautiful dramatic landscape!

For 4th of July Alice and I decided to visit her favorite spot in Marin: Tennessee Valley. The hike takes you 1.8 miles from a parking lot through the lush valley to an open coast beach. Tennessee Cove lies between Muir Beach and Rodeo Beach - both of which we visited last year on a coastal paddle. Dark sand covers the narrow, steep beach at the end of the trail. Alice dodged crashing waves to run around a point and explore another narrow beach on the other side. Ten minutes later I began to wonder whether it was time to send out a rescue team, but she soon sprinted back around the point.

Our busy itinerary didn't allow for much beach lounging, so we hiked back and drove to Alice's adorable apartment in Mill Valley. After much putzing around, mushroom marinating, and the usual discussions, we got our butts in gear and loaded Alice's boat on my car. Our mutual boredom with launching from Seatrek in Sausalito led us to scoping out a more stealthy launch site. After a couple unsuccessful launch-searching-adventures, we found a perfect launch site at the mouth of Coyote Creek in Richardson Bay. The only catch: we had to park in the Holiday Inn Express parking lot, which was built in the middle of the marsh in 1972 and will very soon be under water thanks to sea level rise. We stealthily and speedily unloaded the boats and launched from a tiny little rocky beach next to the walkway over Coyote Creek. The time was 7:15pm.

With 1 hour of sunshine remaining, we kept the paddle short and sweet. We headed south under the 101 bridge, visited the seals, and peered into some floating boat houses. A river of fog poured gently over the Marin Headlands, disappearing on its way down the hill.

On the way back, Big Purple and White Lightning posted for a photo shoot. These boats are going to miss each other! Luckily they'll have one last float together in the Mendocino sea caves in a couple weeks!

When we returned to the Holiday Inn, we were relieved to see Tess (my blue subaru) still parked and ticketless. I leave you with a portrait of Big Purple and a silhouette of Mount Tam:

Date: July 4th, 2014
Distance: ~4.5 miles
Time: ~1.5 hrs?

I should really start being more precise with these distances/times... the time is always a complete guess, and in this case so is the distance because our destination was a red sailboat, which google maps does not capture...

Kayak caroling?

Every year, the Bay Area Sea Kayakers (BASK) and the Environmental Traveling Companions (ETC, more on them later) get together for a night of rambunctious kayak caroling. Here's how it works.

Prepare and decorate. Nena and Alice meet up in a commercial parking lot in Mill Valley with a large sign that says "NO BOAT LAUNCHING..." or something along those lines. We gradually unload our boats and prep them in the lawn by the water. Prepping, in this case, involves wrapping them in [expensive] red and green ribbons [from Whole Foods] and taping [very expensive] fake non-waterproof candles [also from Whole Foods] to the deck. Next, strap [cheap] wine under the deck lines. Alice's lights are waterproof and twinkly. I'll be more prepared next year. Couples pass us on their evening walk and say "can you launch from here? I didn't know you could put your boat in here?" We smile and tell them to have a nice walk. Fully outfitted, we stealthily move our cars to the back of the crowded restaurant parking lot next door. 

Find the other carolers. We launch from Mill Valley and paddle south under the Highway 101 bridge toward Schoonmaker Point Marina in Sausalito. We know we're at the right beach when we see dark figures scampering around with lights. We drag our boats onto the sand and find Doug, Eddie, Joël, and Amy decorating their boats in the dark. Eddie and Joël have very shiny christmas tree ornaments that are, unfortunately, completely invisible in the dark. Jackie promptly provided them with their own set of twinkly lights. Others have entire mini christmas trees perched on the sterns of their boats. It is a festive scene!

Back of my boat under the Highway 101 bridge, just after sunset.

Alice's lights are very twinkly. 

Rehearsals. When caroling, it is important to know how to sing. Jackie (fellow BASKer and ETCer) rounds everyone up and passes out perfectly laminated songsheets. We circle up on the beach and begin practicing. The first attempt is quite painful - not enough has been imbibed (ok, I may be one of the only ones imbibing) and people are feeling a bit reserved about belting out Joy To The World. A few iterations later, we are singing loudly and happily (albeit out of tune).

Eddie and I at rehearsals. Photo by Joël Thai.

Identify Targets and Commence Singing. Freshly decorated, the growing group of carolers (~20) launches from Sausalito and heads north towards the boathouses. Many of the houses are dark, but as soon as we spot a light, Jackie yells out a song number and starts to sing (we all join in a few seconds later). Inevitably, more lights turn on and a pleasantly surprised or fully confused tenant steps out onto the deck. Most often the response is awkward standing/smiling until we finish yelling [singing], at which point they say "Merry Christmas" and promptly shuffle back into their homes. A man turns his back on us when we begin singing only to return moments later, joining in with his trombone. Every once in a while, we find a jolly group of residents who shouts "Encore!" or tops off our cups of hot toddies.

This was the same night as the annual Christmas boat parade, so we were surrounded by very jolly and extensively decorated sailboats and motor boats for the entire night.

A successful endeavor. An hour later, a few fake candles short, and fully caroled out, Alice and I split off from the group and head north towards our unconventional launch site. The tide is much lower (we hadn't really considered this...) but we don't have too much trouble getting back to the parking lot. At some point in the dark transit we crack Alice's boat on the rocky revetment, but she's become quite a boat-patching expert so it isn't too big of a deal (I think...)!

Date: Saturday December 8, 2012

Time: ~3 hours

Distance: ~6 miles