Susan Starbird invited us to join her at the Valley Ford Volunteer Fire Department annual Crab Feed. The town of Valley Ford is right next to the access to Estero De Americano, a favorite calm water paddling place. So we planned to paddle down the Estero to work up an appetite. Unfortunately, even though I tried to buy tickets on Friday morning, the Crab Feed was all sold out! Susan, Blair, Patrick, Nelson, Maryly and I showed up for the paddle anyway.
The morning was cold foggy and breezy when we arrived but the sun was promising to burn through it soon. When it did, several of us had to stop and remove layers of polypro, polyester fleece, or nylon in order to cool off. After less than 5 kilometers Susan's watch alarm warned her to turn back in order to get to her Crab Feed. With nobody else that she knew going to the feed, she had volunteered to help in the kitchen and had to get there early. The rest of us paddled on for a while, but turned back short of the ocean. This got us back in time to drive to Bodega Bay and order lunch at a restaurant. Of course we all ordered half a crab each and had a reasonable approximation of an all-you-can-eat crab feed after all!