Every year there is a celebration of the gray whale migration called the “Whale Fest” in Mendocino County. The Point Cabrillo Lighthouse takes part in this by having activities for kids, a prime location for viewing whales from the point, docents to talk about the whales and the ongoing restoration of the lighthouse. Like last year, they asked for volunteers from BASK to help with the crowds. For spending a day directing traffic or answering questions you get to stay in one of the light house keepers houses. On the other day of the weekend you get to go out and play. Maryly and I signed up early so we could go kayaking on the rugged coastline.
But due to car problems we arrived late on Saturday morning and we ended up working two afternoon shifts with a plan to paddle early Sunday morning. All us volunteers had a wonderful pot luck dinner Saturday evening. I illegally imported a frozen abalone (out of its shell) back to Mendocino County and made sashimi and a Japanese sunomono salad, a cucumber salad that in this case had abalone in it (octopus is a popular meat to add to this salad at sushi restaurants).
Sunday morning we got up early with the hope of launching around 9:00 AM at Caspar Beach, a short drive north of Point Cabrillo. Don Fleming and Dave Martin joined us at the beach. The swell at sea was only five to six feet with a mild wind from the north. The waves in Caspar Beach were mild, although a large set came in every once in a while. Even these were only large enough to smash cold salt water in my face and not so big as to make the launch difficult.
My goal was to get some rock gardening done while the waves were so mild and to paddle close around Cabrillo Point. On either side of the point there are a couple of fjords carved into the cliffs that I have paddled into before. We started out by paddling over to the south side of the Caspar Anchorage and seeing if we could paddle between the rocks around this point instead of going all the way around. Don Fleming gave up when he saw how shallow the water was and started going around. I managed to ride over the shallowest place on a mild wave and made it across to the next group of rocks. Maryly and Dave followed me and we assumed Don would meet us on the other side.
We came around one corner to discover the source of a sound we had heard from shore the night before. One of the rocks was covered with California Sea Lions. We managed to turn left and continue behind more rocks without disturbing them more than making them bark at us. Behind the next point there was no easy way continue accept through a narrow channel between the rocks. Looking through this you can see waves breaking farther out but there is no clear indication that it takes you anywhere useful. I have been through this channel before and knew that you could turn left into a calmer place. I volunteered to go through first and scout it out, easily went through and then turned left. Conditions were as I remembered so I paddled back out in front of the channel to signal OK and waved the next two kayaks through. Maryly says that I went through at a particularly calm moment and it looked much more dangerous while she was considering doing it herself. Dave said that he usually doesn’t get this brave until much later in the season. Never-the-less, they both paddled through with no problems.
We could see between the rocks of the point where Don should have been catching up, but we could not see him. We waited around for a few minutes and started getting worried. Just before we were about to turn back and see if we could find him, he shot out of the channel we had just come through! He had started to go the long way around, then turned back to find out where we had gone. Don must be the bravest one of the four of us: He had never been through the channel before and wasn’t there to see the rest of us do it.
After a few more passages behind rocks we calmed down and headed across some open water towards Point Cabrillo. There were some shallow areas north of the point that had waves breaking noisily over them. The breakers continued all the way to the cliffs so we were not tempted to go behind them. It didn’t look like it at first, but I had faith that there would be some calm areas to get close to shore again before we got to the point. Just before the point there is a fjord that goes around the North side of the lighthouse. This fjord had a beach last year, but this year there was a jumble of large rocks in front of the sand. We paddled by without entering, but as I predicted we were able to get close to the cliffs again and wave at the whale watchers above us.
Behind the protection of the rocks off the point we worked our way around to the other side of Point Cabrillo. On the south side there are some flat stony reefs that were reasonably high out of the water. A big set came through one gap and chased Don and Dave ahead of us. Maryly and I waited it out but still had a very interesting ride. The water around us was churned into a beautiful cyan blue with white edges and I tried to tell Maryly that the rough waves and chances of getting wet were worth the sight. She thinks I’m addicted to adrenaline. When things calmed down we paddled past the gap and caught up with the other two.
On the south side of the lighthouse is another fjord, a narrow channel leading to a large circular chamber I’ve been in once before. In front of the narrow channel a few rocks guard the way and the waves were pretty rough around them. I told Maryly to go join Dave and Don, then I went behind one of these rocks to try a difficult approach. A reflected wave picked my boat up and pushed me sideways onto the rock, then left me stranded out of the water for a few seconds. I managed to keep the boat upright and catch the next wave as it washed over the shoulder of the rock. I practically surfed behind the rock until I came out inside the channel to see the other three kayakers still queuing up to go in the direct route.
As I watched, Dave got pushed sideways into the other side of the same rock I had had trouble with. He wasn’t as lucky as I and ended up getting rolled out of his boat, a classic Scupper sit-on-top a little smaller than mine. He quickly got the boat upright and slithered back in. His paddle leash ended up wrapped around his boat but with Don’s help they untangled it. Then everyone made it into the fjord with no more problems. Inside the water was calm and we relaxed for a minute to rest.
I recalled another fjord farther south that had an arch leading to it, so we continued in that direction. Don and Dave pulled ahead and we watched them go through one cave. As Maryly and I approached it a large set of waves arrived and churned the water up, sloshing back and forth across the opening. Maryly successfully braced into the first wave, then turned and dashed back to safety. I rode the waves out close to the cave and then we both paddled through when things calmed down. This brought us within sight of the fjord I was looking for. Several arches lead to a cave with very shallow water and then out into a calm notch in the cliffs with a sandy beach on the end of it. We landed to stretch our legs for a few minutes.
When it was time to head back, Don suggested that we return far from shore and look for some whales. It was the Mendocino Whale Fest after all, and the gray whales were supposed to be going by in large numbers. Some people had seen whales go by close to the cliffs and had even seen them breaching out of the water. We turned far from shore and paddled back north scanning the horizon looking for spouts but never saw one. Of course when we got back, someone from up on the cliff asked us if we saw the pod of whales following us.
When we made it back to Caspar Anchorage, I lead the way across to the north shore of he cove where there is a long stony reef. Waves were breaking noisily over this, but I knew there was calm water behind it. Despite my earlier promise to Maryly that I had already gotten my fix of rock gardening for the day we went behind the reef, around the rocks and in and out of the cracks on this side of the cove as we worked our way back to the beach. Back at the beach some of us got some good surfing rides in the mild waves and everyone else landed without incident.