A little kayaking, a little barbecued oysters
I think I’ve perfected the art of spontaneous activity. It sort of goes like this.
Wake up very leisurely. Weather is overcast but not raining, the forecasted precipitation having postponed the camping trip planned for this weekend. So no plans. Something about boating creeps into my head, and the thought that if it’s a little sprinkly out, the one place to be is outside on the water.
Suggest to Stephanie that we go kayaking (still having a discount to use after my basic kayaking skills class). Discover she’s a little hesitant about water depth, and wide open expanses of ocean while being enclosed in a small boat, and sharks. I cajole, so she commits to give it a shot.
We get to Blue Waters in Marshall a little before 3 (this is important, because they close at 5), and the clouds have quite literally opened up above Tomales Bay. It’s warm out. The water is relatively calm. No one else is around. Get suited up, and we’re off, sans wet suits cause we’re in a closed-deck kayak, no sharks in site. Now where to go? We start heading south, into the wind before deciding to jet across the bay towards some cliffs covered with red algae. The gmaps pedometer says we probably paddled about 1.5 miles.
Disembark on the beach for snacks and exploring. Discover some massive brown jellyfish (probably sea nettles?) that have been washed ashore.
Justin, Banana, Kayak
Stephanie, Banana, Kayak
Yeah, so those pictures taken of us are on the Point Reyes side, with the California coast mainland (where we paddled from) in the background. By the time we left the beach it was after 4(!) and we need to get back before they close, so we motored across the bay, this time with the wind, making it in about half an hour.
BUT! The day of spontaneity wasn’t over yet. After a cup of chowder at the Marshall General Store, we stopped in at the Hog Island Oyster Company (well after they’d closed) and managed to pick up two dozen medium oysters for some barbecuing later…
So we got in touch with Mark, Marcia, and spent the rest of the evening at Mark’s brother’s place in Graton, drinking beer, shucking oysters, grilling meats and vegetables. On top of it all, roasting some marshmallows over the remaining coals. Got back home around midnight. Stuffed.
Does a dead jelly fish’s sting still sting?
Thanks for introducing me to barbecued oysters (and for doing all the work along w/ Stephanie). I think I prefer the other Justin banana picture, though.
I consulted the internet to make sure we weren’t drinking near beer, because I am a dork. Henry Weinhard’s private reserve = 4.5% alcohol content — more than a Guinness, less than just about everything we normally drink. Who knew?
Stephanie and I would have sworn it was near beer. Both of us drank a bunch with little effect. Other than sleepiness. Oh yeah, and I annotated your comment with that “other banana picture” in question.
And I’m surprised that as private as Sir Henry Weinhard is, he actually shows up on the fabled internet. Expert sleuthing Marcia!
just chekin out ur site saw one of these this morning out in the water and was looking for a picture. scary lookin things.
This is so funny! I was researching jellyfish for an article I am writing today and saw this picture of a jellyfish on Google images and then realized, low and behold, that it is from your site! The Internet is smaller than you think.
Ha! That’s great. Someone else I know recently mentioned the same thing, searching for something completely random and a post of my happened to be the first result in Google for that search term. Weird, huh?