Tarbh Nathroch
September 23rd, 2005, 12:27 PM
Not sure how to spice this up into a story, since it is always just an enjoyable mellow day in the water.
The Morro Bay estuary is a beautiful place, home to countless animals of the water land and air. I have been going there for years because I love sharks, I enjoy their company. I have seen leopard, angel, smoothound and there have been sightings (not by me) of great whites right in the marina prowling for sea lions. Otters and rays are ways part of any day in the estuary as well.
The estuary from a kayak point of view is very large, but I’ve gotten pretty good at finding the leopard sharks based on which way the tide is going. Their relatively predictable, since food is pretty much what their about.
There were only about a dozen give or take yesterday. Plenty for a good time. Watching them swim around, touching them as they swim by. Not really sure how to express the feeling, there are no words. The whole thing isn’t very exciting from a telling point of view. Pattled a kayak for an hour stood in the water surrounded by sharks for three hours, got a bit of a sun burn, pattled back.
It has been suggested to me but I do not bring food with me to dump out, just seems to be unnecessary and increases risk. Although they average six feet I have never felt I was taking an unreasonable risk wading through them. I have been knocked down before by them and that is a bit thrilling. You really need to be aware of what your feet and hands are doing and positioned. The hands and feet are most often bitten. The lighter color of the palm and bottom of the feet can look like a flash from the side if a fish. This is the reason I wade with them not swim. I don’t go deeper than my belly button and often only to above my knee.
Well that seemed to be more information of things in general rather than that actual day.
Next weekend I have plans to hit Fossil Point in Avila. That will be more of a sea otter day but I have seen a great many sharks there, and I’m sure I will. The otters will actually cluster around you if you just float there as a shark defense since I am much bigger than the otters it would take a much bigger shark to be interested. A kelp forest is an amazing place. There I have seen several shark species incuding two basking sharks the other month (dam that was awesome, covered in a thread of it’s own), sea otters, four types of ray, dolphins, seals, sea lions (they make me nervous), so many fish, shell fish, just so many animals.
I have actually lost some of my comfort in the Avila water, I hate to admit. With the fatal shark bite of 03 my bite of 04 and the beach being closed like 11 times this year from great white incidents. Luckily only boards were injured this year. I can now only spend about two hours out there until my imagination starts to set in some extreme paranoia.
And this post is now too long. The end
The Morro Bay estuary is a beautiful place, home to countless animals of the water land and air. I have been going there for years because I love sharks, I enjoy their company. I have seen leopard, angel, smoothound and there have been sightings (not by me) of great whites right in the marina prowling for sea lions. Otters and rays are ways part of any day in the estuary as well.
The estuary from a kayak point of view is very large, but I’ve gotten pretty good at finding the leopard sharks based on which way the tide is going. Their relatively predictable, since food is pretty much what their about.
There were only about a dozen give or take yesterday. Plenty for a good time. Watching them swim around, touching them as they swim by. Not really sure how to express the feeling, there are no words. The whole thing isn’t very exciting from a telling point of view. Pattled a kayak for an hour stood in the water surrounded by sharks for three hours, got a bit of a sun burn, pattled back.
It has been suggested to me but I do not bring food with me to dump out, just seems to be unnecessary and increases risk. Although they average six feet I have never felt I was taking an unreasonable risk wading through them. I have been knocked down before by them and that is a bit thrilling. You really need to be aware of what your feet and hands are doing and positioned. The hands and feet are most often bitten. The lighter color of the palm and bottom of the feet can look like a flash from the side if a fish. This is the reason I wade with them not swim. I don’t go deeper than my belly button and often only to above my knee.
Well that seemed to be more information of things in general rather than that actual day.
Next weekend I have plans to hit Fossil Point in Avila. That will be more of a sea otter day but I have seen a great many sharks there, and I’m sure I will. The otters will actually cluster around you if you just float there as a shark defense since I am much bigger than the otters it would take a much bigger shark to be interested. A kelp forest is an amazing place. There I have seen several shark species incuding two basking sharks the other month (dam that was awesome, covered in a thread of it’s own), sea otters, four types of ray, dolphins, seals, sea lions (they make me nervous), so many fish, shell fish, just so many animals.
I have actually lost some of my comfort in the Avila water, I hate to admit. With the fatal shark bite of 03 my bite of 04 and the beach being closed like 11 times this year from great white incidents. Luckily only boards were injured this year. I can now only spend about two hours out there until my imagination starts to set in some extreme paranoia.
And this post is now too long. The end