Liquid Fusion Kayaking

Our Wednesday evening social paddles around the Noyo Bay continue to be a lot of fun. Paddle craft varies as does the cast and crew. Some like it on the MILD side and others on the WILD side.

Heather and Craig enjoying the setting sun and calm waters.

Here’s Dave and Yoshi. Yoshi went with Jeff for a few minutes so that Dave could take a couple of rides on Brindle’s Bash.

Craig explores the Sinkhole Cave.
Reid in “The PIT” waiting for the swell to lift him up over and out of it.
John watching as Chuck takes the wave straight on.

Jeff rounding Nick’s Nightmare.
Chuck charging Brindle’s Bash.
Me taking a ride on Brindle’s.
And another beautiful Noyo Sunset.

Here are the most recent photos of Liquid Fusion Kayaking’s new Fort Bragg home. Finding us has gotten easier as we have signs up. We are enjoying having friends from both near and far stop by to check out our new location.

We are continuing to look for a camp trailer to use as an office this winter when it rains. For now, we are enjoying sunshine, fresh air, and spectacular wildlife watching from our picnic table desk. Lately the kingfishers and merganser ducklings have been very active frequently diving for fish. The harlequin duck continues to linger. We enjoy his quirky presence but were hoping that he would migrate and bring back a mate.

If you happen to paddle by on the river, be sure to paddle by our deck to check out our “Creature Feature.” (blank in this photo – guess you will have to paddle by to see it).

Our windy days are more enjoyable tucked away back the Noyo River. I love watching and hearing the flags ripple in the wind instead of howling around our house.

Stop by and visit us sometime. It is best to call first though . . . we love our new location but are out on the water as much as possible enjoying some great paddling on the Noyo River and in ocean rock gardens and sea caves of the Mendocino Coast.

Yeap . . . we decided to take a day off from paddling. Off to a favorite swimming hole on the Eel River we went with the dogs, some friends, and non paddling toys.

Bear swam and swam and swam while Aften basked in the sun and waded. We jumped off the rocks, snorkeled, tossed a football, lounged in the sun, and enjoyed Simpler Times.

Life is Good!

Dolphin Isle Site #46A – AKA Camp LFK. Here’s our first photo of the site before we got to work. There is a lot of potential and a lot of work to be done.

Day 1 We were fortunate to have some help getting started. Craig who works on my family’s farm in Pennsylvania was around to give us a hand. He and Jeff started with trimming some trees to improve the view of the river from the deck.
And then proceeded with leveling the site. I was the go-fer picking-up supplies. The guys were happy that I picked up some PBR for them in one of my supply runs.

Smiling worker – I guess Jeff was smiling that I brought him some PBR “Professional Boater’s Refreshment”, but he is very excited to have a physical location for our business. We worked hard this winter developing a business plan, creating new adventures, training on the water, and developing our marketing materials. Moving the business from our house to a physical location is an exciting step for us.

Day 2 Storage. We cleaned out the shed and hung shelves, and Jeff and Craig built the boat rack. Yeah!!! This means more space in our backyard at home for my garden. I will post a better photo of the kayak rack in my next post.

Today we also enjoyed a few moments on the deck watching the birds and wildlife. We watched a mamma merganser parading her 10 ducklings up river, barn and violet green swallows swooping and feeding over the river, the osprey and great blue heron fishing, and the black crowned night herons emerging for the evening. Of course, my favorite odd duck – the Harlequin continues to meander around on the Noyo.

View of the Noyo River from the deck of Camp LFK.

Last summer while kayaking on Fort Bragg’s Noyo River, a banner appeared stating “Breakfast, Lunch, Beer, Wine – Kayakers Welcome.” Of course we had to investigate and discovered the friendly, yummy, and affordable Deli at Dolphin Isle Marina.

Over the winter, we used the beach area at Dolphin Isle for launching and landing our kayaking classes and tours and discovered that Dolphin Isle has much more to offer kayakers than good, affordable food. Jeff and I of course love that it is one of those “off the beaten path” places. We have also discovered it to be one of the best areas for getting beginners started in kayaks and for those of us who like to hide from the wind and enjoy great birding and wildlife watching. The winding, meandering of the Noyo protects it from the wind and makes currents easily negotiable.

In addition to its tasty deli, diverse wildlife, and friendly paddling condition; Dolphin Isle also has a small marina and RV park. As our business picked up this spring, we were running more and more of our events at Dolphin Isle and started discussing possibilities of Dolphin Isle being Liquid Fusion Kayaking’s new home in Fort Bragg.

On May 1, we started running our tours from one of the marina boat slips.

But remember, I said that there was an RV park as well. Stay tuned for our June developments.

Over the weekend we paddled on Mendocino’s Big River for the Cancer Resource Center of Mendocino in their first Cancer Paddle. This was a new addition to their popular Big River Walk. Jeff and Bear paddled the MANGO TANGO (actually Jeff paddled and Bear enjoyed the ride). Craig and Jeff took turns paddling our canoe, and Sean and Maryanne paddled the RED TAMALE. As usual I was in my sea kayak and taking photos. It was fun to see KOZT‘s Teeth Richards on the river. I think he should have been helping the KOZT team out more on the return journey, but I guess that is one of the perks of being a mascot. The windy return journey up Big River made us happy that Fort Bragg’s protected Noyo River is our paddling home.

Sunset Bird Paddling and Noyo Meandering continue to be a popular afternoon and evening adventure. The river otters have been teasing us with brief encounters and the harbor seals have been delighting us with their curiosity. Last night, we saw 3 different species of herons within 100 yards of each other, a new brood of ducklings, and an osprey with a large fish.

And on the wildside . . .

We have been having calm coastal conditions with just enough swell to make for some rock gardening fun in whitewater kayaks. We have discovered a really fun “S” turn channel that can be used to link up some of our favorite features including “Nick’s Nighmare” and the “Sound Cave.” We ride “Nick’s Nighmare”, take the “S” Turn Channel, and then cruise into the “Sound Cave” which has a passage into the “Keyhole Cave”.

And yes, you may have noticed Jeff paddling with bare arms. It has been quite warm here. Fortunately there is plenty of cold water to cool-off with.

Today, I was at our local chapter meeting of Delta Kappa Gamma International, (an organization of women educators). This year I have been blessed with so many opportunities including a leadership role in our Iota Zeta chapter.

When asked today to reflect upon my doings outside the realm of public education, a smile spread across my face and Mendocino Coast WILD LIFE came to mind . . .

A fawn nursing on the coastal rocks near Point Cabrillo Lighthouse.
A pigeon guillemot escaping turbulent water.

A starfish doing pull-ups in a sea cave.

And me going a little wild – rock gardening in Fort Bragg’s Noyo Bay.

Yes, I continue to have birds on the brain. Yesterday, I was admiring the cormorant chicks at the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse after helping with the Point Cabrillo Breeding Birds Survey then I went to write my woman on water blog which ended up being a banter about birds. Yesterday afternoon, I was bringing gear off of the line in our back yard, and Osprey flew over me at low altitude (about 25 feet) with a nice size salmon in her talons. I was hoping for a dropsy but no such luck. I hope that she enjoyed her salmon dinner.

Prior to meeting my guests for a Sunset Bird Paddle, I warmed up on the Noyo with my greenland paddle and found myself birding again. I was stoked to have a few moments with my camera and am excited to share my shots with you. Yes, I photographed the male harlequin again and got a couple of great shots of a handsome great blue heron in breeding plummage.My favorite photo though is of the merganser and her ducklings – in this photo one was riding on mom’s back.

The swallows have been very active feeding and chittering away along the river. I had several great viewings of 3 barn swallows – close enough to see the irridescence shimmer in their blue feathers. There are a bunch of violet green swallows swooping about but elluding my camera.

And of course the mamma mallards had to parade their little ones around the marina just before we launched on our sunset bird paddle. They brought them past us in the water and then for a walk on a log floating next to the dock.

Who knows what we will see next.

Paddle, paddle, paddle . . . I started to write my blog about a week full of paddling and ended up with more bird banter than paddle prose. Oh well, nevermymind . . . check back soon for a paddling update or take a gander at our photo gallery to see our paddling adventures.

This week, we have seen lots of great wildlife including lots of babies. On the Noyo River, the mother merganser duck and her tribe are probably my favorite, and I haven’t gotten a photo of them yet. I love the way her ducklings take turns riding on her back. The violet green swallows have been swoooping through the air eating insects and appear to have a nest in one of the pilings by our boat slip. We have seen the osprey snag fish, and the acorn woodpeckers continuing to work on their granary. Many of the black crowned night herons are in their breeding plummage, and the juveniles are just as goofy as ever.

The air around the Noyo River is filled with the melodies of happy song birds. I was really stoked to see a Western Tanager with his brilliant colors shimmering in the sun. I have been regularly hearing the black headed grosbeak and have had a couple of sightings of him. We sighted an odd duck on the river that we still need to identify. Last night when we were hiking, we saw her with ducklings on a lagoon near the river. At first we were hopeful that maybe our beloved odd duck the Harlequin had found a lady friend, but it doesn’t appear so.

Regarding the mammals on the river, we are still watching for fawns to start appearing. There is a baby sea lion traveling about these days. He looks like a skinny teenager who hasn’t grown into his body yet. We have seen some harbor seals courting and the river otters frolicing about.

I often feel as though I am immersed in a National Geographic episode but even better as there is no script.