Liquid Fusion Kayaking

Here’s our latest video creation Outdoor Adventures in Fort Bragg, California featuring some of our land and sea adventures in our home of Fort Bragg on the Mendocino Coast of California. Of course, we feature kayaking but also some of our other favorite activities on the coast and in the forest including abalone diving, mountain biking, and more.

A special thanks to Brent Reitz – master instructor of the Forward Stroke – for allowing us to use Single Care as our main song. If you have taken one of Brent’s Forward Stroke Clinics, you probably have immensely improved your forward stroke and probably heard him rock-out on the harmonica. Here’s a link to his group – Bad Habits.

We hope that you enjoy the video – we sure had fun making it.

Fly Agaric Mushrooms on the Mendocino Coast

Guess we should change our voicemail and sign outside of our shop from we are on the water to we are in the forest. Fall and winter is one of our favorite times of the year for hiking and mountain biking in the forests of Mendocino County. We have lots of great singletrack trails for mountain biking and lots of colorful and choice edible mushrooms in the forest.

Ride thru Tree

We are still paddling and enjoying the colorful migratory ducks that are visiting us for the winter on the Noyo. On Saturday in addition to the mallards, harlequin duck, green-winged teals, and 40+ buffleheads; we enjoyed watching a colorful wood duck drake.

Bufflehead drakes on the Noyo River

Our mushroom paddles were a lot of fun. We started the paddles with a short lesson on the basics of mushroom identification followed by looking at and identifying the wild mushrooms growing along the Noyo. Finding a King Bolete growing along the river was very exciting. (especially for a boletivore like me – no I didn’t pick it).

Finding a King Bolete on a Noyo River Mushroom Paddle

We just finished our first session of Intro to Kayaking at Fort Bragg’s new aquatic and recreation facility – the CV Starr Community Center. It is beautiful!!! We are enjoying drop in kayak night on Mondays for eskimo roll practice and kayak fun and games until January 11 when our new Intro to Kayaking Class begins.

Eskimo Rolling in the pool of CV Starr Aquatic Center in Fort Bragg, CA

Hmmm . . . wood ducks on the Noyo? I bet we write more on this subject in the future. Stay tuned.

Dolphin Isle on the Noyo River of Fort Bragg, California has become home to a male harlequin duck. We enjoy seeing him daily and admire his handsomeness but can’t help to think that he is a bit odd.Over the past 3 years, this harlequin has delighted and baffled us. Typically harlequin ducks like turbulent waters not flat water estuaries like the Noyo River. Harlequins typically are solitary birds or hang with just a few of their species. This harlequin is quite gregarious with other ducks. He flocks with the buffleheads in the winter and the mallards the rest of the year.

He doesn’t appear to have a mate. In previous years, we had hoped that he would convince a female to return to the Noyo with him. However, last year he only migrated for a short period of time, and this year he did not migrate. Here’s a photo of him this summer on the Noyo in eclipse plumage.

Odd or not, we enjoy his colorful presence on the Noyo River.

Often people will compare one of our Mendocino Coast kayaking experiences to Disneyland. Lately Sea World has been the comparison. The herring and sardines are running on the Noyo River, and we are enjoying spectacular wildlife displays. Our visitors are also enjoying an escape from the fog as our Noyo River location is outside of the fog belt. This afternoon, we enjoyed a journey up the river wearing t-shirts.
Both the harbor seals and sea lions have been actively schooling fish on the river. It is pretty awesome to see the sea lions as they porpoise about in the river chasing the fish. The harbor seals are a bit more subdued by equally enjoyable. Jeff and I enjoyed our dinner one evening on the deck watching the show. Here the team from Visit Mendocino County checking out the wildlife from our deck.

Yesterday, the osprey who likes to perch in the Eucalyptus by our deck was 3 for 3 in diving for fish. I saw a different osprey snatch 2 fish from the river in one dive. This evening, a juvenile loon was enjoying some fishing time on the river. The great egrets must have heard about the plethora of fish on the Noyo as they have shown up this week. Jeff saw 4 of them this afternoon on the river.

The merganser ducklings are growing fast and the older set is just about the same size as their mother. We have several sets of late mallard ducklings that are so cute and fuzzy. The new gull chicks are starting to stretch out their wings, and we expect them to be fledging soon. It is amazing how fast they grow and develop, but they are still so far from reaching adulthood.

My odd duck – the harlequin- continues to hang around. We suspect that he is an old bird who has enjoyed wintering on the Noyo and now has selected it as his retirement community. Birders and wildlife enthusiasts continue to enjoy his presence. The mallard drakes don’t appear to mind his company either.

Our otters continue to be on the shy side. I regularly see them but they are elusive to many of our guests. Perhaps they have gotten to know me and pop up to say hi but are still wary of many people as a survival skill from years ago when they were hunted. Did you know that a group of otters is called a romp? Seems fitting.

The new born fawns have not been shy and seem quite curious about us as we quietly float by.

It has been really fun to share these wildlife experiences with all ages and many first time paddlers. Kayaking has its roots in hunting wildlife, today we are using it as a vehicle to appreciate it.

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.

I recently joined the kayaking.com community and was reminiscing on my most memorable paddle. Numerous kayaking trips came to mind but 2 in particular have been on my mind lately – both included my mom.

My mom is not an athlete or paddler but an enthusiast of life. She has kayaked a couple of times while on vacation in the Caribbean, but the first time that we kayaked together was on the Noyo River in Fort Bragg, CA. She was visiting me from Pennsylvania and flaunting and enjoying the perks of her new “Senior” status. Having gone to the Botanical Gardens and visited the Skunk Train, she was ready for a new adventure. We met up with some friends and enjoyed a sunny afternoon kayaking on the Noyo River. It was on this paddle that her enthusiasm and excitement over the birds that we saw sparked my interested in birding. In particular it was a green heron that perked my interest. The next day while I was at work, she bought me my first bird book. I have been fascinated by birds ever since and now call her to report my latest sitings.

The other memorable trip that came to mind was sea kayaking from Russian Gulch to the Point Cabrillo Lighthouse. This is one of our favorite spots on the Mendocino Coast for rock gardening and exploring sea caves. My mom and Jeff shared a tandem sea kayak while my girlfriend and I paddled single boats. The ocean conditions were calm and glassy. It was so exciting for me to be able to share this special stretch of coastline with my mom. We were able to paddle into all of the sea caves and were dazzled by the vibrant colors of the caves and intertidal life. Mom still talks about the spectacular colors and the excitement of the trip. She even let Jeff take her over a couple of pour-overs (when an ocean wave washes over a rock – similar to whitewater on the river).

Happy Mother’s Day Mom, I love you!!!