GBH

Today did not go as planned. It was our intention to kayak up Big River near Mendocino,CA on the the coast.When we arrived at the river access was blocked with traffic cones and a large orange and black sign that read "Exam in Progress". What in the world is that? I haven't got a clue. Because we couldn't launch the kayaks there we headed down the coast to the Albion River. We paid our five bucks per kayak to launch and headed upstream against the outgoing tide. We were pushed along by and onshore breeze so it wasn't too bad. Just a little past the harbor I came across a great Blue Heron GBH feeding in the Eel Grass on one of the river flats. Much to my great surprise it didn't fly off at my slow approach like they usually do.I felt like I was in Florida where the birds don't fly away from you! I watched and photographed it for about ten minutes or so. The lighting was terrible but I felt excited to just be able to photograph a GBH.I moved on upriver and photographed some seals. I kept paddling upriver and was amazed at how many GB Herons were feeding along the river. But none of them would allow me to get close to them at all. The return trip down he river back to the harbor was pretty unpleasant and I'm going to be sore tomorrow. The onshore breeze combined with an incoming tide were pretty hard to deal with. Somehow I must have pulled up the wrong tide table.Next time I'm going to double check the times and location. Still it was a great trip. God's love and blessings to all, chris

All Heads and No Tails

Today I finished editing my images from kayaking on the Albion River on the North Coast of California. The end result was a large number of Harbor Seal heads. There were very few seals hauled out due to the high tide and the majority of them seemed to be hunting.As a consequence there were a lot of images of seal heads.

God's blessings and love to all,

chris

An Albion Paddle

Today I took my Ultimate Watercraft Kayak for a long paddle up the Albion River on the North Coast of California. I went with my friend Joe and his wife Susie. We caught the incoming tide just perfectly and went as far as we could up river. On the return trip we timed it just right and hit the out going tide for the trip down river. To top it off the onshore wind didn't kick up at all. You can't ask for much better than that.

As we floated and paddled along we spotted a lot of seals. I got really close to a Cormorant and a Pacific Loon. The best sighting of the day was when Joe spied a Bald eagle up in a snag. I even got some sparrow images. The weather was perfect for a great day on the river.

God's love and blessings to all,

chris

Note: All of my kayak photography is done with a Native Watercraft Ultimate 14.5 Kayak. I use a custom made camera mount that I made specially to fit the kayak. Details on how to build the mount can be found here.

http://diyphotocheapodepot.blogspot.com/2011/04/kayak-camera-support.html

Native Watercraft's site is here.

http://nativewatercraft.com/boat.cfm?id=7

Trip Report: Albion River Seals and Other Critters

Yesterday I made a short journey up the Albion River in Northen California. The Albion is about an hours drive from where I live. As the crow flies it is only about twenty- five miles or so away. The terrain and some evil road planner make it a beautiful winding drive through the redwoods.

The lower portion of the Albion is a long tidal estuary that stretches inland into the Redwood forest for about six twisting miles. If you plan on paddling it you have to plan for the tides and the onshore breeze (er wind). Luckily for me I timed my trip to catch the ingoing tide and was easily able to paddle along with the current.

Right after I put in I was able to start photographing some of the seals that hunt this part of the river. My favorite was a white Harbor Seal that wrapped itself in Eel Grass and was snoozing away with the grass all over its head. Further along I found a seal that I nicknamed Mr. Ugly. He was really dark in color and had an unfriendly look about him. Can seals look unfriendly? They both just watched me curiously as I kept my distance and floated up the river.






I spotted quite a few shorebirds along the way as well as a few egrets and Great Blue Herons and the usual Cormorants. As I traveled along the were lots of old pilings left over from the temporary dams and wharves that used to be in this area from when they logged it for the redwoods and other timber.





Near an old mill pond there were several really neat floating cottages that people have built to live in. The mill pond’s dam was breached during a storm many years ago. When I paddled in through the opening a mixed flock of several hundred Pintails and Widgeon lifted off the pond in a roar of wings and circled several times before flying off.







The return trip up the river was uneventful until about the last quarter mile when I hit the onshore breeze coming up the river from the ocean. My progress slowed and I took the time to photograph a few more seals. There were two that had hauled out onto a mudbank that were really photogenic.










It was a great trip and I plan on coming back. This time to hopefully photograph some river otters.

God bless,

chris

If you plan on going. The Albion river mouth is right on the California coast at Highway 1 roughly 18 miles south of the town of Ft. Bragg. It is approximately a three and a half hour drive north of San Francsico.There is a five dollar fee to launch your kayak payable at the marina. For dinner The Albion River Restaurant is about a 1/4 mile north on Highway 1. On the pricey side but excellent dining.

For equipment I use a Native Watercraft Ultimate 14.5 Kayak. it is the most stable Kayak I have ever photographed from. I use a custom camera mount to hold my camera and it can be seen here.
http://diyphotocheapodepot.blogspot.com/2011/04/kayak-camera-support.html

Camera wise I use a Canon50D with a 100-400 IS lens mounted on it.