Tomales Bay
November 2006
By Bart Selby

I was able to sneak out and paddle on Tomales Bay yesterday. We got a late start, meeting at the Golden Gate at 11:30. One nice thing about winter paddling is late starts can be okay, as there was no afternoon wind.

This was my friends second time in a sea kayak so we took it easy, avoiding the wilder side near the mouth and put in at Marshall. The tide table suggested (no current data for Tomales, only tides) we would be fighting the end of a weak flood, which was the case as we headed towards the mouth. There was a light wind running roughly parallel with the long axis of the bay so we had a bit of chop till we crossed to the protected side. It was not enough to require us to fasten our spray skirts but my friend got a taste of quartering waves and a bit of bracing practice.

The air temp was a balmy 60-65F and the bay was unusually clean, you could see the bottom ever if the water was three or four feet deep. We did not see any other kayakers and only saw two flat bottom working skiffs in two and a half hours on the water.

We stopped at Tomales Beach then continued up almost to Hog Island before turning across the bay. Once we turned the wind stopped and the whole bay was as flat as a sheet of glass. The tide turned also, we had a little help going home, but not the wind we were expecting. We came back on the Hwy One side, paddling past all the cottages perched on stilts over the water. It was a marked contrast to the wildness of the western side of the bay.

I was hoping we would see the bat rays in the shallows north of Marshall, in the past I've seen them swimming along with the tips of their wings coming out of the water as they flutter past. They were not to be found, but there were tons of birds, none of which we could identify.

We decided a good camping trip would be a Friday put in at Inverness, a paddle up to Tomales beach to camp(they have rest rooms there, enabling you to avoid the poop in a "to go" bag nastiness). From Tomales you can paddle out closer to the mouth for hikes or to sightsee and not have to break and re-do camp on Saturday night. If you can time it right you could ride the tides in and out too. The other advantage of camping there is it is short paddle over to Hog Island Oyster company for dinner and a beer.

Tomales is a good winter-spring padding spot, even if there are huge swells in the ocean I'd bet they have to be in perfect alignment to have any effect past the mouth of the bay. With minimal wind it is flat and always just a short hop across to the wild side.