Picture of the week

Kayaking past Chimney Rock

Myself and Randy (pictured) rounded Chimney Rock at Point Reyes from Drakes Bay out into the open Pacific in sea kayaks. After exploring Point Reyes the previous day on a hike on land out to Chimney Rock and the lighthouse (see some included photos here), the next morning we launched through the surf at Drakes Beach with calm seas, paddling along the signature cliffs of Drakes Bay out to the point and into more open waters. This particular paddle has been on my bucket list, and something I have felt confident enough to do after taking a 5 day kayak expedition trip in the San Juan Islands a couple of months back, learning how to handle more open seas, surf launches and landings.  The scenery from the kayaks as we rounded this point and paddled up toward the lighthouse is incredible. From the kayaks we saw many different birds including a marbled murrelet, common loons, black scoters, and elegant terns. On the beach in various locations both inside and outside of Drake's Bay you could see the omni-present lounging elephant seals.

We decided to turn around about half way to the lighthouse after rounding Chimney Rock as the seas started to increase in size, and concern about a change in the currents to an offshore direction as the tide began to ebb.  We covered about 8-9 miles in the paddle that morning, returning for a landing through the surf that was a bit trickier than the launch. I was able to stick the landing, pop off the spray skirt, and get out of the boat before getting swamped by the next series of waves; But Randy ended up doing an unplanned roll in the surf when his kayak got a bit too sideways on the landing. Perhaps next time a helmet would be prudent for this type of situation where the beach is rockier.

The image at top was shot from my kayak with a Canon 70D with the EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 IS L lens.  To protect the camera setup from the elements I had a open dry bag between my legs with the top opening clipped to my life jacket to keep sea water sloshing around the bottom of the boat from getting in.  When paddling I would temporarily slide the camera into the dry bag, but leaving it open for easy access.  After capturing some images at this location, as we rounded the point to the more open waters, the swells began to get significant. At this point being concerned about the protection of the camera and the potential for surf crashing into the boat, I decided to put it away in the dry bag rolled up, and stowed in the more secure rear hatch just behind my cockpit.  I have experimented with other solutions to keep the camera dry including mounting a smaller pelican case on the front deck of the boat with bungee cords, but found this too intrusive for paddling and also negatively affecting the balance of the boat during rougher seas.  For more landscape related photography, perhaps next time I will bring a smaller waterproof point-and-shoot for use in more hazardous conditions that I can more simply stow on my lifejacket.

All content and images are property of Stephen Fischer Photography, copyright 2014.  Last updated: 10/7/2014   ()