This has been a LONG summer, full of activities and projects. Yeah, we’re retired – – but we needed a break. 😛

We took our months-parked Howie over to Half Moon Bay for an overnighter, so that we could pretend (for a day) we were traveling. Of course, we brought along ‘Bote’, our Sea Eagle inflatable kayak.

Half Moon Bay has a harbor north of town, called Pillar Point Harbor. It is a nice little spot in the northern crook of the Bay. It has both inner and outer breakwater levees, and covers around a square mile of ocean.

We have kayaked here before, and while it’s hardly adventurous, it’s quite pleasant. There’s a ton of boats of all shapes and sizes, some wildlife, and a nice walk along Maverick’s beach. Our kayak-track is shown by the black line.

RV parking is not exactly splendid either – – it’s a slot in the paved parking lot. But it’s only 100 yards from the water’s edge, and we can easily carry the inflated Bote down to the shore. Slightly below the highway, the noise is not actually all that bad. We sort of felt like we were camping.

In the late afternoon, we took a walk out along the pier and checked out the diversity of the harbor. My cheapo super-wide-angle lens blurs the outer edges a bit, but you get the idea – – –

As with any harbor tour, there is the usual assortment of hard-working but ship-shape vessels, interleaved with a collection of rust-buckets that you wonder how are still floating.

The little stroll perked up our appetites, and we had a nice dinner at Flavor, just a two-minute walk from Howie’s parking place. In the late evening, the harbor lights and foghorn let us know we were definitely not at home. We walked back to Howie and drifted happily off to sleep.

The next morning, we had a leisurely breakfast and pumped up Bote for the day’s fun. This was a summer trip, and the usual morning marine overcast made for poor photographic light, but a lovely 65F day. No wind, sun’s harshness dulled by the cloud cover (but plenty of sunscreen of course). The rental kayaks are visible to the right, and our launching spot is the same as theirs, in the center of the picture.

Howie waved goodbye to us – – – that’s him, with the sad smile.

The other “side” of the harbor’s attractions is the wildlife. There’s always something to be found, and this day was no exception. I started having fun with my telephotos. What a blast.

As luck would have it, we stumbled on an amateur sand-castle contest along the southeast shore. Now, these were not the prize-winning Internet wonders we’ve all seen and marveled at, but they were certainly more than you or I could probably do. At any rate, all seemed to be having fun, and a fair sized crowd was enjoying the proceedings.

Touring along the outer breakwater toward Maverick’s, we paddled past the miles of rocks, marveling at the way the outer seas would occasionally “leak” through and create small swells inside the harbor. As we passed the middle of the area, we saw a rare item, a three-man hard-shell kayak. With its sleek hull, and all that horsepower, they were hauling ass past us, probably doing 6-8mph to our 2-3. But both of the crews (they and we) were having fun for sure.

Over near Maverick’s beach, the sea life seemed to like to congregate.

This curious harbor seal came to within ten feet or so. (I actually had to wait for him to get a little further away because I couldn’t frame him with my telephoto.)

Pelicans are always a personal favorite – – –

For a Wednesday afternoon, there were a surprising number of folks out enjoying the surrounds. There were no waves in the Maverick’s area big enough to break. I’d love to be there when the huge surf-contest waves are breaking, it must be quite a sight. As we got back to Bote from our walk along the Maverick’s beach, three SUP boarders paddled away from us.

We worked our way back toward the harbor, with a few more sights along the way.

Back paddling around the harbor, we were once again delighted and amused with the variety of clever, innovative, and downright pun-derived boat names.

Back in the parking lot, we used what would normally be “precious” water to rinse off Bote before putting him away. That’s the luxury of going home so soon.

After our 24-hour “escape”, we were relaxed and happy. Howie’s new modifications checked out really well (you can see the last five years’ saga of changes in my previous post HERE). We drove home along the scenic highway 1, and commented to each other how just a single day can be so rewarding.

And I had a bunch of fun writing it all up in this blog post.