Editor’s note: Recent wildfires and coronavirus restrictions have resulted in new rules and closures at many Bay Area parks and attractions. Before you go, be sure to check whether your intended destination is still accessible and open to travelers.
The otters were not social distancing. Oh no, they were positively clustering. And then rolling and whooshing and cavorting. Prancing, too, as few water-wigglers can do. No, otters don’t give a whisker about pandemics, which is why they were so much fun to watch while kayaking on Elkhorn Slough, the 7-mile-long estuary on Monterey Bay.
But Elkhorn isn’t just an otter haven. The slough, with its many channels, varying depths and contrasting shoreline beaches, is an equal-opportunity marine zoo. Hooded-eyed harbor seals, rising up with their big liquidy eyes—like Martin Sheen emerging from the water in “Apocalypse Now” — are in abundance. We were cautioned to stay 100 feet from the animals, but the seals would suddenly pop up nearby to inspect us — their social distancing skills were dubious as well.
And the birds: pelicans floating placidly, great egrets and great blue herons, all great, stalking the mudflats, hawks crying overhead, ducks and cormorants bobbing on the surface, gulls in the air and everywhere. There are more than 340 species of birds in the slough, though you have to traverse some of the land trails (also a great diversion) to see some of them.
One sighting you should consider right from the paddling outset is checking out the sea lions, who have mastered the art of charismatic flopping and lolling — there’s a whole sandy bank of them not far from the launch dock. You know, near the other sandbar where we got the kayak stuck for a bit when we were trying to position ourselves to scope out those lions of the sea.
The slough is a place that can make the nearby power plant’s giant towers hospitable; it’s probably that long, waving sea grass that lures your eyes and soothes the senses. Probably slightly less soothing is negotiating with your better half (mine being Alice) on navigational possibilities in a double kayak, the first one I’ve ever tried. I found that we had differing interpretations of angles, distances and directions.
I was in the rear and had my own mystifications trying to match my paddling rhythm with hers, while making the correct left-rudder/right-rudder foot-pedal steering decisions. Doug, the photographer assigned to this caper, said that he and his wife had had a similar experience while riding a tandem bike for a distance, after which he named the bike The Divorcer. Well, perhaps, but nay — the slough’s charms pacified any of our nettlesome shallows.
If you are ambitious, you can blade your way a good distance into the slough, and investigate many channels and corridors. However, when we kayaked before, we accidentally got into one of the narrower channels during a seal-pupping period, and though it was fascinating to see the little squirts and their mothers quite close on the narrow banks, I think we alarmed a number as well.
One consideration, as the good folks at the Kayak Connection rentals were quick to say, was that the tides in the morning are generally low, with the current flowing into the slough. For the standard four-hour rental, you might feel like you’re the Kayak King from the morning propulsions, but when the afternoon onshore breezes start and that current slaps up against your ambitions, your paddling might be accompanied by some creative grunting.
But currents and winds were mild on our jaunt, and the skies had a partially broken overcast, which made for good sightings.
Before I get out of my safety vest, I’ll tell you the best part, which I saved for last: those frolicsome otters I mentioned in the first paragraph? They were mostly mothers with young pups, so add everything you might have seen otters do — spinning, grinning, dunking, plunking — to the fact that they were doing all of these circus antics while pushing and hugging and tugging their pups through the water.
I dare you not to say “Awww!”
Kayak Connection
Kayak rentals start at $40 for a half-day rental and $70 for a double. Wear a mask during the rental process. Kayak Connection is open from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays and until 5:30 p.m. on weekends at 2370 Highway 1 in Moss Landing; https://kayakconnection.com.