Lots and Lots of Water

Northern California coastline

The Pacific Ocean pounds and shapes our coastline, threatening, and sometimes taking away, houses perched on the edge of receding and crumbling bluffs. It also laps at or crashes on beautiful broad sandy beaches in and around stands of rocks and dunes, abounding with driftwood and shorebirds.They are all lovely to walk on. You can wade in the shallows even though the water is very cold - bracing and invigorating, we say. (It’s hard to believe that this is the same body of water that washes against Hawaii.) People are scarce on most beaches, although their detritus can be found here and there – mostly in and around the remnants of campfires. I’ve heard of crowded beaches in other places where bulldozers make a nightly run scooping up or burying the daily accumulation of trash. Here there is a massive annual volunteer clean-up day.

When there are people on the beach, there are always dogs. So far, dogs have mostly unregulated access. There’s naked sunbathing and yoga, but nudists have limited access. There are some surfing beaches, where you will see long boards, boogie boards, Yakboards, kite surfing, lots of people and lots of dogs, the surfers all in wet suits to protect against the ass-freezing water.


Sunset on Samoa Beach

A friend and I drove across the bridge last night to the peninsula on the other side of the bay and stopped about halfway along on the ocean side to watch the sun set. A beautiful night, cool and still, the ocean rippling, not crashing. There was a post-graduation campfire near us – so far, just kids having fun. We sat on rocks next to the parking area, silently meditating until the last sliver of sun sank into the water at exactly 9:00. Across the road on the bay side of the peninsula, the mill chugged away, rosy and glowing, with its cloud looking like pink cotton candy. The official company line is that the cloud is steam. Water vapour. Almost all steam. Environmentalists have a long laundry list of nasties that they say the mill is puking out. Government departments have found violations, but have granted the company a variance and extended operating time before having to put things right – for economic reasons. (It’s the Economy, Stupid! That's money you're a-smellin'.)