|
Coyote
Creek
Coastal Kayak Cleaner-uppers Saturday, September 20, 2003 7 krunchy kayakers, 13 bags of trash, One old tire, And a zillion shorebirds.... |
I arrived at 8:30am to post signs buiding kayakers to the cleanup site |
What do you think? Obvious enough? |
Steve had had his crew disc a field and create a parking place for us. Nice work, eh? |
Poor Bantha (my van) was a bit overloaded in this dusty disc-land, eh? |
The kayakers approach their destiny. |
| DSC00702.jpg | DSC00703.jpg | DSC00704.jpg | DSC00705.jpg | DSC00706.jpg |
|
Utter anarchy ensued. |
Paddling Warmup Exercises restores order. Well, only Sandeep is listening to me and is the only one to grab his paddle. |
We gathered under an overpass to try to figure out how to launch thru the MUCK. YUK, it's stinky down here. |
Jackie and Dan make a run for it. The muck is HORRIBLE! |
| DSC00707.jpg | DSC00708.jpg | DSC00709.jpg | DSC00710.jpg | DSC00711.jpg |
Dan looks back and says, "Are you SURE you want to keep going?" |
No problem. Launching is a BREEZE... |
Sandeep looks like a natural, huh? (Don't tell him that he's going the wrong way.) |
|
|
| DSC00712.jpg | DSC00715.jpg | DSC00716.jpg | DSC00717.jpg | DSC00718.jpg |
Swallow nests line the overpasses. |
And what is one most likely to find UNDER swallow nests? No comment... |
Mani's miraculous recovery. Early in the trip, Mani fell out of the boat. He SWEARS that a crocodile knocked him out of his boat. But I think he was probably reaching too far for a tempting tidbit of debris and probably capsized by mistake. But he recovered, got back into his boat, and lived to tell the tale. |
Vicki and Dan are perfectly synchronized |
Well, actually, Dan is frozen in place and he's letting Vicki do all the work. |
| DSC00719.jpg | DSC00720.jpg | DSC00723.jpg | DSC00724.jpg | DSC00725.jpg |
|
|
|
What manner of bird is THIS? It's not a bird at all. Surprisingly, plastic bags catch the wind and fly high over the landfills in the South Bay. It's an eerie site seeing plastic bags flying with hawks, vultures, egrets, and many other sea birds. |
|
| DSC00726.jpg | DSC00729.jpg | DSC00731.jpg | DSC00732.jpg | DSC00733.jpg |
|
|
|
|
This was the surprise of the trip. THOUSANDS of shore-birds gathered on a muck-beach. You name it: everything from Gulls to Blue Herons and everything in between. We even saw several hawks and a flock of egrets. |
| DSC00734.jpg | DSC00735.jpg | DSC00736.jpg | DSC00737.jpg | DSC00738.jpg |
|
|
|
Sandeep in front of his flock. |
That's quite a haul, Jackie! |
| DSC00739.jpg | DSC00740.jpg | DSC00741.jpg | DSC00742.jpg | DSC00743.jpg |
|
|
|
|
|
| DSC00744.jpg | DSC00745.jpg | DSC00746.jpg | DSC00747.jpg | DSC00748.jpg |
Sandeep shows off his load of trash. |
More birds. EVERYWHERE, birds! |
|
Mani shows us how to hold the paddle. |
He looks like an olympic paddler, huh? |
| DSC00749.jpg | DSC00750.jpg | DSC00751.jpg | DSC00752.jpg | DSC00753.jpg |
|
Imagine thousands of these fellahs flying over your head in gratitude as you pick up trash and clean up their habitat. |
Birds dot the sky. |
|
Blue Herons are thick as WEEKS in the weeds. They're EVERYWHERE you look.... |
| DSC00754.jpg | DSC00755.jpg | DSC00756.jpg | DSC00757.jpg | DSC00758.jpg |
More herons. |
|
|
|
|
| DSC00759.jpg | DSC00760.jpg | DSC00761.jpg | DSC00762.jpg | DSC00763.jpg |
|
|
Jackie looks on in awe. |
|
|
| DSC00764.jpg | DSC00765.jpg | DSC00766.jpg | DSC00767.jpg | DSC00768.jpg |
|
|
Yuk! Garbage all over my boat. But that's ok: better my boat than the birds' front yard. |
|
We were treated to magnificent views of birds in flight. The
pictures don't do the experience justice. |
| DSC00769.jpg | DSC00770.jpg | DSC00771.jpg | DSC00772.jpg | DSC00773.jpg |
|
Jackie kicks back and enjoys the birds. |
|
Dan anticipates a hot shower after the trip to scrape the muck off. |
Vicki looks back and admires my haul of trash. |
| DSC00774.jpg | DSC00775.jpg | DSC00776.jpg | DSC00777.jpg | DSC00778.jpg |
|
|
Perfect synchronicity in the 2-person boat. (Well, actually, Dan is STILL letting Vicki do all the paddling. But don't tell Vicki!) |
Blue Herons sit on dead tree branches. |
Ready to pounce on weaker birds, the herons sit, vigilant. |
| DSC00779.jpg | DSC00780.jpg | DSC00781.jpg | DSC00782.jpg | DSC00783.jpg |
Birds EVERYWHERE! |
|
Heading for home. We were supposed to get back by Noon for trash weighing. We didn't turn back until 11:50. |
|
Too bad they count weight instead of volume. Jackie picked up a soccer ball and a "dodge ball" ball. |
| DSC00784.jpg | DSC00785.jpg | DSC00786.jpg | DSC00788.jpg | DSC00789.jpg |
Dan and Vicki never give up. |
Vicki grabs for one last scrap of trash in the weeds. |
A big hawk sits on a pole. |
Almost home. 2 more overpasses and we're back at our launch point. |
Steve had been waiting for us to return. Since we were a bit late returning, he was worried that the falling tide stranded us upstream. No worries: the tide was just starting to drop when we started our long journey back. |
| DSC00790.jpg | DSC00791.jpg | DSC00792.jpg | DSC00794.jpg | DSC00795.jpg |
Steve was waiting for us on the bridge and snapping pictures as we passed under. |
Little did Steve know that swallows lined the overpass. |
Dan and Vicki in the garbage skow. |
Landing was painful. The shoreline was deep muck and we couldn't step out of the boat without sinking up to our knees in muck. So, one by one, we hauled each other out |
Mani with a boatload of trash. |
| DSC00796.jpg | DSC00797.jpg | DSC00798.jpg | DSC00799.jpg | DSC00800.jpg |
Sandeep practices spearing techniques. |
And, that's us. 13 bags of trash. 7 very smelly kayakers. And memories of birds flying over our heads as we scoured their habitat. |
|||
| DSC00801.jpg | DSC00805.jpg |
