Richard was bundled up in every conceiveable piece of cold weather kayak wear he owns. Well, he did leave the fleece socks behind. By contrast, I was content with a pair of long legged running pants, a tee, and my new waterproof/weatherproof jacket purchased ON SALE the day before.

Pointing our trusty Perception boats south, we pushed off at 11:30 a.m. into the gentle swells and slate gray water of San Pablo Bay, with a fine rain that kept our faces well moistureized. There was a slight headwind, but we seemed to be making swift progress. The boats felt good and I was happy to be on the water again. Within a few minutes of launch, we passed McNears Beach Park. Lots of grass, picnic tables, and a long pier. Because of the weather, the park was deserted and there were just a few intrepid fishermen in their yellow slickers taking advantage of a Sunday of rainy day fishing.

Ahead lay Point San Pedro, where there is a very large rock crushing facility. Not very pretty to look at, but of note, nonetheless. Continuing along we come to the second point of this headland and see one of the most remarkable residential properties that can be seen anywhere. A beautiful home with a fantastic view of the Richmond San Rafael Bridge, behind which can be viewed the outline of the "city by the bay", San Francisco. We'd been admiring the same view, but at considerable less cost than those homeowners perched above us. We have now entered San Rafael Bay and see two islands ahead. There appears to be a boat ramp on the larger of the two so we decide to paddle to it to have a look see. By now, the rain has ceased but the clouds have not broken up. But we're indifferent to the weather as we're quite comfortable in our gear. And most remarkable of all--we have the entire bay to ourselves. Apart from a few sails seen in the distance and some power boats at a considrable distance, we have been all alone in this vast body of water. Gee, could you possibly ask for more?

As we beach the boats in the small cove of the larger island, we discover that the building above the stairway leading up from the boat dock is the headquarters for a wildlife refuge and obey the "no tresspassing" signs. As with the paddle, we seem to be alone here. We later discover that these two islands comprise the Marin Islands National Wildlife Refuge, with the larger island named East Marin Island and the smaller one West Marin Island.

After a short 20 minute break and some fuel food, we decide it's best not to tempt the weather gods any longer and set our course for paddling back to China Camp. As we paddle away from the shelter of East Marin Island, we quickly become aware of quite different paddling conditions. The trip so far had been easy and smooth. Now the paddling was labored and felt a lot like work. What's going on here? Did a tanker spill its cargo of molasses in the bay while we were eating lunch? We were sweating in our gear due to our increased efforts. I kept asking if we were paddling against the tide. What a novel idea. Sure enough--that appeared to be the problem, because once back to McNears Beach Park, we noticed that a boat that had been floating at anchor just a few yards from land on our way out was now quite noticeably sitting very firmly on the sandy beach.

We returned to China Beach a little past two. This was a great little paddle in spite of the clouds and rain. We did not have to contend with any wind, chop or other boat traffic. The tide issue was the only challenge we encountered. If you are passing through Marin County via 101 and need a paddle fix--this is a good one. Take the San Pedro Road offramp and continue until you come to the China Camp Museum sign and follow it down to the parking lot.

    Richard and Barbara Tieskoetter