Steaming in Elkhorn Slough, California

[barts]

Yesterday we spent the day steamboating at Elkhorn Slough at Moss Landing, California. Barbie Paulsen (my wife) took these pictures using a Nikon D7000 and a 300 mm lens from our 19' steam launch 'Otter' as we steamed through the marine reserve. .

The wildlife here is incredible; local steamboaters have a excellent reason to set up for salt water operation with this kind of cruising ground nearby.

http://www.smaalders.net/barbie/Events_ ... index.html

- Bart

[Bob Cleek]

Great photos! Thanks for sharing.

[87gn@tahoe]

That looks like a really neat spot Bart. Barbie took some great shots. How long is the slough and can larger boats navigate it?

[barts]

The slough is prob. 5 miles or so long; the area with the most animals is prob. about 2.5 miles in from the coast, and is readily navigable so long as the tide isn't too low. There are mud bars along the edges, though, which you can readily find at low tide . The tidal range is about 9 feet, so areas easily explored at high tide are high and dry at low tide. I've pushed the Otter off a mud bank there before; we did manage to polish the prop a bit this time too w/ the mud. The bridge is pretty close to the top of Otter's stack at high tide. Your boat would have no problems there aside from watching out for mud banks... cruising slowly while watching for animals is the idea there.

- Bart

[87gn@tahoe]

Sounds like a "mini meet" might be in order...

[barts]

Sounds like a "mini meet" might be in order...

I'm certainly game... we were there again this past Sunday.

http://smaalders.net/barbie/Events_and_ ... index.html

Fall is definitely here, and we were lucky not to get last night's 35 mph gusty winds any earlier,
but this was definitely a nice end to the steamboating season. I've got several projects queued
for Otter this winter, so since it doesn't ever really freeze here we'll have the boat out for
testing, even if I have to bundle up .

- Bart

[S. Weaver]

Great outing, Bart. Thanks for posting.